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Nonviolence
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A strict follower of nonviolence, Dr Martin Luther King led
the African-American civil rights movements towards the goal of
social and civil equality for Africans-Americans in the USA.
He framed out six principles of nonviolence. Fundamental characteristics
of his philosophy of nonviolence described in his first book, Stride
Toward Freedom are as follows: 
1. Nonviolence is not passive, but requires courage.
2. Nonviolence seeks reconciliation, not defeat of an adversary.
3. Nonviolent action is directed at eliminating evil, not
destroying an evil-doer.
4. A willingness to accept suffering for the cause, if necessary,
but never to inflict it.
5. A rejection of hatred, animosity or violence of the spirit,
as well as refusal to commit physical violence.
6. Faith that justice will prevail.
King devised six steps of nonviolent social change as well in
his book:
1. Information gathering and research to get the facts straight.
2. Education of adversaries and the public about the facts
of the dispute.
3. Personal Commitment to nonviolent attitudes and action.
4. Negotiation with adversary in a spirit of goodwill to
correct injustice.
5. Nonviolent direct action, such as marches, boycotts, mass
demonstrations, picketing, sit-ins etc., to help persuade
or compel adversary to work toward dispute-resolution.
6. Reconciliation of adversaries in a win-win outcome in
establishing a sense of community.
Triple Evils
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Below given are excerpts from Dr Martin Luther King’s book
Where Do We Go From Here : Chaos or Community? He discusses ‘The
Triple Evils of Poverty, Racism and War’ as the fundamental
causes behind man’s miseries.
POVERTY – “There is nothing new about poverty.
What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid
of it. The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty
... The well off and the secure have too often become indifferent
and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst. Ultimately
a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation
can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of
these.”
RACISM – “Racism is a philosophy based on a contempt
for life. It is the arrogant assertion that one race is the center
of value and object of devotion, before which other races must kneel
in submission. It is the absurd dogma that one race is responsible
for all the progress of history and alone can assure the progress
of the future. Racism is total estrangement. It separates not only
bodies, but minds and spirits. Inevitably it descends to inflicting
spiritual and physical homicide upon the out-group.”
WAR – “A true revolution of values will lay hands
on the world order and say of war – ‘This way of settling
differences is not just.’ This way of burning human beings
with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and
widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples
normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields
physically handicapped psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled
with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after
year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of
social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
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