Speech of Mr. Louis Campana

Second  International Fellowship Program on Nonviolence & Peace IFPNP 

Oct 02, 2023, to Jan30, 2024

IFPNP -II Certification Ceremony  April 9, 2024

Message of Louis Campana, President, Gandhi International, France  

Good morning,

On the occasion of the certification ceremony for those who followed the trainings, I would like to honor them by calling them adventurers of non-violence in this world  which became sick (a little more than yesterday, but it is permanent!), is a compliment that involves a radical change of life.

 

I would like you to understand the importance of Ahimsa (do not harm), it is the first degree in this adventure and you will realize that it is a difficult thing.

The second is the search for truth (Satyagraha) and it begins with oneself. His most necessary involvement is that of the Swadeshi, this voluntary ability to weigh no one, to be oneself subject to noideology or propaganda and thus initiate a path of inner freedom. If you need a reference point to know where you are, question your inner voice and ask yourself if you are happy. If so, you are in the truth even if it lasts only a moment, continue in this way and especially continue to garden this work of joy.

As far as I am concerned, it is between two works in my vegetable garden and my orchard that I concoct this text to enhance your commitment to the service of the men of this time when all are upset either by wars, or by decisions of the leaders of the States-Nations, which by their thirst for power or incompetence can ignite the whole world towards dictatorships of control of individuals.

I still dare not speak of the pressures and problems raised by Artificial Intelligence, dehumanizing and which will make all of us submissive and consenting objects.

Let me also point out these fragmentations of society initiated around gender and Wokism ideologies that confuse our contemporaries, without however hiding the abuses of certain patriarchal practices that have distorted relations with women and minorities in past centuries by limiting their rights. This is stillrelevant and questions about the search for truth.

 

Gandhi was very concrete about the dangerousness of states and International Institutions (then still in its infancy, but now very corrosive and dominant):

 The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.

Real Swaraj will come, not by the acquisition of authority by a few, but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. In other words, Swaraj is to be attained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control authority. 

 

 (M. K.Gandhi, Democracy: Real and Deceptive, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1932)

 The objective, therefore, is to become masters of our lives and our destinies, in solidarity with those around us, by manufacturing among ourselves the networks of productions of our needs, sharing them with others, without concern for supremacy over the other, to avoid being stupid consumers. The best way to change this world is not to play with it, let us remain sober, attentive to others and especially let us remain in joy.

Be honored, you have made the right choice, stay faithful to it, the abundance of Life will be given to you.

 

Louis Campana