December 24, 2003
The
Road less noticed B
Non-violent Strides towards Democracy *
(Data through 2001)
|
Historical Period |
Western European/ American Child-rearing Mode Personality |
Ideal |
|
|
Tribal 33,000 B.C. |
Early Infanticidal/ Schizoid |
Shaman |
|
|
Antiquity 33,000 - 0 B.C. |
Late Infanticidal Narcissist |
Hero |
|
|
Early Christian 0 -1100 A.D. |
Abandoning/ Lower Borderline/ Masochistic |
Martyr |
|
|
Middle Ages 1100-1500 A.D. |
Ambivalent/ Borderline |
Vassal |
|
|
Historical Period |
Western European/ American Child-rearing Mode Personality |
Ideal |
|
|
Renaissance 1500-1700 A.D. |
Intrusive/ Depressive |
Holy Warrior |
1689: EnglandB
The Glorious Revolution a. Antecedent: In the
1640's, civil war reigns in England.
Oliver Cromwell who favors a
parliamentary system, takes power and (in 1949) has King Charles I beheaded. b. Stage I B Overthrow: Dutch Prince, William of Orange lands in England with 15,000 troops. Both the people and King James II=s army, en masse, switch their allegiance to him. c. Stage II B Consolidation: William of Orange is given the crown after he accepts the supremacy of the Bill of Rights over all (including parliament) and the king=s subordination to parliament. King James II flees the country. |
|
Historical Period |
Western European/ American Child-rearing Mode Personality |
Ideal |
|
|
Modern 1700-1950 |
Socializing/ Neurotic |
Patriot |
1776: The American Colonies B Revolution a. Stage I B Overthrow: John Adams writes that the decisive factor in the Revolution was the process from1760 to 1775, well before the Declaration of Independence, by which ordinary people in the colonies withdrew cooporation from the British government and set up their own governments. b. Stage II B Consolidation: John Adams describes the war which follows the Declaration of Independence, as the military defense of already-existing governments against an attack by what is now a foreign power seeking to force the new country back into its empire. 1789: France B Revolution a. Stage
I B
Overthrow: This stage of the Revolution is nearly bloodless. The Gardes Francaises do
not defend the old regime, either throwing down their rifles or
turning them over to the revolution.
The contemporary poet Francois de Chateaubriand notes, AThe French Revolution was
accomplished before it occurred.@
The 19th century French historian, Jules Michelet would
write, AThe bastille was not taken; it
surrendered.@ b. Stage II B Consolidation: The Revolution descends into carnage. The revolutionaries become more violent toward one another than they had been toward the old regime. |
|
Modern 1700-1950 (Continued) |
Socializing/ Neurotic (Continued) |
Patriot (Cont=d) |
1917: Russia B
Revolution a. Antecedent: In 1905, Russian troops brutally repress a non-violent movement. b. Stage I B Overthrow: Russian troops are now receptive to the Bolsheviks= socialist message of justice for the poor. Abetted by mass protests against both the war and the Romanov dynasty, they defect en masse to the side of the rebels. Czar Nicholas II abdicates. Independent socialist Sukhanov observes at the time, AOn October 21, the Petersburg garrison conclusively acknowledged the Soviet as sole power.@ Historian Martin Malia concurs: AThe decisive revolutionary agent was the peasant in uniform. It was his refusal to obey that neutralized the imperial government.@ c. Stage II B Consolidation: The Bolsheviks use violence, instantly and lavishly to keep power. Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), LeonTrotsky (1879-1940) and later, Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), are the most important figures in the formation of totalitarian rule which spreads around the world with Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976) and Adolf Hitler (1889- 1945). |
|
Modern 1700-1950 (Continued) |
Socializing/ Neurotic (Continued) |
Patriot (Cont=d) |
1948: India B Independence a. Antecedent:
1757: India loses the Battle of Plassey and becomes a
British colony. b. Stage I: Overthrow: 1889: As a 20-year old youth in his native city of Porbandar, on the Indian Ocean, Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) exhibits no extraordinary talents of the testable kind. He goes to London to study law. 1893: Gandhi moves to South Africa to handle a legal case for an Indian merchant. He decides to Aroot out the disease@ of color prejudice in South Africa and Asuffer the hardships@ which may come in the process.
