Brutality Against the Vulnerable: Lessons for Today from Gandhi and King
On Monday, February 15, David Anderson Hooker, Associate Professor of the Practice of Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute, and faculty member with the Caux Scholar’s Program at Asia Plateau, moderated a conversation between Professor Rajmohan Gandhi and Ifeoma Malo, a Caux Scholar Alumna from Nigeria.
In his introduction Dr. Hooker described the multiple ways the vulnerable experience injustice and even violence, using the term “syndemic”. As an example, he cited the way that communities of color in the U.S. might be impacted simultaneously by unjust policing, poor housing/education/food, and the current pandemic.
Ify Malo, a lawyer who has been named an Eisenhower, Desmond Tutu and African Leader Fellow, and currently serves as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive of the Clean Tech Hub and Energy Innovation Center in Abuja, spoke of the way that young Nigerians have risen up against pervasive corruption in their government, challenging the injustices that result and holding their representatives and leaders accountable. Despite Nigeria’s natural and human resources, corruption has been a major factor blocking the country’s sustainable development.
Gandhi, a noted historian and biographer, who has served in the Indian Senate and is currently a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, offered three recent examples of marginal groups rising up to challenge injustice: “black lives matter” in the U.S., the farmers in India and the mass protests against the military autocracy in Myanmar. In each case, those who feel their voices have not been heard, have stood up to demand justice. Gandhi emphasized, however, that both his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., had insisted that demands for change and justice be fought non-violently and without hate. Through their examples, they showed that the highest path was to love one’s enemy.
About Professor Rajmohan Gandhi:
https://www.rajmohangandhi.com/short-biography
About Dr. David Anderson Hooker:
https://kroc.nd.edu/faculty-and-staff/david-anderson-hooker/
About Ify Malo:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ifeoma_Malo