The Return (The Next Galaxy) Read online

  LET ME DEFINE MY POSITIONS, and at the same time challenge anyone to show wherein they are untenable.

  I am a believer in that portion of the Declaration of American Independence in which it is set forth, as among selfevident truths, “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Hence, I am an abolitionist. Hence, I cannot but regard oppression in every form-and most of all, that which turns a man into a thing-with indignation and abhorrence. Not to cherish these feelings would be recreancy to principle. They who desire me to be dumb on the subject of slavery, unless I will open my mouth in its defense, ask me to give the lie to my professions, to degrade my manhood, and to stain my soul. I will not be a liar, a poltroon, or a hypocrite, to accommodate any party, to gratify any sect, to escape any odium or peril, to save any interest, to preserve any institution, or to promote any object. Convince me that one man may rightfully make another man his slave, and I will no longer subscribe to the Declaration of Independence. Convince me that liberty is not the inalienable birthright of every human being, of whatever complexion or clime, and I will give that instrument to the consuming fire. I do not know how to espouse freedom and slavery together.

  I do not know how to worship God and Mammon at the same time. If other men choose to go upon all fours, I choose to stand erect, as God designed every man to stand. If, practically falsifying its heaven-attested principles, this nation denounces me for refusing to imitate its example, then, adhering all the more tenaciously to those principles, I will not cease to rebuke it for its guilty inconsistency. Numerically, the contest may be an unequal one, for the time being; but the author of liberty and the source of justice, the adorable God, is more than multitudinous, and he will defend the right. My crime is that I will not go with the multitude to do evil. My singularity is that when I say that freedom is of God and slavery is of the devil, I mean just what I say. My fanaticism is that I insist on the American people abolishing slavery.

  The abolitionism which I advocate is as absolute as the law of God, and as unyielding as his throne. It admits of no compromise. Every slave is a stolen man; every slaveholder is a man stealer. By no precedent, no example, no law, no compact, no purchase, no bequest, no inheritance, no combination of circumstances, is slaveholding right or justifiable. While a slave remains in his fetters, the land must have no rest. Whatever sanctions his doom must be pronounced accursed. The law that makes him a chattel is to be trampled underfoot; the compact that is formed at his expense, and cemented with his blood, is null and void; the church that consents to his enslavement is horribly atheistical; the religion that receives to its communion the enslaver is the embodiment of all criminality. Such, at least, is the verdict of my own soul, on the supposition that I am to be the slave; that my wife is to be sold from me for the vilest purposes; that my children are to be torn from my arms, and disposed of to the highest bidder, like sheep in the market. And who am I but a man? What right have I to be free, that another man cannot prove himself to possess by nature? Who or what are my wife and children that they should not be herded with four-footed beasts, as well as others thus sacredly related? ...

  If the slaves are not men; if they do not possess human instincts, passions, faculties, and powers; if they are below accountability, and devoid of reason; if for them there is no hope of immortality, no God, no heaven, no hell; if, in short, they are what the slave code declares them to be, rightly” deemed, sold, taken, reputed and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever”; then, undeniably, I am mad, and can no longer discriminate between a man and a beast. But, in that case, away with the horrible incongruity of giving them oral instruction, of teaching them the catechism, of recognizing them as suitably qualified to be members of Christian churches, of extending to them the ordinance of baptism, and admitting them to the communion table, and enumerating many of them as belonging to the household of faith! Let them be no more included in our religious sympathies or denominational statistics than are the dogs in our streets, the swine in our pens, or the utensils in our dwellings. It is right to own, to buy, to sell, to inherit, to breed, and to control them, in the most absolute sense. All constitutions and laws which forbid their possession ought to be so far modified or repealed as to concede the right.

  But, if they are men; if they are to run the same career of immortality with ourselves; if the same law of God is over them as over all others; if they have souls to be saved or lost; if Jesus included them among those for whom he laid down his life; if Christ is within many of them “the hope of glory”; then, when I claim for them all that we claim for ourselves, because we are created in the image of God, I am guilty of no extravagance, but am bound, by every principle of honor, by all the claims of human nature, by obedience to Almighty God, to “remember them that are in bonds as bound with them,” and to demand their immediate and unconditional emancipation ....

  These are solemn times. It is not a struggle for national salvation; for the nation, as such, seems doomed beyond recovery. The reason why the South rules, and the North falls prostrate in servile terror, is simply this: with the South, the preservation of slavery is paramount to all other considerations above party success, denominational unity, pecuniary interest, legal integrity, and constitutional obligation. With the North, the preservation of the Union is placed above all other things-above honor, justice, freedom, integrity of soul, the Decalogue and the Golden Rule-the infinite God himself. All these she is ready to discard for the Union. Her devotion to it is the latest and the most terrible form of idolatry. She has given to the slave power a carte blanche, to be filled as it may dictate-and if, at any time, she grows restive under the yoke, and shrinks back aghast at the new atrocity contemplated, it is only necessary for that power to crack the whip of disunion over her head, as it has done again and again, and she will cower and obey like a plantation slave-for has she not sworn that she will sacrifice everything in heaven and on earth, rather than the Union?