1915: Gandhi brings his battle-tested instrument of
non-violence from the
British South African colonies of Natal and Tansvaal to India B which has a
population of 300,000,000 people. He
and his collegues forge a
nationalistic pride in non-violence that is to endure until 1948, when
India gains independence. 1919: Gandhi announces his first nationwide act of resistance. 1920: The Congress Party adopts Gandhi=s program. 1930: Gandhi marches with some 75 followers to the sea to make salt, in defiance of an English monopoly on salt making. He himself is jailed but his followers march non-violently upon the salt-works at Dharasana. They suffer many dozens of casualties at the hands of police wielding clubs. 1931: Winston Churchill tells the British Parliament, AThe loss of India would be final and fatal to us. It would not fail to be part of a process that would reduce us to the scale of a minor power.@ 1942: The British, in the third year of World War II, quickly and violently suppress the Quit India Campaign. It is the final nationwide campaign of non-cooperation. 1948: The British grant India its independence. c. Stage II B Consolidation: Once independent, the Indian state promptly abandons non-violence and goes to war with the newly created state of Pakistan over the territory of Kashmir. |
|
Historical Period |
Western European/ American Child-rearing Mode Personality |
Ideal |
|
|
Post-modern 1950- |
Helping/ Individuated |
Activist |
1989, South Africa B From Apartheid to Democracy a. Antecedent: 1652: The whites install themselves in Africa from 1652 onward, in several waves of imperial invasion. b. Stage I - Overthrow: i. Violent Phase: 1951: Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress (A.N.C.), declares a campaingn of non-violent disobedience to racial laws. The government represses and Mandela founds the Spear of the Nation, an organization dedicated to armed insurrection. 1958: Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd announces, AOur motto is to maintain white supremacy for all time to come over our own people and our own coutnry, by force, if necessary.@
1963: Mandela is arrested and sentenced to prison for life. (Mid-1970's: South Africa becomes Africa=s sole possessor of nuclear weapons). |
|
Post-modern 1950- (Continued) |
Helping/ Individuated (Continued) |
Activist (Cont= d) |
ii. Non-violent Phase: 1970's:
Mass protests focus on concrete issues, such as rents, sanitary
conditions and the imposition of the Afrikaan language. 1982: Popo Molefe, leader of the Soweto Civic Assocation, urges boycotts and other actions for local objectives that are Aessential, real and vital.@ 1983: The United Democratic Front, an umbrella group of more than 500 civic organizations, is formed. Mandela=s influence and stature grow. He is unswervingly committed to full majority rule, and is neither bitter nor vindictive. Under the pressure of spreading disturbances and a growing international movement in favor of economic sanctions, the government meets with him. 1983-1987: President Frederik de Klerk and Nelson Mandela negotiate for four years during which several thousand people are killed, most of them by the government and its agents. 1990: Mandela becomes President, with de Klerk as Vice-president. c. Stage II B Consolidation: The Peace and Reconciliation Commission is able to avert widespread retaliation and violence. |
|
Post-modern 1950- (Continued) |
Helping/ Individuated (Continued) |
Activist (Cont= d) |
1989-1991: The Soviet Union B Collapse a. 1953, East Germany: A non-violent rebellion is defeated. b. 1956, Russia: Nikita Khrushchev reforms the Party by Ade-Stalinizing@ it. c. Poland: 1956: Khrushchev brutally represses a non-violent movement. Early 1980's: The Solidarity Movement, 10,000,000 strong, innovates a new approach B focussing on immediate, modest goals (such as creating zones of freedom, including free trade unions), without mounting a direct challenge to the main structures of totalitarian Soviet power. In retrospect, the process is the beginning of the dissolution of the local communist system and eventually, the Soviet Union. d. 1956, Hungary: Khrushchev defeats a non-violent rebellion. e. 1968, Czehoslovakia: During the APrague Spring,@ the hopes of Czech Communist Party leaders to liberalize the Party from within and have it acquire a Ahuman face,@ are crushed when Soviet tanks roll into the country.
|
|
Post-modern 1950- (Continued) |
Helping/ Individuated (Continued) |
Activist (Cont= d) |
f. Mid-1980's B The Leader of the U.S.S.R introduces Reforms: i. In Russia: Party leader Mikhail Gorbachev embarks on programs of glasnost and perestroika, introducing market reforms, decentralizing the state, liberalizing the press, and gradually democratizing the political process. ii. In Eastern Europe: At the periphery of the Empire, Eastern Europe, Gorbachev withdraws the threat of Soviet military invasion which, throughout the Cold War, had been the final guarantee for the survival of local communist regimes. g. 1989, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria and Romania: In rapid succession, these pieces of the Soviet Union Empire achieve full independence. h. 1990, Lithuania: The demand of Lithuania, part of the Soviet Union, for independence threatens the Soviet Union itself. Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Parliament, calls for the Russian forces to refuse to participate in a military coup to save Lithuania for the Union, even if ordered. i. 1991, Russia: Conservative communist forces attempt a coup against both Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Many of Gorbachev=s ministers and aids launch a coup against him as he is held captive. The people, however, obey Yeltsin, the first elected president in the history of Russia. A crowd assembles in front of the parliament building in support of democracy. Soldiers and security forces refuse to attack. Without even a center, the Soviet Union collapses. |
|
Post-modern 1950- (Continued) |
Helping/ Individuated (Continued) |
Activist (Cont= d) |
