Dear Log,
«...a tale from Morocco about a university graduate who, unable to find a real job, set himself up as a street shoe-shiner. He was duly arrested for political agitation because he kept his degree certificate on show, along with his polish and brushes.»I wonder if anyone's translated Kafka into Arabic.--"Attack on pax: Gandhi's model of non-violent resistance has met with suspicion and repression in the Middle East, writes Brian Whitaker"
Meanwhile, later in that article:
«Winston Churchill could scarcely contain his apoplexy at "the nauseating and humiliating spectacle" of this "seditious fakir, [Gandhi] striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy's palace, there to negotiate a parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor."»Zing! Take that, under-dressed people!
Also, that reminds me of the episode of Time Squad where the guys have to go back in time and stop Winston Churchill from changing history by being an exhibitionist. Aaah, good tiiiiimes!
He was an associate of the Mahatma and his name was Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. He was popularly known as "Frontier Gandhi" because he was a Pathan (or Pushtun) of the Northwest Frontier area of what is know known as Pakistan. He was remarkably able to persuade his people (now best known as the most ardent supporters of the Taliban and the probable shelterers of bin Laden.) to adopt non-violence, education for girls etc. Unfortunately after independence his kind of views went out of style in Pakistan and he spent much of his life in jail or otherwise forgotten. There's a short biography of him here.
I wouldn't say Islam is necessarily a bloodthirsty religion, but it is a military one. (The Caliph for example is the "commander" of the faithful.) Mystical theories of non-violence are not going to find fertile ground there.
