Dear Editor,
No one is above reproach. Both Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela are men of flesh and blood with human frailties and flaws. Because we need heroes, men and women to whom we can look for moral or spiritual guidance, we willingly overlook weaknesses in the few human beings who do serve and achieve above and beyond the call of duty during their lifetime. I do not recall any outcry and negative criticism being levelled at Mandela by anyone when Nelson Mandela Avenue was so named. There could have been since there is well-known criticism of him from Black South Africans who advocate for justice for their community. Mandela stands accused of “selling out” to the whites so that the white minority could retain their wealth and control of the country’s economy in exchange for ceding political power to the Black majority.
Neither Gandhi nor Mandela are saints and no one considers the naming of a street or the erection of a statue to anyone anywhere as meaning that those being so honoured are above criticism. Both Martin Luther King Jnr and Nelson Mandela held the Mahatma in the highest esteem for his teachings on non-violent activism. For MLK, Gandhiji was a “guiding light”, and Mandela considered him one of his teachers. As a seminary student, MLK connected Gandhi’s words to the Biblical appeal of Jesus to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and he later wrote, “I came to see for the first time that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” Mandela said about Gandhi in a speech: “I could never reach the standard of morality, simplicity and love for the poor set by the Mahatma. While Gandhi was a human without weaknesses, I am a man of many weaknesses.”
He referred to Gandhi as a “sacred warrior” and said, “In a world driven by violence and strife, Gandhi’s message of peace and non-violence holds the key to human survival in the 21st century.”
The naming of Nelson Mandela Avenue went ahead without a hitch. Naming a street for Gandhi should be similarly welcomed by every Guyanese as honouring a man who gave the world a guiding philosophy for peace that will probably stand for all time.
Sincerely
Ryhaan Shah