Long treated as a moral icon, Mahatma Gandhi remains one of the most demanding and misunderstood political thinkers of the modern era.There is much that will surprise in these pages: Gandhi was not a pacifist; he believed in the right of those being attacked to strike back and regarded inaction as a result of cowardice to be a greater sin than even the most ill-considered aggression. Gandhi’s calls for the sacrifice of lives in order to shame the oppressor into concessions can easily seem chilling and ruthless.Drawing on extensive readings of Gandhis copious oeuvre, Norman Finkelstein sets out, in clear and concise language, the basic principles of Gandhis approach and applies this thinking to the IsraelPalestine conflict.The wave of protest movements that gathered force in the early 2010sfrom Occupy to the uprisings that inspired it renewed global attention to Gandhis work on nonviolent resistance, articulated during the struggle for Indian independence and later echoed in Tahrir Square, Puerta del Sol, and Zuccotti Park. Yet admiration for Gandhis influence has often obscured the rigor and severity of his thinking.This book confronts that gap directly, examining Gandhis insistence on courage as an active and demanding virtue, his rejection of passivity and moral evasion, and his belief that resistance must be judged by its consequences in human lives. Central to this argument is Gandhis conviction that peaceful resistance, however exacting, is ultimately less costly in human terms than armed opposition, and that the role of a protest movement is not to persuade people of something new but to compel them to act on behalf of what they already accept as right.In doing so, it restores the sharp political edge of Gandhis thought and demonstrates its continuing relevance to contemporary struggles for justice and democracy. Photograph of Norman Finkelstein Charles Eshelman Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics at Princeton University. For many years he taught political theory and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Finkelstein is the author of eight books besides this one, which have been translated into more than 40 foreign editions: What Gandhi Says: About Nonviolence, Resistance and Courage (OR Books, 2012); This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion (OR Books, 2010, expanded paperback edition, 2011); Goldstone Recants: Richard Goldstone Renews Israels License to Kill (OR Books, 2011), Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History (University of California Press, 2005, expanded paperback edition, 2008); The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (Verso, 2000, expanded paperback edition, 2003); Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Verso, 1995, expanded paperback edition, 2003); with Ruth Bettina Birn, A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen Thesis and Historical Truth (Henry Holt, 1998); and The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A Personal Account of the Intifada Years (University of Minnesota, 1996). A wave of popular revolts is now sweeping the planet.In many instances, it was an act of nonviolent civil resistance that either sparked the local uprising or marked its turning-pointIn Tunisia, it was the self-immolation of a street vendor. In Cairo, it was the assault by goons on camelback against nonviolent protesters in Tahrir Square. In New York City, it was the voluntary mass arrest of demonstrators on the Brooklyn Bridge.These actions “quickened” the public conscience. People who had stood by indifferently and passively for decades suddenly came to life.The acts of nonviolent resistance resonated with a broad public because of an already existing consensus that the system was unjust.In spirit and form, the epic events of the past year appear like a page out of Gandhi’s life.But it is also easy to see the limitations of Gandhi’s teachings.Neither Ben-Ali of Tunisia nor Mubarak of Egypt was “melted” by the people’s self-suffering. They had to be forced from power. Neither the liberal mayor of Oakland nor the liberal mayor of New York let their bleeding hearts prevent them from brutally clearing out the “Occupy” movement.Self-suffering might sting the conscience of the 99 percent and get them to act. But only the concerted and courageous power of the overwhelming majority will get the 1 percent to budge and be gone.