Beyond the chocking teargas, my concern about the effect of yesterday’s scuffle at Langata Primary School is the scar it imprinted on the brains and souls of the pupils and the other millions of children who caught up with it through the media. The kids witnessed and were subjected to violence. They witnessed a policeman hit someone with a rungu and witnessed the victim pick a stone and hit back. Unless purged of that scar, these children will remain traumatized and may, either live in fear, or develop tendency to be violent when accosted by violence, or even upon non violent and vulnerable groups. Violence begets violence. We must purge our children of the violent spirit and encourage them towards the concept of Active Non Violence whenever faced with similar situations. We must urge our children, when confronted in Langata like situations, to pick lessons from Active Non Violence campaigns applied in similar protests around the world, for instance by Gandi in India, Martin Luther King Jnr in the USA, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, OTPOR in Serbia and Orange Movement in Ukrain, to mention but a few. In place of violence, we must educate our children on the principles of Active Non Violence, including the following: Principle One: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people, not cowards; Principle Two: Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding , not to create enemies and understanding; Principle Three: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people; Principle Four: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform, not to destroy and subjugate Principle Five: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate; and Principle Six: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice, not injustice.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 06:19:46 +0000
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