History: Gandhi, Fanon, and Nkrumah

F: How has the logic of total war shaped anti-colonial struggles?

Colonizers think that since the colonized decided to reply by violence, they therefore are ready to take all its consequences

N: What is non-alignment?

Cooperation with all states (other countries) whether they are capitalist, socialist, or have a mixed economy

G: What distinguishes humans from animals?

Humans are working towards state of ahimsa and moving away from ahimsa. Once humans are awoke to spirit of non-violence, they will move away from violence completely.

F: What is the relationship between a war of liberation and the national ideal?

"The mobilization of the masses, when it arises out of the war of liberation, introduces into each man's consciousness the ideas of a common cause, of a national destiny, and of a collective history"

N:What is neocolonialism?

A state which is in theory independent but in reality its economic system and political policy is directed from the outside

G: Marx suggested that history was the story of class struggle. What is history according to Gandhi?

A steady progression towards "ahimsa".

G: Why has ahimsa not featured prominently in discussions of human history?

Ahimsa is not featured as there have been wars in human history. People notice war more than peace (if you solved something peacefully, less people note the conflict or pay attention to it.

N: Why is neo-colonialism the worst form of imperialism?

For those who practice it, it means power without responsibility and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation without redress

N: Why is it particularly problematic?

Foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. It increases rather than decreases the gap between the rich and the poor countries of the world

G: Why the reference to [Isaac] Newton?

Gandhi says the rishis who discovered Law of Non-Violence were more genius than Newton.

F: What does Fanon mean when he calls foreign aid to the decolonized world a "just reparation"?

He means that because the colonizers messed up these places so much (the colonies) so it is just that the europeans come to their aid when they are independent.

F:What is the logic of imperialism

The wealth of imperial countries is "our wealth too"- when one benefits so do the others

G: What does non-violent resistance do for the resistor?

It is through nonviolence that a man can fulfil his destiny and his duty to his fellow creatures.

G: What is ahimsa?

Love and Non-Violence, causing no injury, doing no harm

G: What is "love in the Pauline sense"?

Love, as defined by St. Paul says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Love means this and more to Gandhi.

F: If settlers killed indigenous cultures, how can the indigenous cultures be reborn?

Native life can only spring up again out of the rotting corpse of the settler (i have no clue what this means but thats what it said)

G: Is non-violence "meek submission"?

No, non-violence means "putting one's whole soul against the will of the tyrant".

F: In general, do people living in the colonial/imperial center (London, Paris, New York) regard the colonized as equals?

No, when seven frenchmen were killed the people in the colonial center justified massacring whole populations of colonized people as punishment for the deaths of the frenchmen.

G: Gandhi mentions "prophets." Who does he have in mind?

People who have taught lessons of truth, brotherhood, harmony.

F: What explains the ferocity of colonized people when they attack colonizers?

The development of violence among the colonized people will be proportionate to the violence exercised by the threatened colonial regime.

N: What happens to neocolonialism if there is a revolution in a neocolonial country?

The neo-colonialist government can be sacrificed and another equally subservient one substituted in its place

F: What does violence do for its perpetrator?

Violence introduces into each man's consciousness the idea of common cause, national destiny and a collective history.

F: European opulence has been founded on slavery, nourished with the blood of slaves and comes directly from the soil and from the subsoil of that underdeveloped world What is an "autarkic regime"?

When a colonial power says "since you want independence, take it and starve" and cuts off all resources. A regime of austerity is imposed and tries to find an answer to the nation's great hunger

F: From where does European wealth come?

diamonds and oil, silk and cotton, wood and exotic products