Mohandas Gandhi “We must be the change we wish to see in the world”

 1869-Britain was a major colonial power  Colonies of concern for Gandhi: India and South Africa  Repressive laws against Indians in both places  Elevated tension between the 30 million Muslims and 300 million Hindus in India

 Porbander, western India  wealthy family subcaste of the Vaisya (merchant) caste  studied law at University College in London  1891, passed the bar and returned home  Failed to establish a law firm in Bombay  Accepted offer from a firm to represent them in South Africa

 Experienced discrimination when kicked out of a first class train car traveling from Pretoria to Durban  Extended his stay for 20 years, working to eliminate racial prejudice  Boer War, organized an Ambulance Corps for British army  1910, Tolstoy farm, cooperative colony for Indians  1915, considered his work their done after a law was passed declaring Indian marriages valid and after the abolition of the tax on former indentured Indian labor  returned to India

 Mahatma—“great soul”  Devout Hindu  Believed Muslims and Hindus could live peacefully together  Peace and brotherhood in order to achieve social and political progress  Passive resistance and non- cooperation  Influenced by Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, and the teachings of Christ  Satyagraha—“a quiet and irresistible pursuit of truth”  Refused earthly possessions

 Campaign for swaraj—home rule  India would receive no real freedom as long as it remained in the British Empire  Worked to reconcile all classes and sectsPeacefully protested the repressive British rulers in India  1917-protests against exploitation of indigo workers  1921-head of Indian National Congress  Hartal—urged Indians to spin their own clothing and boycott British goods  Jailed from

 1930-led thousands on a 24-day, 241 mile march to the Arabian Sea  “Salt march” In protest of a British law on salt tax, signaled peasants to make their own salt  Showed people they didn’t need the British  Jailed for the second time, but released after one year

 While in jail, 1932-“fast until death” to protest the British government’s treatment of untouchables  Reaction to British plan for a separate electorate for them  After 6 days, a pact was made that improved their status  traveled, teaching non-violence and demanding the eradication of “untouchability”  Promoted basic education, and Hindi as the national language  1939-became active once again in politics starting with a fast to force the ruler of Rajkot to change his aristocratic ways of governing  Colonial government intervened and Gandhi’s demands were granted

 1942-England entered World War II and Congress passed the “Quit India” resolution  Gandhi’s imprisonment led to violence in India  British placed the blame on him, so he fasted for 21 days  Released in 1944 when contracted malaria  Tried to stop creation of Pakistan-separate Muslim state that Muhammad Ali Jinnah was demanding  British cabinet also opposed it and the creation of a cabinet occurred  Gandhi suggested Jinnah as the prime minister or defense minister  Jinnah refused, violence spread throughout India  5,000 dead in Calcutta  4,500 dead in Bihar

 1947-Lord Mountbatten aimed to take Britain out of India by June 1948  1947-angry mob of Hindus broke into his residence in Calcutta  Started a fast “to end if and when sanity returns to Calcutta”  Leaders of Hindus and Muslims promised the violence would end, halted his fast  1947-India won independence and split into India and Pakistan  1948-last fast in Delhi for Indian unity  January 30, 1948, shot and killed by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu who opposed Gandhi’s attempts to unite Hindus and Muslims

 Mediator and reconciler  Deepest strivings were spiritual  Helped stop prejudice and improved life for everyone  Helped India peacefully gain independence  Mahatma-the great soul  Influenced men to come- Martin Luther King Jr.

 Refusal to obey a law on the grounds that it is immoral or unjust in itself, or furthers injustice. Disobedience within a framework of obedience to law.  Appeals to the majority’s sense of justice, in order to get them to reconsider and change public policy.  Goal: to put the issue on the public’s agenda, to call attention to an unjust law. Disobedience must be open and public.

 Public in two ways: Not done in secret but in the open Intended to serve broad public interest, not individual self interest.

 Different than passive resistance, which is a weapon of the weak. Not the same level of discipline and courage needed as in Satyagraha, and therefore violence is possible. Passive resistance does not require “complete adherence to truth.”

 Gandhi called it love-force or soul-force (ahimsa), a relentless but gentle insistence on truth in dealing with friends as well as enemies, neighbors as well as rulers.  Not simply a weapon used selectively to achieve a particular change, but an attitude toward one’s entire life.

 Civil disobedience is an inherent right of a citizen and is never followed by anarchy, unlike criminal disobedience, which must be put down by a state using force.  The follower of Satyagraha “obeys the laws of society intelligently and of his own free will, because he considers it to be his sacred duty to do so.” Only then is he or she able to judge what laws are just and unjust, and resist the unjust laws in “well-defined circumstances.”

 The difference between criminals and the civil disobedient: “The lawbreaker breaks the law surreptitiously and tries to avoid the penalty. The civil resister ever obeys the laws of the State to which he belongs, not out of fear... but because he considers them to be good for the welfare of society. But there come occasions, generally rare, when he considers certain laws to be so unjust as to render obedience to them a dishonor. He then openly and civilly breaks them and quietly suffers the penalty for their breach.”