Mairead Corrigan Maguire Reflects on Working Toward Peace
All
of us need to take responsibility for the world's violence
and, like Gandhi, pledge our lives to the nonviolent transformation
of the world in order to resolve these insane crises through
the wisdom of nonviolence.
Gandhi taught that nonviolence does not mean passivity.
No. It is the most daring, creative, and courageous way
of living, and it is the only hope for our world. Nonviolence
is an active way of life which always rejects violence and
killing, and instead applies the force of love and truth
as a means to transform conflict and the root causes of
conflict. Nonviolence demands creativity. It pursues dialogue,
seeks reconciliation, listens to the truth in our opponents,
rejects militarism, and allows God's spirit to transform
us socially and politically.
Getting to the root cause of the conflict continues to
be the greatest challenge facing people in Northern Ireland.
We need now to build a culture of genuine nonviolence and
real democracy. This can only happen through consensus politics
built by the people, and courageous political leadership
by the government on human rights issues.
Thirty years ago, if the Northern Ireland government had
implemented civil rights instead of responding to conflict
with ever increasing oppression, emergency legislation,
and outright militarization, the savage violence we have
known would never have erupted. Today, while we are thankful
that the peace process has begun, we are deeply conscious
that many of the same problems that were there in 1968 still
remain awaiting a solution in an atmosphere of mistrust
deepened by thirty years of unnecessary violence. The only
thing we have learned is that violence makes things worse.
. . .
To enable consensus politics to develop we need to empower
people where they live. This means devolving financial resources
and political power down to the community level. One of
the greatest blocks to movement is fear. This fear can only
be removed when people feel their voices are being heard
by government and when they have a say in their own lives
and communities.
But Gandhi's challenge of nonviolence is not only a necessity
for ourselves and for Northern Ireland; it is a challenge
placed before the whole of humanity. Fifty years after his
death Gandhi challenges us to pursue a new millennium of
nonviolence. This is not an impossible dream. . . .
I have come to believe, with Gandhi, that through our
own personal conversion, our own inner peace, we are sensitized
to care for God, for ourselves, for each other, for the
poor, and for the earth, and then we can become true servants
of peace in our world. Herein lies the power of nonviolence.
As our hearts are disarmed by God of our inner violence,
they become God's instruments for the disarmament of the
world. Without this inner conversion we run the risk of
becoming embittered, disillusioned, despairing, or simply
burnt out, especially when our work for peace and justice
appears to produce little or no result, or seems trifling
in comparison with the injustice we see around us. With
this conversion we learn to let go of all desires, including
our destructive desire to see results.
For many people this ancient wisdom of the heart, this
wisdom of nonviolence, may seem too religious and too idealistic
in today's hard-headed world of politics and science. But
I believe, with Gandhi, that we need to take an imaginative
leap forward toward fresh and generous idealism for the
sake of all humanity-that we need to renew this ancient
wisdom of nonviolence, to strive for a disarmed world, and
to create a culture of nonviolence.
As we enter the third millennium we need to apply this
ancient wisdom of nonviolence to politics, economics, and
science. For many, particularly in the West, increased materialism
and unprecedented consumerism have not led to inner peace
and happiness. Although technology has given us many benefits,
it has not helped us to distinguish between what enhances
life and humanity, and what destroys life and humanity.
The time has come to return to the ancient wisdom of nonviolence.
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