Snippets: Ahimsa Conversation # 98 Akeel Bilgrami
Channel: Ahimsa Conversations
Date: 14/01/2022

Nonviolence is quite distinct from peace. Philosopher Akeel Bilgrami explains that while peace is usually a counter to war, and thus a matter of negotiation, nonviolence is about conscience and duty. He recalls Machiavelli’s famous exhortation to rulers that it is better for them to evoke fear rather than love among the people. This is because fear wells up from within somewhat helplessly – while love is a matter of choice and an expression of autonomy. Mahatma Gandhi reversed this and demonstrated that nonviolent resistance expands ordinary people’s sense of autonomy and thus can challenge State power. Akeel also dwells on Gandhi’s critique of European modernity and the links between his perspective and a tradition of Russian thinkers which goes from Fyodor Dostoevsky  and Leo Tolstoy to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 
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