A letter from Gandhi to the King of Bahrain Only remnant of conscience and freedom
2014-03-14 - 7:29 م
Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): I would tell you what was not possible, as a prerequisite of protocol, for members of the Indian government to say when you lately visited India heading a large official delegation. I know that you are definitely not impressed by my struggle experience, and that you would not be pleased with my letter and wish that the bullet which killed me 66 years ago would put my words to silence. Forgive my disturbance, for I can't turn to be a silent image. I strongly raise my voice whenever I find peaceful struggle and a tyrant dictatorship. You visited my county, thus you have to listen to my words no matter how annoying they are.
We are a democratic country and we have struggled a lot to reach the period of independence, sovereignty, and ability to form a popular government. I achieved independence for my people from the British colonialism for I found in it an obstacle to freedom thus I struggled against it. This colonialism engraved bad memories on my people's minds. I am really astonished! How can you consider your submission to colonialism a historical friendship?
You might have seen my photo on the banknotes, or you might have thought for a moment that I or my party asked my government to place my photo there, as it is the case with your photo. I have freed my people from colonialism, thus we overthrew the colonizing king's image and my photo was replaced it after my death. I am worried that your photo will face the same destiny as that of the colonizing king.
We share the same history of being colonized. Your uncle (Mohammad Bin Khalifa), who was killed during a battle with your grandfather (Ali Bin Khalifa) was exiled to India, to Asirgarh Fort's prison (January 1870- March 1871) then to Sonar Fort (1871-1878). This event made the newspapers at that time, unfortunately, your uncle was not a freedom fighter, for if he had been one, you wouldn't have gone in 2013 to celebrate with the colonialism that exiled your uncle and put your grandfather in power under humiliating conditions. I have to remind you of the history because I am upset with your greeting to the colonizing power that I fought against, the power that called your uncle and cousins "The Pirate Chiefs of Bahrain".
I have to admit that I am not impressed by your family history, yet I am impressed by your people's history not for their historical connection with my country, which I really appreciate, but because they inspired from me the "Great Soul", "Mahatma", in their peaceful civil struggle "Satyagraha". I am proud of this nation; I find them very close to my soul. I wish that you had been to India to learn from its experience that the tyranny, no matter how oppressive it was, will not stand before the human being strength in struggling for freedom.
The contracts you signed with the Indian commercial firms (27 agreements and memoranda of understanding) will not solve your problem with your people, since people get hungry for their freedom more than their living.
I was touched by the idea of the "Civil Disobedience" which I got to know from the American poet Henry David Thoreau. Consequently, I learned it from him and used it as legitimate peaceful struggle which in turn your people learned it from me and applied it. I wonder how did you change this idea to an indictment, so you imprisoned them and expelled them form their jobs. In fact, you got me down, as if you are convicting your people for learning from me. Yes! I clearly say it. I am proud that I taught your people the "Civil Disobedience" and I instigated them to resist your tyranny.
I am proud of those lessons and my soul rests in peace that my people; my poor people who live in villages overwhelmed with repression and death, are safe from the protestors because they acquired the peaceful lessons and nonviolent morals from me. However, they are not safe from the bullets of your army and tribal armies that you brought. I will remind you of two martyrs; Aklas Mia, the Bengladeshi worker who felt a moral debt towards Sitra's people, whom he lived with, thus kept on defending their women when your army and that of the conqueror, the Saudi army, raided their island in March 2011. At that time the sniper's treacherous bullet left Aklas dead.
Steven Abraham is the second worker who was sipping a cup of coffee during his shift as a security guard when your ally conqueror army shot him treacherously in March 2011. Steven spent an hour and a half bleeding without receiving help. Those great people raised banners that reveal condolence and respect for foreign people. They also put the Bahraini and Indian flags on the martyr's grave.
Yes, I proudly say, for I am addressing you in person, those people are what I longed for to be the successors of my school. I feel proud to be a teacher and an inspiration against every dictatorship.
I owe your people because they always repeat, in open and tolerant spirit, my saying "I learned from Hussain how to achieve victory while being oppressed." They repeat it as if they say Imam Hussain and Gandhi are the freedom teachers and learning Imam Hussain's lesson from Gandhi's experience makes us adore freedom wherever it was. I am proud to return to them the lesson I have attained from their culture.
I admire your people for they reflect my image in their peaceful struggle. I, moreover, declare to them, and ask their pardon for calling them your people, because they are not you people indeed. The people follow the one they elect and not the one who is forcibly imposed to them. Your people neither elected you nor gave you the legitimacy to represent them. You are imposed on them by force; the force I, myself, struggled against. It is the British colonialism that you celebrate its 200th anniversary this year; 200 years of thankfulness for putting you and your family in authority. I wonder how you go to this colonizing country to say what your father had already said, "Who told you to leave?"
I believe that "nonviolence is the greatest power found in humans. It is stronger than the destructive weapons invented by the human dexterity." However, there should be one condition to make the nonviolence policy effective; this policy states that your opponent has to have leftovers of conscience and freedom which allow him to hold an objective talk with the other side at the end. I repeat my admiration to your people's peaceful morals. Law is what I learned while studying advocacy in 1890 in the country (Britain) that was colonizing my land's freedom and Law was the thing I relied on during my peaceful struggle.
I find that your people have completely understood my lesson through using human rights laws channels in their peaceful struggle. However, I confess, in front of you and to you in person that I am not sure about your conscience remnants and I doubt that your power can respect my condition concerning the leftovers of conscience and freedom to achieve peacefulness. I am worried that your impudence will lead your peaceful people to something they do not want.
My last words are not for you, they are for this great people. My last words will summarize my experience: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
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