In order to make change in the world, it must happen peacefully. This term in our Humanities class, Global Peace, we studied activism, Gandhi's principles of peace, different types of violence, and how to analyze conflicts. Though Gandhi has six principles of peace, we focused on four of them: sarvodaya, swadeshi, satyagraha, swaraj. The uplifting of all, or sarvodaya, is one of the most important principles in protest movements. The idea behind it is that no change can happen unless you lift up those who are least privileged. When you help those who are most oppressed, everyone benefits. Next, we studied swadeshi, the concept of a self-sustaining economy. The goal of swadeshi is to have the most local economy possible. At the moment, most countries are sustained by a global economy, which means countries are not gaining as much as they could from trade, and have to rely on other countries to survive. Then, we researched swaraj, the concept of self-rule. Similar to swadeshi, swaraj states that the ideal kind of government is the most local. This way, politicians can stay in touch with their communities. Lastly, we covered satyagraha, the concept of peaceful change. A Satyagrahi is someone who puts themselves in danger before anyone else and feels no hate towards others. In order to understand conflicts and how they began, we used three different kinds of conflict analysis: the tree, the iceberg, and the ladder of tolerance. Using these methods, we could dig deeper into conflicts to understand how they started. We also researched the three types of violence: direct, cultural and structural, to categorize different issues and understand how they could be solved.
Using these methods of understanding violence and protest, I learned more about an incredible activist, Bayard Rustin. Throughout his activism career, he caused so much change, for both the gay and black communities, always putting himself in the firing line to help others. Though he was pushed to the fringes of the Civil Rights movement because of his sexuality, he continued his work for his entire life. I have learned so much from his story, especially in terms of perseverance. Rustin was kicked out of multiple organizations, arrested, forced behind the scenes and blackmailed because of his sexuality, yet continued his work and accomplished incredible feats, most notably the March on Washington. Even though his work positively affected everyone around the US, and in many other places, he was mostly erased from history. I appreciated getting the chance this term to learn more about a hero of mine and to bring his accomplishments to light. Thank you for reading!
Using these methods of understanding violence and protest, I learned more about an incredible activist, Bayard Rustin. Throughout his activism career, he caused so much change, for both the gay and black communities, always putting himself in the firing line to help others. Though he was pushed to the fringes of the Civil Rights movement because of his sexuality, he continued his work for his entire life. I have learned so much from his story, especially in terms of perseverance. Rustin was kicked out of multiple organizations, arrested, forced behind the scenes and blackmailed because of his sexuality, yet continued his work and accomplished incredible feats, most notably the March on Washington. Even though his work positively affected everyone around the US, and in many other places, he was mostly erased from history. I appreciated getting the chance this term to learn more about a hero of mine and to bring his accomplishments to light. Thank you for reading!
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| Bayard Rustin before a demonstration. New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer, Wikimedia (1964). |
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