The threat of nuclear weapons looms large with the climate getting hotter. The United States is silent and the media is complacent. There is an impending need for each one of us to contribute to world peace, Bernie Meyer, popularly known as ‘American Gandhi’, has said. He was in the city on Sunday on the invitation of Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, to talk on Gandhi and non-violence and its relevance in the present day context in a series of programmes during the next couple of days.
The difficult posturing by America and North Korea could lead to destruction of the world.
The threat of radiation from radioactive material like uranium and plutonium was still there and the path of non-violence shown by Gandhi should be practised to ward off the dangers, Mr. Meyer told the media. Inspired by Gandhi, he had opposed the war in Vietnam and had been fighting racism and working to end poverty.
He visited 20 countries around the globe talking on Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence and spreading his message of peace during the last few decades. He made no secret of his displeasure at the nuclear weapons programme by the USA and its use of weapons in space. The nukes were giving sleepless nights to South Korea and Japan.
Picture post cards
Mr. Meyer distributes picture post cards against violence and with the messages of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. on the importance of non-violence.
One of the picture post card reads: ‘Congress wants $ 1 trillion for nukes. What will be left for our children?’ There is a message below it asking people to visit the website: www.gzcenter.org and take action.
The messages on the reverse of the card read: Gandhi on A-Bombs: ‘Unless the world adopts non-violence, it will be suicide for mankind’. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967: ‘We have played havoc with the destiny of the world and we have brought the world closer to nuclear confrontation…It is no longer a choice between violence and non-violence. It is either non-violence or non-existence.’
National director of Global Network J. Narayana Rao, Andhra Pradesh Chapter director J.V. Prabhakar Rao and secretary N.B. Murthy were present.