Subject: M.K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Millennium March 2000
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 08:44:35 EST

Gandhi and King on the Millennium March 2000
  by Mel White

      Early in February, 1998, the Human Rights Campaign and the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches suggested a Millennium March on
Washington, D.C. by a million gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
Americans (and our allies) sometime in April, 2000.  Thankfully, their
suggestion comes more than two years in advance, plenty of time to discuss it.
What better activists could we use to lead our discussion than M.K. Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Jr.?  The Satyagraha or "soul force" principles of
militant nonviolent resistance to injustice that shaped their marches provide
important guidelines for our own.*

      1. A march has a specific, narrowly-focused, clearly-stated goal.

      2. A march is not an end in itself but one tactic in a total strategy to
reach that specific, narrowly-focused, clearly-stated goal.

      3. A march is only called for after negotiations have broken down with
an adversary and then only to compel the adversary back to negotiations.

      4. A march is costly (in time, money, and energy) to volunteers and the
organizations they represent and that cost must be honestly and openly
considered before the march is called.

      5. A march is timed for maximum effect.

      6. A march must require risk, courage, and stamina for the marcher (to
demonstrate the marcher's total committment and genuine concern).

      7. A march is a serious-minded attempt to persuade the adversary that
the  request is just.  A march is not a parade, party, or celebration that may
confuse the adversary or even give the adversary more reason to hate or fear
the marchers.

      8. A marcher must be carefully trained in the goal of the march and sign
a pledge to maintain standards of behavior and dress during the march that
will help convince the adversary that the marcher is determined and sincere.

      9. A march is not called to support a candidate, party, or issue which
may divide the marchers, but a specific goal or purpose upon which the
marchers are united.

      10. A march must focus the print and electronic media on the specific,
clearly-stated, narrowly-focused goal before, during, and after the march to
avoid any confusion as to why the march has been called.

      11. A march must be directed by carefully trained monitors and before
the march all marchers must agree to obey those monitor's commands.

      12. A march must not seek to embarrass, coerce or terrorize the
adversary, but quietly, calmly, and courageously convince the adversary that
the marcher's goal is just.

      13. A marcher must understand the principles of nonviolence and pledge
to refrain from violence of fist, tongue, or heart during the march.

      14. A marcher must be a person of faith.
      [NOTE: Gandhi, a Hindu, was not sectarian in this rule.  He defined God
as Truth but began each day with personal and group prayer and meditation on
the holy writings of all the "great religions."  In 1939, Gandhi asked
marchers to sign a pledge that he or she "must have a living faith in God."
Gandhi embraced agnostics and athiests as friends in transition who have
abandoned old, inadequate gods and are people of faith on a journey towards
the Spirit of Truth.
       Dr. King, a Baptist Christian preacher, marched arm-in-arm with Jews,
Catholics, mainline Protestants and other people of faith, but in 1963, in
Birmingham, for one example, he asked marchers to sign a pledge that they
would "meditate daily on the life and teachings of Jesus."
       Neither man required sectarian allegiance to any one statement of faith
or religious practice, but both men stated clearly that a truly nonviolent
march cannot be carried out by marchers without some faith committment to a
higher power.]

      *Gandhi and King had little time to systematize the principles of
Satyagraha, or "soul force."  I have extrapolated these principles from their
essays, diaries, articles about conducting effective marches, and copies of
the actual pledges Gandhi and King asked their marchers to sign in South
Africa, India, and in the United States.  If you are interested in the
original data read from The Collected Works of Gandhi (Navijivan Publishing)
or King's collected writings in Testament of Hope (Harper Collins). >>

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 08:37:28 -0800
Subject: Re: M.K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Millennium March 2000

With all due respect, much in this list simply doesn't apply.  Points 8
and 11 are particularly problematic in our community, whose diverse,
semi-anarchic qualities are part of its great strength.  If those points
had been applied literally, not only would the previous queer Marches on
Washington never have happened, neither would virtually all of the
assorted marches, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience staged
by ACT UP and other activist groups over the years.  Discipline is
useful, but freedom of expression is a value we ignore at our own peril.

