SOUTH AFRICA: 100 years ago today Mahatma Gandhi introduced the idea of non-violent protest to an oppressed people, writes Joe Humphreys in Johannesburg
Amid all the talk of killing and doom, and terrorism and revenge, today it may go unnoticed that 9/11 also marks the anniversary of a revolutionary movement in non-violence.
One hundred years ago today, Mahatma Gandhi held a meeting in Johannesburg to protest against a new raft of racist laws introduced by the British-controlled Transvaal government.
The young Indian lawyer, who spent 21 years in South Africa before returning home to help liberate his country, made a pledge with 3,000 people crammed into the now demolished Empire Theatre to fight the laws - and the oppressive regime behind them - with one thing alone: their own suffering.
Violence would be met with non-violence, they agreed. No matter what the provocation they would turn the other cheek - until their tormentors had no choice but to surrender.
Thus, the philosophy of satyagraha, loosely translated as "passive resistance", was born.
It went on to inspire various liberation movements around the world, including Martin Luther King's US civil rights campaign, and, for many decades, the black freedom struggle in South Africa.
Today, however, satyagraha is something of an anachronism. Or so it seems in an increasingly militarised, or security- conscious, world.
Not only do people doubt the efficacy of non-violence in conflict resolution, they question the morality of using it as a response to the sort of atrocity witnessed in New York five years ago. To supporters of the "war on terror", passive resistance is for losers.
But, says Ela Gandhi, a granddaughter of Mahatma, such critics couldn't be further from the truth.
"What bothers me is that when there is violence and killing it gets lots of publicity, while non-violent movements get little, if any, publicity. That distorts the way people see these things.
"In Palestine and Israel, for example, there are so many people looking at non-violent means to resolve conflict. There are a lot of people on the ground bringing communities together but the media does not show that." The 56-year-old Durban politician, who spent nine years under house arrest for her role in fighting the apartheid government, cites South Africa's peaceful transition to democracy as an example of the power of non-violence.
While the African National Congress, and other domestic liberation groups, moved away from the philosophy of satyagraha - and explicitly embraced violence - as the conflict reached its height, a negotiated settlement was ultimately reached. Without such a truce, regime change in the country would have been very different, says Ms Gandhi.
"If you can come to a non-violent agreement everyone will conform to it," she says.
Satyagraha was radical not just for its political implications but also for the personal burden it placed on devotees. The philosophy takes its name from the Sanskrit for truth (satya) and firmness (agraha). While Gandhi initially equated the concept with "passive resistance", he later argued that it went beyond this form of action to incorporate religious asceticism, fasting and even celibacy.
Gandhi himself admitted he had not "understood all the implications" of the satyagraha movement when it was roughly formed during that historic meeting of September 11th, 1906. "Nor had I gauged all the possible conclusions to which [ it] might lead." Those who refused to carry race identity cards, as demanded by the Transvaal government, faced brutalisation and detention in Number Four jail, a notorious Johannesburg gulag in which Gandhi himself spent seven months and 10 days between 1908 and 1913. He would later describe their suffering as "the moral equivalent of war".
Number Four prison, on what is now called Constitution Hill - the new home of South Africa's highest court - has been preserved for posterity, and will next month host an exhibition telling of Gandhi's experiences there. Other events being held around the country to mark the centenary of satyagraha include an academic symposium at the University of Witwatersrand.
For some, however, it is important not just to remember satyagraha but to try to live it.
Loren Braithwaite, head of SGI-South Africa, a Buddhist network that has set up a website (www.gandhi100.org) to co-ordinate commemorative activities, suggested that the philosophy could play a role in solving local problems such as violent crime.
"I come from the US where there is a war on crime, a war on drugs and a war on terror, and none of them work," she said. "You can never use a war as a means of achieving peace; that was the essence of Gandhi's message."