Going Gandhi

By Michael Ronan

“Growing up, I had two role models, Gandhi and Cher,” said peace educator Liz Gannon Graydon, standing in front of a monument to Gandhi. "I wanted to change the world but do it dressed like Cher."

Graydon was one of many speakers at the April 6 launch of the Satya Graha Forum in Union Square Park, a month-long initiative promoting the messages of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Although Gandhi, Dr. King, and Cher could not be present, Gandhi and Dr. King’s legacy was.

Speakers ranging from peace activists to religious leaders addressed a diverse crowd at Sunday’s event. From the middle-aged, to teenagers, from the elderly, to young children standing with their parents, everyone gathered together on this cloudy afternoon to hear one message. And what was that message?

In a word, satyagraha. Meaning “truth force” in Sanskrit, this word was used by Mahatma Gandhi to describe his movement of nonviolent social change. As writer Mark Kurlansky said unclear if he was there when he said it or not, Gandhi drew upon ancient traditions following nonviolence, “yet there was no word for it. The only word we have for it is nonviolence which is abhorrent because it doesn’t tell you what it is, it tells you what it is not.” For this reason Gandhi invented the word satyagraha.


Speakers applied Gandhi’s message of satyagraha in response to the violence. Philip Glass, writer of the opera “Satyagraha” said he saw how fitting Gandhi’s message is today. He said, “When I did the opera I saw the world in so such a violent state I didn’t think it could get any worse. In retrospect it seems the opera was written a little too early with the genocides in Iraq and Tibet.”

Tibetan Master Gelek Rinpoche also spoke on satyagraha’s application in Tibet. “Nonviolence is coming out of compassion, compassion is coming out of care,” said Rinpoche,. “If you don’t care, then you don’t care who dies.” Rinpoche stressed how important Gandhi’s path is to healing the world today. “We need compassion to yourself, compassion to others, compassion to the world,” he said.

The members of the Satya Graha Forum explained how the compassion involved in satyagraha is the only way to bring the world out of darkness. “It is springtime,” shouted author and political activist, the Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou. “It is springtime because though we may be in darkness it will never have the last laugh.”

The Rev. Sekou reminded the crowd how nonviolence worked in the past, calling to mind stories of the civil rights movements and Dr. King. Reminiscent of Dr. King through his speech’s words and powerful delivery, the Rev. Sekou urged the crowd to let our light shine in these dark times as it had before. “When you put your body on the line for that story, then it is springtime in America,” he said.

While the cynic in us may ask what kind of change will an event like this bring, Graydon answers saying the change is already happening. She said, “Peace skills are meeting people where they are. Peace studies are not just anti-war. It is a solution to differences and a way to work together.”

The theme of acting together ran throughout the event, if not in the words of the presenters, in the actions of those in the crowd. Before the event, volunteers walked around Union Square Park with holding up quotes from Gandhi on large, white, cardboard signs. They also participated in a traditional pedal ceremony where they tossed flowers onto the plaque in front of the Gandhi statue in honor of his memory and legacy. They were also invited to sing along with Indian vocalist Falu as she sang the Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, a traditional Hindu devotional song that Gandhi sang on his famous Salt March to Dandi.

While Gandhi and Dr. King may have died in Aprils past, the Satya Graha Forum members are keeping their legacy of nonviolent social change alive. Events on Gandhi’s message will be held throughout the city this month furthering the dialogue started here.

“It is springtime,” the Rev. Sekou said. And as strange as it sounds, by the cloud-filled day, it seemed like the sun would finally come out, if only for a moment.