Bruce Mirken

[email-masked] wrote:
>
> Gandhi and King on the Millennium March 2000
>   by Mel White
>
>       Early in February, 1998, the Human Rights Campaign and the Universal
> Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches suggested a Millennium March on
> Washington, D.C. by a million gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
> Americans (and our allies) sometime in April, 2000.  Thankfully, their
> suggestion comes more than two years in advance, plenty of time to discuss it.
> What better activists could we use to lead our discussion than M.K. Gandhi and
> Martin Luther King, Jr.?  The Satyagraha or "soul force" principles of
> militant nonviolent resistance to injustice that shaped their marches provide
> important guidelines for our own.*
>
>       1. A march has a specific, narrowly-focused, clearly-stated goal.
>
>       2. A march is not an end in itself but one tactic in a total strategy to
> reach that specific, narrowly-focused, clearly-stated goal.
>
>       3. A march is only called for after negotiations have broken down with
> an adversary and then only to compel the adversary back to negotiations.
>
>       4. A march is costly (in time, money, and energy) to volunteers and the
> organizations they represent and that cost must be honestly and openly
> considered before the march is called.
>
>       5. A march is timed for maximum effect.
>
>       6. A march must require risk, courage, and stamina for the marcher (to
> demonstrate the marcher's total committment and genuine concern).
>
>       7. A march is a serious-minded attempt to persuade the adversary that
> the  request is just.  A march is not a parade, party, or celebration that may
> confuse the adversary or even give the adversary more reason to hate or fear
> the marchers.
>
>       8. A marcher must be carefully trained in the goal of the march and sign
> a pledge to maintain standards of behavior and dress during the march that
> will help convince the adversary that the marcher is determined and sincere.
>
>       9. A march is not called to support a candidate, party, or issue which
> may divide the marchers, but a specific goal or purpose upon which the
> marchers are united.
>
>       10. A march must focus the print and electronic media on the specific,
> clearly-stated, narrowly-focused goal before, during, and after the march to
> avoid any confusion as to why the march has been called.
>
>       11. A march must be directed by carefully trained monitors and before
> the march all marchers must agree to obey those monitor's commands.
>
>       12. A march must not seek to embarrass, coerce or terrorize the
> adversary, but quietly, calmly, and courageously convince the adversary that
> the marcher's goal is just.
>
>       13. A marcher must understand the principles of nonviolence and pledge
> to refrain from violence of fist, tongue, or heart during the march.
>
>       14. A marcher must be a person of faith.
>       [NOTE: Gandhi, a Hindu, was not sectarian in this rule.  He defined God
> as Truth but began each day with personal and group prayer and meditation on
> the holy writings of all the "great religions."  In 1939, Gandhi asked
> marchers to sign a pledge that he or she "must have a living faith in God."
> Gandhi embraced agnostics and athiests as friends in transition who have
> abandoned old, inadequate gods and are people of faith on a journey towards
> the Spirit of Truth.
>        Dr. King, a Baptist Christian preacher, marched arm-in-arm with Jews,
> Catholics, mainline Protestants and other people of faith, but in 1963, in
> Birmingham, for one example, he asked marchers to sign a pledge that they
> would "meditate daily on the life and teachings of Jesus."
>        Neither man required sectarian allegiance to any one statement of faith
> or religious practice, but both men stated clearly that a truly nonviolent
> march cannot be carried out by marchers without some faith committment to a
> higher power.]
>
>       *Gandhi and King had little time to systematize the principles of
> Satyagraha, or "soul force."  I have extrapolated these principles from their
> essays, diaries, articles about conducting effective marches, and copies of
> the actual pledges Gandhi and King asked their marchers to sign in South
> Africa, India, and in the United States.  If you are interested in the
> original data read from The Collected Works of Gandhi (Navijivan Publishing)
> or King's collected writings in Testament of Hope (Harper Collins). >>