Throughout history, violent reformation movements were traditionally used, but non-violence has been proven just as effective. Non-violence is the clear distinguisher between right and wrong. When violence is followed by non-violence there is only so much fighting that can go on. Mohandas Gandhi was a known pacifist and a spiritual and political leader of India during the Indian Independence Movement. Gandhi studied law in England before returning to India to fight the caste system by doing chores an untouchable would do. He fought the British Salt Tax by initiating "The Salt March". Nelson Mandela fought the government through non-violence to abolish the apartheid laws in South Africa. Mandela spent almost twenty-seven years in prison, where his hunger for the freedom of his own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, black and white. Martin Luther King Jr. led a civil rights movement in America. He spoke out for justice to African Americans, for an end to racial discrimination, and the laws that embodied it.
These activists used many ways to protest. What made Gandhi's, King's, and Mandela's non-violent protests successful is that they put their opponent's economic profits at risk, willingly accepted punishments, and embraced their enemies. In Dharasana, India in May, 1930, Mohandas Gandhi planned "The Salt March" to fight the British Salt Tax before he was arrested. With three hundred and twenty injured and two dead, The Salt March carried on for as long as possible to protest the tax. On May 24, 1930 a cartoon was released of Gandhi salting the tail of the British lion. This cartoon emphasized Gandhi's protest against the salt tax. In Atlanta, Georgia in October, 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. participated ...
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...eace. In March, 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. and many boycotters were voluntarily arrested. People rushed down to get arrested and many were disappointed when they weren’t. They were proud to be arrested for the cause of freedom. In June, 1964, Nelson Mandela informed his counsel that he would accept his sentence, even the death sentence, and he would not appeal. He felt this would undermine the moral stand he had taken. Mandela felt that he would not die in vain, that if anything he might serve the greater cause in death as a martyr than he ever could in life. Each man felt that their message was that no sacrifice was too great in the struggle for freedom. Despite the different time periods, situations, and places, these men all saw how economic pressure, accepting sacrifice for their cause, and embracing their enemy would lead them to the outcomes that they wanted.
In 1962, after a trip to India he gained a deeper understanding of what he could achieve by using the nonviolence approach. Upon his return to the United States of America, he focused his attention to Birmingham, Alabama the most segregated city in America, there he achieved two things, one was to demonstrate nonviolent marches, and protests can work to and also by using children, he could teach them that the nonviolent was the way forward. The protest in Birmingham, Alabama shock...
How did India earn its independence from Great Britain? War? Riots? Killing? Mohandas Gandhi used his peaceful nonviolent strategy to gain independence from England. Nonviolence is a calm and peaceful method that does not include hurting or harm to anything or anybody. What nonviolent tactics did Gandhi use? Gandhi, who was born in 1869, was a brilliant man that put India back on its feet. Many wonder why and how his nonviolent methods succeeded. The three elements that Gandhi used to make his nonviolent strategies successful are accepting his jail time, embracing the enemy, and he used disciplined civil disobedience.
In our country, Dr. Martin Luther King embraced the tenets of non-violence in his leadership within the Civil Rights Movement and enduring philosophy for bringing about social change. Dr. King wrote about those who inspired his philosophy of nonviolent social change and Gandhi was a significant influence. According to Pal, Dr. King took a month-long trip to India in 1959 to visit the country of his inspiration. The King Center is dedicated to preserving his legacy and providing support for social change. Based on Dr. King's teachings, The King Center published, “Six Steps of Nonviolent Social Change”. These six steps are: information gathering, education, personal commitment, negotiation, direct action, and reconciliation.
Up until 1947, the British ruled in India and oppressed Indian citizens. Up until 1964, there was segregation in the United States. Eventually, two brave men stood up and fought for justice and equality. Gandhi lead the movement in India and Dr. Martin Luther King Junior lead the movement in America. Gandhi and Dr. King both employed nonviolent civil disobedience tactics and fought for a cause (to end oppression). However, the two differed greatly in that Gandhi held some “inhumane” ideals that deeply opposed Dr. King’s ideals. Though both men fought for the equality and rights of others, Dr. King had a better philosophy because he fought for a cause and for people whereas Gandhi only fought for a cause.
