By IANS
Brussels : An Italian politician and member of European Parliament says he has chosen the Gandhian path of non-violent protest called satyagraha as an alternative solution to today’s problems.
Marco Pannella, president of the Transnational Radical Party, (TRP) told EuAsiaNews that he had chosen satyagraha because “non-violence offers an alternative solution to the problems of our times. It provides a revolutionary answer politically and culturally”.
When asked if it is taken seriously in the West, Pannella said: “Even the Mahatma’s followers were mocked and laughed at initially”.
But after 30 years of pursuing this method he believes “the influence is undeniable. Italian politics and public opinion now take it very seriously”.
In 1968 he was arrested at Sofia in Bulgaria, where he had gone to demonstrate against the Soviet invasion of then-Czechoslovakia. It was on this occasion that for the first time he staged a hunger strike, Gandhi style.
TRP is an association of citizens, parliamentarians and members of government of various national and political backgrounds who intend to achieve, through non-violent Gandhian methods, a number of concrete objectives aimed at creating an effective body of international law with respect for individuals and the affirmation of democracy and freedom
throughout the world.
Though TRP does not participate in national, regional or local elections it seeks that its voice be heard in matters that it views as unjust or going “against the rule of law and democracy”.
The General Council of TRP, which convened in Brussels in December 2007, welcomed Pannella´s proposal to make 2008 the year of the “First Great World Satyagraha for Peace and Democracy”.
It was decided that this particular satyagraha for peace would commence in Italy as it was “a country on the decline and in a state on degradation ideologically”, according to Pannella.
In the run-up to the general elections in April in Italy, the Radicals reportedly reached an agreement with the Democratic Party (DP) to have nine elected members within the DP list.
According to the Radicals, DP leader Walter Veltroni is now refusing to link the TRP list to his party list and has made available, as the only viable option, a number of eligible seats within the DP for the Radical members.
In protest, Pannella embarked on a hunger strike on March 5.
“Keeping one’s word is indeed one of the foundations of the law,” he said.
Satyagraha was the philosophy of non-violent resistance developed by Mahatma Gandhi. This peaceful path of protest that he followed, and urged others to follow, won India her freedom from British rule in 1947.
Today the philosophy of satyagraha continues to inspire leaders like the Dalai Lama.