Gundhi

Waging war for peace: is that even possible?

In the best of all worlds, peace is such a self-evident good that we forget it is there. But in our world, it is more fragile and fleeting than we thought in Western Europe after 1989. Since Russia invaded Ukraine and violence exploded in the Middle East, it has become glaringly obvious to us that war is neither an outdated category nor is peace for free.

It's good that there are pacifists. But what price do others pay for our peace? How peaceful do we want to be, are we allowed to be? Or do we have to defend peace tooth and nail and hand in hand with the arms industry?

Time to take a look at the icon of pacifism, Mahatma Gandhi. But wait a minute! Haven't there been increasing cracks in the pure image of this man, who stands for non-violence like no other, in recent years? Wasn't he once profaned by Sascha Lobo as a ‘legendary idiot’? And why does Ben Kingsley keep pushing himself into the spotlight?

Armed with Snapchat and yoga skills, the Dutch theatre collective De Warme Winkel is developing a production that wraps itself around Gandhi's life like the fabric of the dhoti once wrapped around Gandhi's body.