Need a Mahatma Gandhi to fix the oil crisis

This is a question that has crossed our minds often: How would Mahatma Gandhi have reacted if he was around when oil prices were nudging $150 barrel? Quite clearly, his response would have been markedly different from the likes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or the extremely conservative Congress president, Sonia Gandhi. He would not have reacted like US President George W Bush and suggested drilling in high seas. He would not have shown his rage like the OPEC leaders, who have claimed that future traders are trying to take control of the pricing of oil away from them. He would have done things very differently. Mahatma Gandhi's biographer Loius Fischer provided ample indication about how he would have gone about it. His greatness, she says, "lay in doing what every one could do but doesn't". And the great man would have done what we all know: Show the world that Indians can do what the consumerist West would blanche even thinking about - cut down consumption. He would have used this as an opportunity to politically mobilise millions of people reeling under high fuel and food prices and hit at all those entities that are deepening their misery. Gandhi would have identified the causes behind the spiraling oil prices and its consequent impact on food and other commodities. He would have campaigned relentlessly against the militaristic policies of the US and how it is contributing to creating such a gargantuan fuel crisis.
Going by the material that is available on the internet and elsewhere, he would have come to the conclusion that the price hike was not due to fall in production or a sudden increase in demand for oil, but due to the aggressive trading in commodity futures in world market as well as the manner in which both the US government and traders were hoarding oil to get a better deal in the future. Gandhi would have sensed how the oil companies are major beneficiaries of this increase in fuel and devised a simple strategy that punctured their best-laid plans. It would have been a simple solution: If the future traders, oil producers and refiners are making money from ordinary people then through civil action cut down on oil consumption. He would also have known how modern governments have become slaves to the interests of large corporations and do not have the courage to rein them in. Armed with this realisation, he would have gone about empowering the oppressed and sensed it as a historical opportunity to reshape and reorder world economy, society and human relationship. Gandhi would not have hesitated in opting for the most creative way to galvanise his troops quite like what he did when he organised the Dandi Yatra against the salt tax imposed by the British colonial government. Many had laughed at the "naked fakir" for devising a way to take on the might of the British government by resorting to an agitation that may be high on symbolism but did not really constitute a threat to the British rulers. As events proved subsequently, Gandhi's instincts were correct and the "yatra" became an important event in India's march to independence. He would have known oil had similar impact on the lives of people like salt.
A great communicator, who used to write copiously for his own publication , Gandhi in 2008 would have had his own website or blog to network with thousands of activists in India and abroad to tell them exactly what needs to be done to take control over their lives and fight the rapacious market. Gandhi would have loved the internet and how it empowers an individual to access information. Wonder what he would have called his website? Maybe www.livewithdignity.com or www.telyatra.com

Using it as a force multiplier he would have spread his message far and wide. Parsimonious in his ways, he would skype other Gandhians to ready themselves for coming out in the streets and forcing large corporations, governments and speculators to see reason. Sending thousands of e-mails he would have mobilised demonstrators. They would have been asked to organise sit-ins at Wall Street, London Commodity exchanges and in other major capitals of the world. He would also have asked his followers to not use their cars for one day of the week and not fill up their tank to capacity. A careful journalist, he would have been armed with the information that governments or speculators would not have enough capacities to hoard oil if people stop buying so much oil. He would have asked his supporters to abandon cars and take public transport. Take trains rather than fly. Gandhi would have got all the support of the Greens, film and other celebrities like George Clooney, Richard Gere, Aamir Khan, Arundhati Roy and many more. Before accepting them in his fold he would have asked them to follow the Gandhi way of leading a Spartan existence. He would have built a worldwide movement that would have brought the oil majors and speculators on their knees and forced the world to conduct their lives differently. Gandhi would have brought a paradigm shift in the way the people live their lives. Is there anyone who can make Gandhi happen again?