Chapter 5. Gandhi in Action: Nonviolent Movements, Gandhi, and Contemporary Challenges
Advancing Nonviolence and Social Transformation - New Perspectives on Nonviolent Theories - Heather Eaton
Rajagopal P. V. [+ ]
Rajagopal P.V. of Ekta Parishad is the foremost leader, teacher, and practitioner of nonviolence in India. From South India, Rajagopal began his work on nonviolence when he spent six years working in the Chambal region. He spent 15 years working with Indian rural youth through nonviolent and community building training programs. In 1993, Rajagopal became the Secretary of the Gandhi Peace Foundation. In 2007, he organized and led a large nonviolent march, Janadesh, where 25,000 people walked from Gwalior to Delhi. In 2012, after preparing for four years, Rajagopal organized a similar, although larger, nonviolent march where 100,000 people walked, again from Gwalior to Delhi, for land reform, and were successful in negotiating their requirements for sustainable land regulations. Rajagopal, along with the work of Ekta Parishad, is a world leader on nonviolent struggles, training and actions.
Jill Carr-Harris [+ ]
International Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and Peace
Jill Carr-Harris has worked with Ekta Parishad and Rajagopal for over 20 years. During this time she has been a part of the women’s move- ment building, training and empowerment, and gender policy research in India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. She was one of the prominent women leaders of the most signi cant land-rights marches for landless poor women in post-independence India. She has worked on many inter- national solidarity projects. She has founded and led civil-society orga- nizations in India on agrarian reform as well as gender equality. She has spent the last 30 years in India, much of the time assisting poor women and marginalized communities in the Hindi belt. She is currently the Director of the International Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and Peace (IGINP) in South India, an organization designed to train people in nonviolent leadership and social action.
Description
This section ends with some personal thoughts from Rajagopal P.V. and Jill Carr-Harris