MAHATMA GANDHI
DEFINES NATIONALISM
"I call myself a nationalist and I pride myself in it. But my nationalism is as broad as the universe. It includes in its sweep even the lower animals. It includes in its sweep all the nations of the earth, and if I possibly could convince the whole of India of the truth of this message, then India would be something to the whole world for which the world is longing. My nationalism includes the well being of the whole world. I do not want my India to rise on the ashes of other nations. I do not want India to exploit a single human being. I want India to become strong in order that she can infect the other nations also with her strength. Not so with the other nations of the world, not so with a single nation in Europe today. They do not give strength to the others. We are not receiving any strength. It is in the nature of things —impossible for them to do so— and that is why I have taken the uncompromising position that I cannot possibly be a party to a constitution whose basis is brute force.
"President Wilson mentioned his beautiful 14 points, and do you know what he wound up with? He said, 'after all if this endeavor of ours to arrive at peace fails, we have got our armaments to fall back upon.' I want to reverse that position, and I say 'Our armaments have failed already. Let us now be in search of something new, and let us try the force of love and God which is truth.' When we have got that, we shall want nothing else."