  What then is to be done? Friends of the slave, the question is not whether by our efforts we can abolish slavery, speedily or remotely-for duty is ours, the result is with God; but whether we will go with the multitude to do evil, sell our birthright for a mess of pottage, cease to cry aloud and spare not, and remain in Babylon when the command of God is “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Let us stand in our lot, “and having done all, to stand.” At least, a remnant shall be saved. Living or dying, defeated or victorious, be it ours to exclaim, “No compromise with slavery! Liberty for each, for all, forever! Man above all institutions! The supremacy of God over the whole earth!

  “Whew!” said Davius. “That was a lot of talk.”

  CHAPTER 7 “Wait, there is more,” said Prime Minster Chandra, who had been listening to what President Parker was saying with rapt attention. “I would like to quote Gandhi to you.”

  In all probability this will be my last speech to you. Even if the Government allow me to march tomorrow morning, this will be my last speech on the sacred banks of the Sabarmati. Possibly these may be the last words of my life here.

  I have already told you yesterday what I had to say. Today I shall confine myself to what you should do after my companions and I are arrested. The programme of the march to Jabalpur must be fulfilled as originally settled. The enlistment of the volunteers for this purpose should be confined to Gujarat only. From what I have been and heard during the last fortnight, I am inclined to believe that the stream of civil resisters will flow unbroken.

  But let there be not a semblance of breach of peace even after all of us have been arrested. We have resolved to utilize all our resources in the pursuit of an exclusively nonviolent struggle. Let no one commit a wrong in anger. This is my hope and pr
ayer. I wish these words of mine reached every nook and corner of the land. My task shall be done if I perish and so do my comrades. It will then be for the Working Committee of the Congress to show you the way and it will be up to you to follow its lead. So long as I have reached Jabalpur, let nothing be done in contravention to the authority vested in me by the Congress. But once I am arrested, the whole responsibility shifts to the Congress. No one who believes in non-violence, as a creed, need, therefore, sit still. My compact with the Congress ends as soon as I am arrested. In that case volunteers. Wherever possible, civil disobedience of salt should be started. These laws can be violated in three ways. It is an offence to manufacture salt wherever there are facilities for doing so. The possession and sale of contraband salt, which includes natural salt or salt earth, is also an offence. The purchasers of such salt will be equally guilty. To carry away the natural salt deposits on the seashore is likewise violation of law. So is the hawking of such salt. In short, you may choose any one or all of these devices to break the salt monopoly.

  We are, however, not to be content with this alone. There is no ban by the Congress and wherever the local workers have selfconfidence other suitable measures may be adopted. I stress only one condition, namely, let our pledge of truth and nonviolence as the only means for the attainment of Swaraj be faithfully kept. For the rest, every one has a free hand. But, than does not give a license to all and sundry to carry on their own responsibility. Wherever there are local leaders, their orders should be obeyed by the people. Where there are no leaders and only a handful of men have faith in the programme, they may do what they can, if they have enough self-confidence. They have a right, nay it is their duty, to do so. The history of the world is full of instances of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of self-confidence, bravery and tenacity. We too, if we sincerely aspire to Swaraj and are impatient to attain it, should have similar self-confidence. Our ranks will swell and our hearts strengthen, as the number of our arrests by the Government increases.

  Much can be done in many other ways besides these. The Liquor and foreign cloth shops can be picketed. We can refuse to pay taxes if we have the requisite strength. The lawyers can give up practice. The public can boycott the law courts by refraining from litigation. Government servants can resign their posts. In the midst of the despair reigning all round people quake with fear of losing employment. Such men are unfit for Swaraj. But why this despair? The number of Government servants in the country does not exceed a few hundred thousands. What about the rest? Where are they to go? Even free India will not be able to accommodate a greater number of public servants. A Collector then will not need the number of servants, he has got today. He will be his own servant. Our starving millions can by no means afford this enormous expenditure. If, therefore, we are sensible enough, let us bid good-bye to Government employment, no matter if it is the post of a judge or a peon. Let all who are cooperating with the Government in one way or another, be it by paying taxes, keeping titles, or sending children to official schools, etc. withdraw their co-operation in all or as many watts as possible. Then there are women who can stand shoulder to shoulder with men in this struggle.

  You may take it as my will. It was the message that I desired to impart to you before starting on the march or for the jail. I wish that there should be no suspension or abandonment of the war that commences tomorrow morning or earlier, if I am arrested before that time. I shall eagerly await the news that ten batches are ready as soon as my batch is arrested. I believe there are men in India to complete the work our begun by me. I have faith in the righteousness of our cause and the purity of our weapons. And where the means are clean, there God is undoubtedly present with His blessings. And where these three combine, there defeat is an impossibility. A Satyagrahi, whether free or incarcerated, is ever victorious. He is vanquished only, when he forsakes truth and nonviolence and turns a deaf ear to the inner voice. If, therefore, there is such a thing as defeat for even a Satyagrahi, he alone is the cause of it. God bless you all and keep off all obstacles from the path in the struggle that begins tomorrow.

