“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“One hundred years ago Mohandas Gandhi began the movement that would transform him into a Great Soul-the Mahatma. He had been living in South Africa for 13 years when the government proposed a law that would effectively reduce Indians to criminal status. On September 11th, 1906 he convened a meeting at the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg to mobilize his community to oppose the racially degrading legislation.  That September 11th, more than 3000 people solemnly pledged to disobey the proposed law, without the use of violence, despite the consequences.  With that pledge, Gandhi and his fellow Indians began the nonviolent revolution that would defeat an empire and give birth to the world’s largest democracy.”

Read More from the Nonviolent Peaceforce organization

A brief history of September 11, 1906: Birth of the Satyagraha Movement (PDF)

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
Mahatma Gandhi