|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mahatma Gandhi's images and examples of the use of his ideas in several countries outside India, including in conflict zones such as the West Bank, have been collected in a unique book. The book, edited and compiled by Vijay Rana, a former BBC journalist of Indian origin and the editor of NRIfm.com, is a collection of images of Gandhi's statues, murals, graffiti, wall paintings and posters. Every photograph in the book is accompanied by Gandhi's words on issues such as non-violence, peace, religious harmony, social equity, rural development, economic liberation of the poor and women’s and animal rights. In many anti-war protests in the US, Gandhi's portraits, puppets and placards are now prominently displayed. Two photographs show the peaceful civil resistance of the villagers of Bel'in in the West Bank. Carrying photographs of Gandhi and Mandela, they took out peaceful protests and sit-in every Friday and finally won a rare victory, when the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to reroute an electric barrier. The book includes a photograph of the Black Valley, Ireland, where a simple monument of black stone is inscribed with Gandhi's words: "How men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings". Erected in 1994, it is a monument to the memory of millions who died of hunger in the Great Irish Famine, 1845-49. Another photograph relates to the victims of Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua when they began reconstructing their destroyed village. They sought inspiration from Gandhi by painting a huge mural of him on the very first wall they erected. According to Rana, it took more than three years, thousands of emails and hundreds of phone calls to collect the remarkable photographs from around the world. Many photographers who agreed to be included in the book are amateurs. — IANS
|