  “My, my, we already have an insurrection on our hands, even though we are yet to take over. Are you sure the Chinese and the Brazilian leaders don’t want to quote speeches by long-dead leaders to me? Wait, let’s call all the member nations of the United Nations and have them read speeches by dead people. That’s all you people have ever achieved—speaking. All the time, while the ground slips from under your feet. I have told you so many times that you people yourselves invited us, and here you are accusing us of invasion, imperialism, enslavement, and perhaps even genocide.

  Since you are so wise yourselves, may I take the liberty to end this business of trading quotes with one last poem by Kipling, which I think makes sense in today’s context.

  Take up the White Man’s burden—

  Send forth the best ye breed—

  Go send your sons to exile

  To serve your captives' need

  To wait in heavy harness

  On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half devil and half child

  Take up the White Man’s burden In patience to abide

  To veil the threat of terror

  And check the show of pride;

  By open speech and simple

  An hundred times made plain To seek another’s profit

  And work another’s gain

  Take up the White Man’s burden— And reap his old reward:

  The blame of those ye better

  The hate of those ye guard—

  The cry of hosts ye humour

  (Ah slowly) to the light:

  "Why brought ye us from bondage, “Our loved Egyptian night?” Take up the White Man’s burdenHave done with childish days- The lightly proffered laurel,

  The easy, ungrudged praise.

  Comes now, to search your manhood Through all the thankless years, Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom, The judgment of your peers!

  Now before you protest and say that you are not a burden on anybody and I am an imperialist or a colonialist, maybe you all need to see this to be convinced.”

  Davius raised his left hand and began to turn a dial on what appeared to be a high-tech device on his wrist. Afterwards, he pointed his left hand at the nearby wall. The delegates in the room were transfixed and bewildered when a light-blue beam of light suddenly appeared from the device on his left hand. The beam of light hit the wall at which he was pointing.

  The leaders all moved back in confusion and fear. President Parker reached for her smartphone. But there was still no signal on it. A feeling of frustration and anger came over her as she was forced to keep it aside and watch the unfolding scenario.

  The light-blue beam of light hit the wall and formed a circle. As it did, the color within the circle began to change gradually from light blue to silver. And as it turned to silver, what was initially just a thin, onedimensional mass of light began to accumulate and generate a visible mass. In no time, the thin layer of blue light suddenly transformed into a threedimensional physical mass of silver, all in a circular form.

  From where the heads of state were huddled in fear, it now appeared to be a sort of circular piece of a mirror hanging on the wall. The color within the perimeter of the mirror was completely grey.

  At that point, Davius pressed a dial on his device and the light-blue beam stopped. However, on the wall there was still a huge circle filled with a silver mass that looked like a mirror.

  Davius turned and looked at the frightened delegates in the room. “President Parker, and other heads of government,” he said, pointing at the silver mass on the wall. “Behold a video recording made by yourselves in the distant future.”

  Initially, there was nothing but the mirror plastered on the wall.

  And then the images began to appear. First, a room appeared. The room was not empty. It had a round table with five chairs around it. On the chairs were seated some people.

  As
the delegates with President Parker looked carefully, they began to recognize the occupants of the room in the mirror. It was them. They all appeared to be older than what one might expect in a mere three years’ time, but the stress of fighting a catastrophic global war was clearly visible in their haggard and tense appearances. President Parker was dressed in a dowdy blue suit that was barely ironed, Boris was a shadow of his burly self and looked like a thoroughly defeated man, and President Li Na had almost thinned down to the point that she looked little better than a skeleton. Prime Minister Chandra looked more or less the same and none the worse for wear, though President Bianca looked like a shadow of her present self; gaunt and weak to the point of emaciation, like President Li Na.

  And as they recognized themselves, they gasped in disbelief.

  CHAPTER 8 President Parker recognized herself, and then the Chinese president. She saw the Russian president, as well as the other two delegates.

  Slowly, President Parker stood up, staring transfixed at their images in the recording on the wall mirror.

  “What is this?” President Parker asked, not believing what they were seeing.

  But Davius did not say anything. Rather, it was President Parker’s image that waved at her. “Hello, distinguished delegates. I am pretty sure that by now, Davius should be in your midst. 'Davius' is the name we assigned to the person who will be sent to you from the future. I see that most of you, that is most of us, have been calling poor Davius all sorts of names, including that of being an imperialist conqueror. Let me assure you that he is none of that. In fact, his name is not Davius. The name is something that we thought of amongst ourselves, as it has a very nice Roman ring to it. We wouldn’t know the name of the man who would come thousands of years from now, would we? And since he is already there, I can only begin to imagine the state of confusion and shock you might all be experiencing at this moment,” her image in the mirror announced.