Mohandas Gandhi is one of the greatest nonviolent activists ever. Gandhi came up with the word ahimsa, which meant nonviolence. He also introduced to the world the word satyagraha, which meant peaceful civil disobedience. In 1930 Gandhi and a group of followers began a march of more than 200 miles. Three and a half weeks later they made it to their destination, the sea. At the sea, Gandhi picked up a handful of salt. This act went against the British law mandating that they buy salt from their government and this law did not allow them to collect their own salt. That act was made to let the British government know that the Indian people were tired of being under Britain’s rule and they were tired of following all of the unjust laws that were …show more content…
He thought that if he died that it would make national headlines and people would see how unjustly the Indian people were being treated. Gandhi was imprisoned many times, but this did not stop him and his movement towards freedom. There was a point in the movement when it started to get violent and Gandhi made sure to suspend the movement and emphasized to the Indian people the importance of nonviolence. The Indian people were very disciplined. The first reason they were disciplined is because of their leader Gandhi. Gandhi always made sure that they kept the movement nonviolent. They had meetings on how they were going to approach the movement, they were organized and had a plan. Gandhi got many of his ideas and principles through reading the bible, reading the Bhagavad Gita, and writers like Henry David Thoreau. Gandhi and the Indian people created some dilemmas to throw the British government off balance. Gandhi told the Indian people to boycott all British goods and only buy Indian goods. Boycotting the british goods hit the foundation of the british economy and at the same time buying Indian goods was good for the local economies. The turning point was when Gandhi and the Indian people made the salt march to the
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Show MoreStarting in the 1870s, countries in Africa such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and India, Vietnam, in Asia were being colonized by the British. In order to gain their independence back they took non-violent and militant actions. Though both strategies were successful one was more successful that the other. Non-violent actions were successful in peacefully getting the countries independence. In document 1, a letter written by Mahatma Gandhi to lord Irwin in 1930 before marching to the sea and breaking the British Salt Tax he states, “Even the salt the peasants must use to live is so taxed as to make the burden fall heaviest on him…
Manufacture in India was strictly forbidden. The British also heavily manipulated the currency and the exchange ratio, which drained millions from India. Document 8, written by Gandhi, explains to us how India can become free. He would organize large peaceful protests to defy British law and rule. He potentially sacrificed his own life for the good of others.
He practiced non-violence protests; his protests sparked civil rights movements all over the world, including the United States. Gandhi’s movement was taking place during the mid-1900s. Mahatma Gandhi is a symbol of achieving change through peaceful methods. In the book Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury has Guy flee the city.
Gandhi’s passive resistance of British rule was sparked by unjust taxes and acts placed on India by Parliament after World War I. As part of his peaceful non-cooperation movement for home rule, Gandhi stressed the importance of economic and political independence for India from Western culture. With the political and law background he had, Gandhi became invested in the Indian National Congress (INC or Congress Party), in which he turned the independence movement into a massive organization, leading refuses of British institutions including schools and legislatures and boycotts of British manufacturers. Gandhi terminated these movements due to violence, and in March of 1922 British authorities arrested Gandhi and tried him for sedition. He refrained from active participation in politics for many years until 1930, in which he launched a new civil disobedience campaign against Parliament’s tax on salt, which greatly
The sanctions enforced by Nelson Mandela in South Africa acted as a drain on the economy (Doc C). Dr. King also “took part in the lunch counter sit-ins . . . seeking to integrate lunch counters,” joining the black student protesters who refused to leave when demanded to and getting arrested (Doc E). Gandhi sent a letter to the British government telling them that he would stage a salt march whether they liked it or not unless they removed the unfair salt tax.
During these years in South Africa, Gandhi focused on helping the ones in need and the Indian community as he had done it until then. With the proposal of the Asiatic Registration Bill or the “Black Act”, the Indian and Chinese people over the age of eight could be forced to carry a permit in order to be registered with South African Officials. Gandhi intervened in the situation and ancouraged all Indians to join a mass resistance movement against the Black Act. Despite his warning, the people decided not to register and a year later, when the South African government passed the Black Act, a lot of people were arrested because they were not carrying their passes, including Gandhi. Realizing that it would not be able to jail all of the protesters
Racial prejudice against Indians through government law is corrupt and unjust. “Defending Nonviolent Resistance” was a speech written and given by Mohandas K. Gandhi before he was sentenced to six years in prison for stirring up rebellion. Gandhi was a leader of the Indian nationalist movement who had a law degree. He spent much of his life volunteering to help the people of India under a government that he did not agree with. While working with Montagu-Chelmsford to make a change in his home country, Gandhi became a known advocate for non-violence.
