GandhiMustStandMovement On The Commemoration Of The International Day Of Non-Violence

On June 15 2007, at the 103rd Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 61/271 on International Day of Non-Violence was adopted.

By the terms of Resolution 61/271, the General Assembly decided to observe October 2 each year as the International Day of Non-Violence and brought ‘to the attention of all people for its celebration and observance on this date.’

To this effect, the General Assembly invited all Member States, organizations, including non-governmental organizations, and individuals to commemorate the International Day of Non-Violence ‘in an appropriate manner and to disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness.’

On the occasion of the celebration and observance of the International Day of Non-Violence this year, the GandhiMustStandMovement takes cognisance of the Day, which falls on the Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi of India, as a recognition by the world body of Mahatma Gandhi’s Philosophy of Non-Violence in Resistance to racism and racial discrimination, ethnic and religious oppression, class exploitation and human rights violations.

As the most violated people of the world in all these categories, Black Africans take notice of the inspiration that our leaders, such as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of the United States and Africa respectively, drew from Mahatma Gandhi’s Philosophy of Non-Violence in a Spirit of Resistance to advance the human rights of Africans in the United States and to achieve political independence on the African continent.

The GandhiMustStand Movement is proud to observe that Martin Luther King, Jr’s own acknowledgement of Mahatma Gandhi’s prime influence on him through his Philosophy of Non-Violence in a Spirit of Resistance is today immortalized in the erection of Gandhi’s statue at the Forecourt of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centre in the United States of America.

In like manner, the GandhiMustStandMovement is proud to observe that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s own acknowledgement of applying the strategy and tactics of Gandhi’s Philosophy of Non-Violence in a Spirit of Resistance not only to formulate his own Philosophy of Positive Action to achieve Ghana’s independence but also to formulate the tactics and strategies for the liberation of many other African countries has today been immortalized by the Africa Union in its erection of his statue at the Africa Union Headquarters in Ethiopia.

On this memorable International Day of Non-Violence, we find it gratifying that the University of Ghana has deemed it appropriate, in concert with the UN Resolution on International Day of Non-Violence, to erect Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on the premises of the University in acknowledgement of the positive influence of Gandhi’s Philosophy on Black African leaders who have fought by non-violent means to liberate and raise the dignity of the Black person wherever they might be.

So much is done. So much is left to be done by Africans in application of Gandhian Non-Violence in the Spirit of Resistance against racism, ethnic oppression and class exploitation which Gandhi strongly renounced and denounced in the stated belief that no human being is superior over any other. Long Live the Strive for Peaceful Co-existence for a world of ‘Different Colours One People’!

SIGNED:
Dr. Emmanuel Tweneboah Senzu
(Member of the GandhiMustStand Movement)