[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 653 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 653

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the concept 
    of nonviolence and the teachings of Gandhi remain relevant and 
   instructive in today's world and the United States should take an 
    active role in disseminating the message of nonviolence through 
                    education and public awareness.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 2007

Mr. McDermott (for himself and Mr. Wilson of South Carolina) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                    Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the concept 
    of nonviolence and the teachings of Gandhi remain relevant and 
   instructive in today's world and the United States should take an 
    active role in disseminating the message of nonviolence through 
                    education and public awareness.

Whereas peace is a vision and nonviolence is a strategy;
Whereas nonviolence was most famously instrumental in the struggle for Indian 
        independence and the civil rights movement in the United States;
Whereas nonviolence has been advocated in some form by many of the great leaders 
        of the 20th Century, including Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., 
        Cesar Chavez, Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein, and Dorothy Day, among 
        others;
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed this decade (2001 through 
        2010) as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of 
        Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World on November 10, 
        1998;
Whereas representatives from 90 countries and 122 organizations adopted a 
        declaration commemorating the Centenary of the Satyagraha Movement 
        launched by Mahatma Gandhi at the International Conference on Peace, 
        Nonviolence and Empowerment--Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century in 
        New Delhi, India in January, 2007;
Whereas the representatives at the conference vowed to ``nurture the values 
        espoused by Mahatma Gandhi, to pursue Truth, to privilege peace and 
        reject violence in all our activities, to respect diverse viewpoints, 
        and to practice the philosophy of Nonviolence to win over the forces of 
        violence and injustice through tolerance, empathy and love.'';
Whereas the declaration adopted by the conference appeals to the United Nations 
        to declare Mahatma Gandhi's date of birth, October 2, as International 
        Nonviolence Day;
Whereas, on June 15, 2007, the United Nations unanimously passed a resolution to 
        observe October 2nd as an International Day of Non-Violence; and
Whereas the United States was a cosponsor of this United Nations resolution: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the concept of nonviolence and the teachings of Gandhi 
        remain relevant and instructive in today's world;
            (2) the United States should take an active role in 
        disseminating the message of nonviolence through education and 
        public awareness; and
            (3) the President should issue a proclamation calling on 
        the American people to observe the International Day of Non-
        Violence with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
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