26 January
3hours

Devi Prasad Papers. 
Archive Box 40. The cover states: Sri Lanka Project / 1989-1994
Weekly logs from the Sri Lanka mission (and some from other missions in Guatemala and Canada), reports on internal troubles (peace workers accusing one another of spending large amounts of mission money in the restaurant of the local Hilton) and some excellent background articles on the social, economic, political and cultural/ethnic divisions in Sri Lanka.

Archive Box 51. The cover states: WPB / Delhi-Peking Friendship march / 1963-1964.
- “The Role of the Sarvodaya Movement in the Sino-Indian Conflict”
Pamphlet (with corrections in pen). Author: Monmohan Chaudhari. Publisher: Bharti Sevra Kendra/Bhola printing Works. Date: April 1963. Format: A5. 16 pages.
Choudhari’s response to Western criticism (mainly from A.J. Muste) that the Sarvodaya movement is not sufficiently “rigid” in its nonviolent stance. First Chaudhari attacks the premise that “one can choose for peace and goodwill only by being non-committal and refraining from expression any judgments on the rights and wrongs of a conflict”. In this situation, the Sino-Indian conflict, Chaudari is not at all against picking sides as he firmly believes that the conflict is the result of Chinese/communist aggression: “Now what the believers in nonviolence were expected to do at this juncture? What advice should they have given to the people of threatened Tezpur for instance? Ought they have told them that it was no concern of theirs, because the government of India had gone to war and so they refused to think about the situation that arose out of it? Should the people have been advised to submit docilely to the invading forces?” 
A position of non-committality might have been the attitude of Tagore, for instance, but it was not Gandhi’s: “By his concept of Satyagraha Gandhi opened up a new dimension of non-violence. In this, one is not expected to withdraw from a conflict situation to be non-violent.” So, according to Chaudhari, it is possible to take sides and still adhere to the ethics of nonviolence. Furthermore, Vinoba Bhave’s concept of “non-violent assistance” requires one to provide assistance to the wronged party in a conflict. Finally, he concludes: “We are fully aware that the Sarvodaya movement is at a very important and critical juncture in its history and the correctness of the steps taken by it and the vigour evinced in the prosecution of these steps at this time will determine irrevocably the course of its future development.”

Archive Box 52. The cover states: WPB / Delhi-Peking Friendship march / 1963-1964.

Archive Box 53. The cover states: Articles on nonviolence / 1961-1997
- “How Much Violence? Can Power be Used with Violence? A Nonviolent Revolutionary View”
Typescript (corrected and edited in pen). Author: Devi Prasad. Date: 1976. Format: A4. 8 pages.
Prasad’s musings on the state, violence, and the question where violence ends and nonviolence begins.
Is a revolution to be achieved through the state or should the state be abolished with it? Prasad cites both Gandhi and Kropotkin on their aversion to state power and any attempt to simply replace the present powers that be by some revolutionary body that will soon be just as oppressive, or even more so (“Today’s liberation, tomorrow’s oppression”, as Prasad calls it). 
On the nature of nonviolence and the question where violence ends and nonviolence begins, Prasad states avidly that nonviolence is entirely different from “unviolence” – the mere absence of violence – , although at some point “unviolence” may function as a stepping stone between violence and nonviolence. Nonviolence is a positive concept: “Some people believe that any political action that is not accompanied with military and armed action or threat is nonviolent action. This is a gross misunderstanding of nonviolence, because acceptance of nonviolence implies almost a total change of lifestyle – a radical change in human relations as well as ones relation with the rest of the universe. According to the theory of nonviolence, the whole concept of liberation also changes. It is not sufficient to liberate oneself from outer dominitions [sic], but also from the bondage one creates by forces other than human beings. […] To put it in Vinoba Bhave’s language, nonviolence is the synthesis of science and spirituality.” Unviolence, on the other hand, is “a part of the orthodox political approach which is basically materialistic.”
- “The Pacifist Perspective on Social Change”
Typescript, carbon copy (poor quality plus corrections in pen). Author: Devi Prasad. Date: ca. 1970. Format: A4. 4 pages.
Short article on the WRI’s position on social change and the (un)support of revolutionary/liberational violence. Prasad departs from the internal dichotomy of the WRI constitution, which opposes both war of all kinds ánd the causes of war (that are often related to oppression and exploitation). So conflicts may arise when one supports both opposition to all war and “any group or movement struggling against exploitation or oppression, whether that movement is violent or nonviolent.” With the violent deaths of Gandhi and King and the withering away of their respective movements, it’s easy to conclude that nonviolence has failed. However, “in using violence means to bring about a society without war and oppression, one is already negating all the values for which one is pretending to fight. The truism that violence begets violence applies at many levels. […] We must not lose sight of or abandon, the WRI’s commitment to active nonviolence, as to me it seems to be the only means by which a free and non-exploitative society can be brought about. The WRI can not afford to say that if nonviolence fails, we will have to resort to violence. Violence has already failed time and again to bring about the kind of society which man is longing for, and we can see all too clearly the root of that failure in violence itself. If we ever begin to lose faith in our traditional way of applying nonviolence, we must have the courage and persistence to seek for new ones.”

