“Gandhi and the World Crisis: A Symposium”
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: January 1, 1962 to January 31, 1962
Location: New Delhi, India
Genre: Published Article
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views
Nonviolence
Details
Seeking to launch a new symposium for Gandhi Marg, the journal’s editor G. Ramachandran requested a statement from King on how Gandhian nonviolent direct action can “compel Governments to commit themselves unreservedly to total disarmament without delay and hesitation.”1 King’s contribution to the symposium appeared in the magazine’s January 1962 edition.
Non-violent direct action must not be seen as merely a method to be used in conflicts within nations, but as a method which can be creatively used to resolve conflicts among the power blocs in the world today.…
…
The civilized world stands on the brink of nuclear annihilation. No longer can any sensible person talk glibly about preparation for war. The present crisis calls for sober thinking, reasonable negotiation and moral commitment. More than ever before the Gandhian method of non-violent direct action must be applied in international affairs. This method must not be seen as merely a method to be used in conflicts within nations. It must be seen as a method which can be creatively used to resolve conflicts among the power blocs in the world today. Moreover, it must be used to arouse the conscience of these nations on the whole question of disarmament. Through such non-violent demonstrations as sit-ins, stand-ins and picketing, the leaders of the Western Powers and the Soviet Union must be reminded of the dark night of destruction which hovers over all of us. Without this kind of non-violent direct action, mankind may well come to an untimely grave on this planet. The choice is no longer between violence and non-violence, it is either non-violence or non-existence.
1. Ramachandran to King, 6 December 1961. Ramachandran was also secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, a sponsor of King’s 1959 trip to India. For more on their relationship, see Ramachandran to King, 27 December 1958, in Papers 4:552–553; King to Ramachandran, 19 May 1959, in Papers 5:211–212. At the request of Norman Cousins and Clarence Pickett, co-founders of the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, King supported a ban on nuclear testing in 1958 when he allowed the organization to use his name in an advertisement published in the New York Herald Tribune (Cousins and Pickett to King, 9 March 1958, in Papers 4:379–380).
Source: Gandhi Marg 6 (January 1962): 23–24.