Activity Report
Year 2005-2006

Commemoration of the Birth of Satyagraha and Launching of Shanti Sena

Swarajpeeth's main thrust this year was on celebrating the birthday of Satyagraha (11 September, 1906) in a way befitting the spirit of a century old event and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings. For past three years Swarajpeeth has concentrated on bringing Mahatma Gandhi's teachings closer to the masses through study camps on Mahatma Gandhi's root text - Hind Swaraj.

On 9/11/05 about 270 participants, 230 from 11 cities and towns outside Delhi participated in the program, fifty six men/women took pledge of nonviolence and peace and dedicated themselves to work for it. Those who took pledge and those who came from various places are part of the dialogue on Hind Swaraj, Mahatma Gandhi's root text on meaning of freedom and culture of nonviolence and peace. Participants expressed greater enthusiasam for peace building and social harmony.

The pledge was administered by renowned educationist Dr. Syed Hamid. The gathering was addressed by Ms. Nirmala Deshpande, a senior Gandhian and MP Rajya Sabha; Maulana Anjar Shah Kashmiri, Sheikhul Hadis, Darul-Uloom Waqf, Deoband; the occasion was presided over by Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, Kalon Tripa H. H. Dalai Lama's Tibetan Government in Exile.

We produced literature, conducted public meetings and group meetings, decided to commemorate the birth of Satyagraha by drawing another line.

Swaraj Samwad / Dialogue on Nonviolence, Democracy and Social Harmony

• Public meetings were organized during the period April-August 2005 for advocating and launching of Shanti Sena in Bhojpur, Muradabad, Bijnor and Saharanpur. These meetings were addressed by Swarajpeeth Chairman, Shri Rajiv Vora; Coordinator, Shri Arshad Qureshi and other regional coordinators.

• October 1 and 2, 2005 a two day workshop with Swaraj Samwad coordinators was organized in Delhi . The workshop took certain decisions on training of those 56 men/women who took pledge of Shanti Sainik. The workshop also deliberated and took decision about organizing the Centenary of Satyagraha on 11 September, 2006 on a bigger scale so that a larger nmber of people could involve themselves in the work of peace and non-violence.

• Two days meeting of Western-UP Coordinators and organizers was held on 11-12 March 2006 in Delhi. 25 participants worked out a work-plan April-September 2006.

Shanti Sainik Training

We have now more than 200 candidates including 56 those who took pledge on the 99 th Birthday of Satyagraha on 11 September 2005 to become Shanti Sainiks, they have come forward through Swaraj Samwad and Hind Swaraj Study Camps as trainee Shanti Sainiks. Following Shanti Sena training camps were organized following the September program.

• 5-6 January, 2006 at Bhaguwala, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh 16 participants from Saharanpur.

• 20-21 February, 2006 at Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh about 30 participants. Many new friends joined in this program. Some came from Kiratpur, adjoining Bijnor. They have decided to hold a similar dialogue in Kiratpur and form a group of 50 people there. Meeting is slated for April 14, 2006.

• 19-20 March, 2006 at Rampur , Uttar Pradesh 20 participants. They decided to hold bi-weekly study meeting where they would undertake reading of Hind Swaraj.

INSIGHT/OBSERVATION: It was reveling and reassuring to find how our ordinary people relate the issue of conflict and violence with untruth and fear. One could observe that to them not the state of material progress but the state of mind and vision of life is central to the question of peace and non-violence. This is exactly what Mahatma Gandhi states in Hind Swaraj In varing ways they stated and described how untruth and fear of one type or the other are always at the root of conflict and violence. Causes of fear participants enumerated were categorized under the following four categories:

•  Self-interest

•  Alienation / loss of a sence of belongingness

•  Feeling of superiority and inferiority

•  Wrong ideas or ignorance about violence to body, violence to mind and violence to the soul or the spirit or the inner dignity or one's belief / faith / God all mighty.

This is remarkable in the sense that these four are enumerated as the fundamental causes of fear and therefore of violence even in best of philosophical texts of humanity's spiritual progress.

Satyagraha Centennial: International

Rajiv Vora visited USA on a speaking tour of 11 cities. 54 meetings and three radio talks were organized. The running title of his speaking tour was “Hope in the Times of Cinicism”. He spoke to universities, public forums, peace-groups, nonviolent activities, intellectuals, seminaries etc. on the pressing issue of violence, peace and nonviolence.

Rajiv Vora was invited to speak in a public program in Barcelona on Shanti Sena and Civil Peace Service as a nonviolent method of conflict resolution and social harmony as advocated by Gandhiji. He met about 30 European organizations working in the field of civil peace service and nonviolence at Barcelona , Spain (23-28 March, 2006). The Satyagraha Centennial could be commemorated in Spain , Italy and Neitherlands besides other places.