Don McAvinchey, also known as the American Gandhi, on Wednesday said that had Mahatma Gandhi been alive today, he would have used communication technology, especially social networks like Facebook and blogging, to gather people for his movements.
He was addressing students of St Joseph’s College here. The Associate Professor of Clinical Social Work at the New Mexico Highlands University School of Social Work said Gandhi would have garnered support for his movement of non-violence.
“Gandhi was a politician throughout his time, but given the present scenario, he would have stayed away from politics but got people’s support through communication technology,” he said.
McAvinchey pointed out that many nations were perpetrating global violence in the name of corporate oligarchy.
To questions put forth by various students on the Chinese occupation of Tibet, he said that Tibetans must derive inspiration from the American Civil Rights Movement and the Indian independence movement against the British. “Self-immolation is not a solution to Tibet’s problems as the Chinese government is already killing so many people. It is self-violence and not a path of non-violence,” he said.