Belief

There are those who adhere to a philosophy of nonviolence, or a religious mandate to practice nonviolence. Great. Historian Nico Slate (2023) examines the history of that swirl of phenomena as it informed and helped drive the US civil rights movement. 

Slate reviews the actuality from recordings from that era at the Highlander Institute, a Tennessee training ground for activists like Rosa Parks and many others. He also accesses the stated memories of some of the leaders from that struggle--leaders who were sometimes in the educated ministers stratum and also grassroots working class leaders (who are not frequently cited compared to the ministers). 

He discusses some of the unease in an over-reliance on the philosophical underpinnings--frequently understood by some of the educated ministers like Rev. James Lawson and Dr. King as an effort to incorporate the Gandhian concept of ahimsa--non-harm--into Christian beliefs of the ministers and their congregants. 

Frequently missing in the quandaries described are the simple utility applications of modifiers, a topic that has use in many flailing discussions and disagreements. Philosophical nonviolence is quite separate from strategic nonviolence. One has no connection to political or social struggle; one does not demand a lifelong commitment. While the two can co-exist in one individual, they can be quite separate, distinct, and produce confusion unless labeled accurately, using the modifiers. 

A discussion about nonviolence with Tolstoy might include his admonition that you either practice nonviolence or go to hell. A discussion about nonviolence with Gene Sharp would divorce nonviolence from religion or philosophy and just focus on winning campaigns. Without the modifiers we can waste time and energy making inaccurate assumptions about what we are believing together and doing together. 

Modifiers matter. The beauty of strategic nonviolence is that it is successful so often as to create its own belief, its own faith. That is part of what Gandhi synthesized so well, though it's crucial for all who wish to practice nonviolence in a campaign not to feel obligated to adhere to a Hindu or Christian basis, but rather an effectiveness standard. Strategic nonviolence? I believe. 

References

Slate, N. (2023). Translating nonviolence: Ahimsa, satyagraha, and the civil rights movement. Peace & Change, 48(3), 163–182. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1111/pech.12618