Violence & its remedies

Rev L Simon Raomai *

Violence is as old human history itself and profoundly noted in man. There is evidence of this in the Homo habits, a two million-year-old fossil of the tool making ancestor of man discovered in 1961. Homo habilis died of a fractured skull, an injury which was most likely inflicted by another man's ancestors. According to the Bible, Cain raised his hands against his own younger brother Abel and killed him. So Cain became the first murderer in the history of mankind (Bible: Genesis 4:1-16). It appears, therefore, that from the earliest times man has been driven by an inmate destructive impulse. Although violence is contrary to the true nature of man, it has become a perverted nature.

All of our actions, however, are not actions of violence, and there has to be a difference between what can and what cannot be called an act of violence. Hence, we need a definition, a concept that would enable us to make clear that distinction. In all probability such a definition will cover offences like murder, deliberate injury, rape, robbery, beating, arson and the like actions with we have fearful association.

The meaning of violence according to Webster's Dictionary is unjust or callous use of force or power as in violating another's right, privacy etc. It seems therefore, that in defining violence the moral dimension of actions also has to be taken into account because a violent act may not necessarily be an act of violence and vice versa. For example Mr Tom takes his axe and hacks violently away at a stump. Here is a violent act, but not an act of violence.

On the other hand a man is administered poison calmly with the result that he dies writhing and threshing in pain. So tranquil an action resulting in such a violent death. This makes clear that violence is a complex action and not easy to define. Violence has quite a variety of forms. One way injury and harm inflicted on people is by deliberates action. We do something which results in harming others. The other way is our inaction in a situation which causes injury.

It is generally accepted that causing injury or death by deliberate action is far worse than that caused by inaction to prevent harm, but in as everyone has both a will to live and the right to live we are morally as responsible for our inaction to prevent injury, harm or death as we are for our willful action to harm or kill. We come to grips with the significance of this distinction and particularly of the enormity of the consequences of our inaction when we are seized of the prevalence of violence in human affairs today. Do to others as you would like to be done by others.

War and bloody or long drawn-out revolutions come to our notice easily, but we are prone not to give sufficient attention to the violence of normal times. Violence did to the outcast, the economically and educationally paralysed, the bonded labour, the women and children and the ill-treated and exploited domestic slaves have become a part of our normal life. In due course it may also become true of extremism and terrorism which are responsible for the cold-blooded killing of so many innocent people.

And what about the armies or policemen, the custodians of law and protectors of life and property, who break up peaceful protest marches, and who, while, doing that, maims and mutilate people? The saddest part about the violence of normal times is that it is not condemned enough and, more important, that no one tries to diminish or eradicate it. More often than not greater violence is done to society by our acts of omission than by our willful, deliberate actions. Mindless acts and speech that can trigger violence should be shunned or restraint.

There are various violence prevailing in our society because we all live in a world of paradoxes where the existing contradictions result in discrimination, dehumanization, injustices and oppression causing widespread violence. That violence everywhere amazes no one but what puzzles one is that people are so indifferent and oblivious to it. It continues to bringmore and more people under fear and insecurity yet so few are disturbed by its people under fear and insecurity, so few are disturbed by its increase. Anger causes violence and it is the expression or the outlet of resentment that brings a result of broken relationship; killing and destruction of properties.

By biblical writers, violence is also seen as "intentional injury", as something chosen by its perpetrator. It is also understood to have a demonic influence that oftentimes overwhelms person quite apart from any conscious choosing. In Romans chapter 7, Paul says, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not what I want but I do the very thing I hate… Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer that I do it, but sin which dwells within me." For these overpowering sources of evil in 1 Corinthians 2:6 Paul uses the phrase, "the rulers of this age".

Again in Romans chapters 6 and 7, Paul describes sin as 'a power at work within human beings'. This power can 'reign' in us and make us obey our passions (Bible: Romans 6:12). It can let loose in us covetousness (Bible: Romans 7:8). It can reward us, ie deceive and destroy us (Bible: Romans 7:11). This same destructive power is mentioned by Paul in (Bible: Ephesians 2:2) as the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that is now at work in "the sons of disobedience". Evidently Paul saw human beings helpless in themselves as victims of these satanic, demonic powers of destructive nature. What Paul may have had in mind was that under the influence of these powers people were blinded by their self-interest into moral and spiritual turpitude so that they lost the sense of distinction between right and wrong, and did what they ought not to have done.

Yet violence has been continuing for ages and one does not feel that it will wear off easily and die. Therefore, it is important that this destructive aspect of our life, this malady should not be allowed to become a part of our continued existence. The question is, does it have a cure? "Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme disease" said Hypocrites. Hence to exterminate violence from our land we need a potent remedy, something which is not less than an ideology, a creed or a principle. We need something which will stir the imagination of the masses, mobilize them into a movement and be a powerful weapon in their contend against violence.

The only weapon we can think of with which we can counteract against violence, and which has been tested successfully in the crucible of life, is Ahimsa or non-violence. Jesus Christ demonstrated that principle on the cross. Mahatma Gandhi used it basing on the principle of Sermon on the Mount (Bible: Matthew 5:1-10) taught by Jesus Christ to transform the thinking of the masses in India and to mobilize them into absorbers of violence that finally liberated India from the oppression of a Powerful country.

Today, the voice of violence is echoing and sounding loud in the air everywhere which creates a fear psychosis in the minds of the people. As a result, we are often under the grip of anxiety, tension and worry. Bandh-strikes, violence and killing have become a daily phenomenon in our land. People tend to express their anger through violence. People use bandh/blockade as the ultimate means of demanding their rights and as the outlet of their grievances. Our Democracy has also becomes Mobocracy. We are often being carried away by our emotionality rather than rationality. In such a chaotic situation, let us check our words and actions for violence begets violence. Are you for peace or violence?

Manipur now can be noted or spotted as one of the most violent states in the world today in many forms. And the beauty of our land is fading away gradually and our age old cordial communal relationship is also being broken. We are responsible for what the situation is in our society today. We the people of Manipur are the architects of our state for good or bad; for construction or destruction; for love or hatred; for unity or disunity; for integrity or disintegration; for peace or war; to laugh or to cry; to live or to die and prosper together or to perish together. Because we are on board together in a boat, we sail together or sink together.

Let us cease singing the old sad songs, stop telling the old stories of enmity and stop pricking the old wounds which reminds the people of the past bitter memories afresh and evoke the emotion of the people.

Let us stop trying to solve our problems with violence. But let us rather introspect and retrospect who we are and how we are. Let us respect each other and love one another. Let us reason together, think logically, rationally and act non-violently to live together in peace harmony in this global village.