Archive Box 54. The cover states: Articles and reports on WRI / 1961-1991.
Roughly 30 plus articles that are either not on topic or that have been listed before or posted already.
 
Archive Box 55. The cover states: Articles and reports on specific conflict situations as Cyprus, Sri Lanka / 1962-1991.
- “The Growth of Nonviolent Social Change Movements in Latin America (Draft for private circulation)”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Devi Prasad. Date: 1978. Format: A4. 25 pages.
Prasad provides a short history of social change movements in Latin America from the late 17^th century until the late seventies. “Something of a grassroots movement is growing there,” thanks mainly to a new awareness of and changes in the all important Roman Catholic church. Prasad portrays some of the key figures, such as Dom Helder Camara and Camilo Torres, who, despite his pacifism and inherent interest in nonviolence, had decided to join the guerilla struggle. He also describes some of the nonviolent actions taking place in Guatemala and Panama as well as the surge of nonviolence in Costa Rica. “During the past fifteen years several seminars and conferences have taken place to discuss nonviolent strategies for the situations in different countries. […] The most inspiring fact of the conference [in Costa Rica] was the diversity of people and intensity of their commitment. The campesinos, industrial workers, organizers and Bishops working in small groups toward agreement and expression of their hopes: ageing Bishops being instructed by peasants and Latin nuns applauding struggling steel workers.”
As the violent revolutionary group are less and less able to organize themselves effectively (because of the growing sophistication of state power), more and more revolution minded people are drawn towards nonviolence. In Prasad’s analysis, the central problem, though, is that Latin America is lacking a Gandhian type of constructive program that will adequately prepare this new nonviolent force, and that the nonviolent Latin American leadership has not yet managed to develop an approach that combines and integrates the constructive program with direct action. In the end, what Latin America needs is its own unique combination of development and liberation, not fashioned after that in India or anywhere else, but based on local grassroots initiatives. 

Archive Box 56. The cover states: Articles on Gandhi and education / 1969-2001.
- “Peace Education and Education for Peace”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Devi Prasad. Date: 1981. Format: A4. 27 pages.
Prasad’s thesis: “A warless world cannot be created by providing information and developing intellectual virtues, but by fostering moral self-discipline and by making an aesthetic approach to education for developing the individual to his or her full humanity.”
The paper provides both a history of peace education and an analysis of its effectiveness. On the basis of a lengthy detour in psychoanalytical theory, Prasad concludes that modern human beings no longer seem able to internalize the information which they find intellectually sensible and useful. Mainly because educational systems begin and end with the pursuit of intellectual growth of the personality and distort the emotional side of their being. The solution that Prasad has on offer, is a Gandhian style revolution in moral self-discipline and aesthetic awareness. 

Box 56 is to be continued next week.