Other Non-violent turns to Democracy 1962, France: President Charles de Gaulle grants Algeria its independence, even after the military defeat of the Front de Liberation Nationale (F.L.N.). 1974, Greece: The junta of colonels who had overthrown the democratic government of Constantine Karamanlis in a coup in 1967, yields power to civilians. 1974, Portugal: The home population rebels in the aftermath of colonial revolt, as if (as in Russia), the home country had been just one more colony of the empire. Pro-democratic military officers, abetted by a powerful civil movement, overthrow the autocratic regime of Marcello Caetano, successor to the dictator Antonio Salazar. 1975, Spain: After the death of Francisco Franco, the dictatorial, right-wing regime is increasingly deserted by King Juan Carlos and important elements of the Catholic Church. A free election brings about a democratic government without violence. 1982, Argentina: The draconian regime of generals surrenders power after its defeat by Great Britain in the Falkland War. A year later, an election brings a civilian, Raul Alfonsin, as president. 1985, Brazil: A military regime is removed. 1986, The Philippines: The dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos yields to a vigorous, peaceful, popular resistance led by the Catholic Church and a rebellious faction in the military. 1988, South Korea: The autocratic Chun Doo Hwan agrees to an election which leads to his replacement by his rival, Roh Tae Woo. 1989, Taiwan: The first multi-party
legislative and local elections are held, after 40 years of one-party rule by the Nationalist
Party that had once governed mainland China. 1989, Chile: Chile=s military dictator, Augusto Pinochet, yields power to an elected government. |
|
Post-modern 1950- (Continued) |
Helping/ Individuated (Continued) |
Activist (Cont= d) |
1989, Chile: Military dictator, Augusto Pinochet, yields power to an elected government. 1990, Indonesia: The autocratic regime of General Suharto falls. 1999, Nigeria: Free elections are held. 1999, Iran: A strong opposition challenges the autocratic rule of Islamic mullahs who had installed themselves in power in the revolution of 1978B79 against the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 2001, Mexico: After 71 years of unbroken rule, the People=s Revolutionary Party loses in a free election won by the presidential candidate of the National Action Party, Vicente Fox. 2001, Serbia: The murderous regime of Slobodan Milosevic is overthrown by a non-violent, democratic movement. The movement arose in reaction to Milosevic=s falsification of election results giving victory to the democratic forces. |
* Italics denote violent events.
Conclusions
Part I B Specific Observations
1. Jonathan Schell: Omission of Possible Unconscious Causes of War: Like most scholars untrained in psychoanalysis, Schell looks only at the possible rational causes of war, without considering possible unconscious causes.
2. The Evolution of Non-violence: Integrating deMause=s data on child-rearing with Schell=s data, it appears that the evolution of successful non-violent movements, is as follows:
Powerful Non-violent Movements begin with the Renaissance, 1500-1700, during (in the West) the intrusive child-rearing mode B which produces a depressive personality type.
They expand in the Modern Period, 1700-1950, during (in the West), the socializing child-rearing mode B which produces a neurotic personality type.
They further expand dramatically in the Post-modern Period, 1950-Present, during (in the West) the helping child-rearing mode B which produces an individuated personality type.
Possible Evolution of Child-rearing Methods around the Globe: Similar powerful non-violent events happen in a variety of countries with very different cultures, religions, level of socio-economic development, political systems and political creeds. Discussing this phenomenon, Schell quotes the philosopher Georg Hegel (1770-1831) as noting that the world, at certain moments, is as if guided by a secret Zeitgeist. Child-rearing modes may have evolved similarly around the world, producing similar unconscious trends and hence this concurrence of events.
Part II B Implications
Expansion of Non-violent Movements: The data presented are consistent with Lloyd deMause=s theory which relates increased empathy in child-rearing to a decreased psychological need for war B and hence, as we see here, an increasingly significant contribution of non-violent movements to world events.
A New Paradigm needed: Theories which assume that war has rational causes are no longer tenable. In particular, they did not predict two major events of the 20th century B the peaceful transformation of South Africa from apartheid to democracy, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Not Men, Rationality and Sadism but Women, Irrationality and Masochism: The paradigm on which all theories of war have hitherto been based is that wars are driven by men, for rational reasons which usually include gain (wealth, power, status etc...). This paradim needs to be replaced by one which sees war as driven by women (through child-rearing practices) and for irrational reasons (the unconscious) which usually include loss (a decrease in prosperity, sacrifice of vital youth).
A Unified Theory of Non-violence: The expansion of non-violence around the globe has come about without conscious attention to the specific contribution of child-rearing methods to wars. Attention to this cause of war, could give an opportunity for the peace movement to no longer have to wage the struggle issue by issue but rather to develop a unified theory which could provide it with a pro-active, systematic and comprehensive agenda.
A Holocaust could still occur: Reactions to progress in the non-violent resolution of international conflicts are strong. The expansion of non-violent conflict resolution by no means obviates the high probability, in the fairly near future, of a suicidal/genocidal nuclear or biological holocaust.
References
deMause, Lloyd
The Emotional Life of Nations (Karnac/Other Press, New York. N.Y.), 2002, pp. 381-431.
ANuclear War as an Anti-sexual Group Fantasy,@ unpublished. http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/ja/nucsex.htm.
Schell, Jonathan, The Unconquerable World B Power, Non-violence, and the Will of the People (Metropolitan/Henry Holt, New York, N.Y.), 2003.
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