To begin with both Martin Luther King and Gandhi had both used non violence as a way of gaining freedom. In the text “letter from Birmingham Jail,” it states “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: 1) collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are
When Gandhi was arrested for protesting racial discrimination against Indians in South Africa, he had read Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” which influenced his methods of nonviolent resistance to laws (Gandhi and Civil Disobedience). His civil disobedience against the unjust British government in India inspired others both locally and around the world to lead protests in peaceful ways instead of the traditional violent resistance, which would rarely ever achieve the desired results. Gandhi’s demonstrations of peaceful resistance to the British tyranny in India, such as non-cooperation and fasting, eventually led to the destruction of the Indian caste system and independence from England for the Indian people. In the evolution of civil disobedience of law, Gandhi was pivotal in inspiring new generations of activists around the globe that would later permanently change the world in which we live. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was influenced by Gandhi, he wrote that he was, “operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence” and described the method as “one of the most potent weapons available to an oppressed people” this statement proves that Gandhi had an influence on future social activists like Dr. King (King, Stride 79; Papers 5:422).
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” (Mahatma Gandhi), welcome to the world of non-violence, where people come to escape the death and destruction. Many people believe that violence is the only way to achieve peace; that death and destruction is the only way to pave the way to the grassy green Elysium. Many prominent political figures have spoken out against this violence; among them are Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. Instead of choosing physical brutality, they chose to follow difficult, winding paths full of powerful speeches, civil disobedience, and peaceful protests that showed others that violence isn’t always the answer. There is a controversy about the precise meaning of nonviolence.
Mohandas Gandhi was a “key figure in the Indian struggle for independence.” He worked to use nonviolent ways to fight for equality and change in India. Gandhi was able to unite many groups and “inspired the common people of India to work for change.” In addition, Gandhi advocated using a more traditional approach (Wadley 202). Although Mohandas Gandhi 's satyagraha campaign caused violence, his advocacy for those who were discriminated against in Indian society led to the initial unification of India to gain independence from Great Britain.
THE LAUNCH OF THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT: MK Gandhi was asked by the Congress to render his tremendously required authority to the Civil Disobedience Movement. On the notable day of twelfth March 1930, Gandhi introduced The Civil Disobedience Movement by directing the memorable Dandi Salt March, where he infringed upon the Salt Laws forced by the British Government. Taken after by a company of seventy nine ashramites, Gandhi left on his walk from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi that is situated on the shores of the Arabian Sea. On sixth April 1930, Gandhi with the backup of seventy nine satyagrahis, damaged the Salt Law by getting a fistful of salt lying on the ocean shore.
Truth and love is what Gandhi believed should guide the method of nonviolence. He was exceptionally selfless; he dedicated his life to nonviolence and eventually died for those
Due to the race inequality along with the economic regulations among the Indian people, Gandhi’s ambition from the beginning of simply just wanting equality between the Indian and British transition to wanting India to become Independence. He wanted to give the Indian citizen a voice in the government and a chance to define their own nation. The Indian people lose their political power in terms of how the British authorities were exercising their power over them, implementing policies according to their own rules and administrating over the Indian’s resources. Gandhi throughout the film had the desire to help gain back India’s political power and it revolves around his method of passive resistance and self-sacrifice. He belief in “an eye for an eye only makes people blind” is what helped him achieve freedom for India without any violence involve.
Mohandas K. Gandhi personally orchestrated three separate campaigns with the express purpose of achieving that freedom from a corrupt government: the Non Cooperation (1919-1922); the Civil Disobedience and Salt Satyagraha (1930-1931); and the Quit India movement (1940-942). Each of these orchestrated campaigns had freedom from tyranny as the ultimate goal. Through public speeches and peaceable protesting; mass petitions; delegates representing against the government initiative; public acts; theater; political mourning, and ostracism; Gandhi was able to recruit, organize, and enact change within the Indian government. The Non Cooperation movement covered everything from social ostracism to political ostracism. The Civil Disobedience and Salt Satyagraha saw acts of defiance against arbitrary rules and tax hikes.