15 March 2016
3 hours

Brünn-Harris-Watts Collection
Archive Box 730. The cover states: Peace News .
- “The Counter Society”
Peace News article. Author: Geoffrey Ashe. Date: 1968. Format: A2. 2 pages.
Article from Peace News (16 August 1968, page 2-3) by Ashe about the Gandhi Centennial and his relevance today. Ashe explains that the “real” Gandhi should not be confused with the image of him depicted in the West. In India Gandhi isn’t remembered for his civil disobedience or his philosophy of non-violence. Their picture is quite a different one: “‘He taught Indians to be patriotic and self-reliant’, they say. He taught the importance of everyday concerns as well as high politics. He taught brotherhood and no class distinctions. He taught that Indians must stand on their own feet and supply their own needs. That they must hate nobody, not even the British, and be brave and straight forward and grasp that their only enemy was fear.’” The Western misconception stems from a false understanding of Satyagraha. “Gandhi called himself a teacher of Truth and Non-violence, in that order. […] Non-violence has to be seen in relationship to Truth. When he spoke of non-violence he didn’t mean primarily what Westerners have tended to think of – non-violence as a tactic, abstaining from hitting people. The basic thing here is the non-violence of the mind. In Gandhi’s view, if you don’t start with this and stick to it, you won’t evaluate the situation correctly; you won’t get to Truth, or at any rate you won’t keep your grasp on it. […] One of the implications is that it is not enough to be against something, not enough to be simply ‘anti’. If you are, if your thoughts are centered on hate or on opposition, you may or may not achieve some good but you will eventually go off the rails. This is not meant as a doctrine of ethics, but as a plain statement of fact. Purely ‘anti’ action involves a sort of mental violence and will go wrong.”
A key concept is that of self-reliance, which must ultimately be the basis of any form of counter culture. “Gandhi in fact taught me an attitude of mind which I believe is the right one for the revolutionary today. Granted, there must be dissent […] yet, they should set to work building a counter-society, a distinct mode of living, on a do-it-yourself basis. Perhaps at first on a small scale, perhaps in a part-time way. […] This is the proper context for future activities for peace in the broadest sense.”

Archive boxes 729-749 contain a large number of magazines, mostly of an underground, counter culture or anti-war nature. These titles include: The Anti-WARrior, Dragon Seed, Gene Watch: Update on the Military and Biotechnology, Troops Out Now: Self Determination for the Irish People as a Whole, On Guard, Peace Maker and Non-Violent Activist: The Magazine for the War Resisters League (for issues dating from 1996, which only contain short news updates and announcements but, sadly, now articles on non-violence).

Archive Boxes 934-941 contain roughly four hundred brochures, leaflets, pamphlets and even comic books, dating from the mid fifties to 2000, on a wide variety of subjects including: the German peace movement, the German army and conscription; the American GI movement, the American peace movement, the US army, desertion and conscientious objection; social movements; anarchism; the Viet Nam War; Indonesia (1994); Japan (1972); North Korea (1972); China (1969-1976); Afghanistan (1980); Algeria (1960); Israel and Palestine (1970-1973; the Gulf War (1991); Pakistan; Syria (1968); and Tunisia (1974-1975).