Jeff Knaebel Walks With Gandhi

Feb. 9, 2010 by REED

“I destroyed my passport and renounced US citizenship, out of reverence and respect for the Mahatma’s inspiration –I courted arrest and imprisonment in India,” writes the 71-year old Knaebel, “…to demonstrate to the world the truth of Gandhi’s statement: ‘The State is a soulless machine that can never be weaned from the violence to which it owes its very existence.’” Further, “We cannot (work for the good of mankind and do no harm) so long as we vote for and pay taxes to a government which engages in criminal activities…” Those activities he defines as war abroad, use of force and plunder of citizens at home.

In his letter to India’s National Human Rights Commission, Knaebel writes, “It is your moral choice. It is on you whether I be granted to live as a dignified human being dedicated to the cause of peace and brotherhood, or else to die as a hunted slave or in jail.”

Jeff Knaebel expresses his philosophy of peace, love, and freedom at his website, www.freeofstate.org. His logo is among the peace-freedom symbols gathered in CW’s right column. A thoughtful explanation of its symbolism can be seen at his site under the heading, “A Nonviolent World Is Possible. Let Us Build It.”