SATYAGRAHA: A Global Force for the 21st Century

Description

1917, Champaran, Bihar. Satyagraha, a mass protest movement, experimented by Mahatma Gandhi earlier in South Africa, was launched to oppose the British colonial regime’s insistence that farmers grow indigo to serve British interests. Over a hundred years later, as these rich essyas by some leading scholars and activists of contemporary times such as Mark Jurgensmeyer, Beatriz Bissio, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Vinay Lal, Medha Patkar and Vandana Shiva show, Gandhi’s legacy of satyagraha remains a relevant moral-political force for struggling for justice, continuously evolving as a universal mode of social action. These contributions with case studies from South Africa, US and Latin America and India as well as theoretical perspectives, provide rare historical and cultural insights in understanding the dimensions and possibilities of satyagraha. They are an excellent resource for both the specialsit and the general public, indeed anyone interested in exploring the appeal of satyagraha as a mode of political action all over the world.

Manoranjan Mohanty, former Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi, is currently Distinguished Professor at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi where he was Editor of its journal, Social Change. He is also Emeritus Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi.

Mannika Chopra is a senior journalist, columnist and media activist. Formerly Managing Editor of Social Change, she has taught at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi and Columbia University, New York.