Many prominent political figures have spoken out against violence; among them are Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Dalai Lama. Instead of choosing physical brutality, they chose to follow difficult, winding paths full of powerful speeches, civil disobedience, and peaceful protests. These non-violent ideals have led leaders like Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. to achieve goals in ways government leaders and thinkers previously thought to be impossible. Different literary works like The Night Thoreau spent in Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Walden by Henry Thoreau, and Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr., show efforts of these leaders through Thoreau’s stand against the Mexican War and opinion of life in Walden, as well as Martin Luther King’s peaceful protests.
In the 1960s, the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the United States was at its peak. At the forefront of this crusade were two inspiring and insightful men, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Although their philosophies were different, both had the same aspiration, to achieve social and racial justice by initiating change in the American people throughout the nation. Dr. King, a prominent civil rights leader, based his philosophy of change through nonviolence on the beliefs and tactics of Mahatma Gandhi. The intention of this was to allow violent oppressors to reveal to themselves and everyone around the world the moral and legal corruption that is racial injustice and inequality. During the
First Martin Luther King’s philosophy of non violence had two major influences guided him though his life a strong belief in religion and the Philosophy of Gandhi. Being a Christian instilled strong moral values in Martin Luther King and much of Martin Luther King’s philosophy of non violence residences form came from the bible, like the teachings of Jesus and the Christian principles of pacifism. Martin Luther King also had other influences that helped shape his philosophy of non violent. For instance, Martin Luther King was greatly influenced by another civil rights activist, Mahatma Gandhi. A lot of Martin Luther King’s philosophy of non violence resistance came from the Philosophies that Gandhi applied to his resistance movements in India and Africa. For example, the use of boycotts, rallies, Marches, and civil non compliance as forms of non violence resistance. It was both his religion and influences form activist like Gandhi; straighten his commitment to love his enemy and not to wish harm on them, and to fight for truth and justice.
Martin Luther King Jr,. Nonviolent protest has often proved successful among minority groups, especially those inclined to try peaceful revolution. Chavez, distinctly aware that his target audience is an oppressed minority and will respond to this history, ensures that his audience connects with this powerful history through mentions of Gandhi and Dr. King, thus allowing for the audience to feel impressed and empowered. Chavez directly references King’s prolific history through saying: “Dr. King’s entire life was an example of power that nonviolence brings to the real world” (Chavez paragraph 1). By connecting two basic emotions such as a want for power and desire for peace, Chavez informs the audience that such contrasting ideals coexisting are in fact possible, and can lead to great results as in the case of the legendary Dr. King. This idea is further expanded when one takes into account that precedents are not needed for revolution to occur, as in the first example of nonviolent protest, Gandhi. His vision for a united Indian republic was one of a lust for power, but he saw that violence would only lead to lust for more violence, and that peace was the only linear path to justice. Chavez
From the onset of man fighting for freedom or his beliefs, the question has always been whether one person can make a difference using words rather than wars. Philosophically, the concept of civil disobedience would appear to be an ineffective weapon against political injustice; history however has proven it to repeatedly be one of the most powerful weapons of the common man. Martin Luther King Jr. looked at the way African Americans were treated in the United States and saw an inequality. By refusing to pay his taxes and subsequently being imprisoned for a night, Henry David Thoreau demonstrated his intolerance for the American government. Under British rule, India remained oppressed until Mohandas Gandhi, with his doctrine of non-violence lead the country to freedom.
“ First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” (Mahatma Gandhi). Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbandar. Throughout his life Gandhi helped those in need. He was taught that everyone and everything is holy. He married at the custom age of 19 and went to London to study law. The thing that helped Gandhi promote nonviolence is that he worked his entire life saying that violence didn’t change the way people acted. He lived his life saying that an eye for an eye only made the whole world blind. Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked because he had something to prove and everyone else in the world agreed with him.
Have you ever wondered what it was like to make a difference and even change something in your country? How would you feel if you were considered a hero by your people? Civil disobedience is a form of protest that uses a law to show that it is not needed. The protestors intentionally violate a law that they are protesting against (Suber). For example, Rosa Parks used civil disobedience by sitting at the front of the bus because she believed that all people are the same and deserved equal rights. Although civil disobedience uses tactics of nonviolence, it is more than a little passive resistance because it is used to take action by illegal street demonstrations or by peaceful occupations (Starr). Mandela’s involvement in civil disobedience was due to his strongly hatred of racism and racial prejudice in South Africa. Mr. Mandela did achieve success by using guerrilla tactics as well as civil disobedience to stand up to what he believed was right.
Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked because he didn’t believe in segregation and didn’t follow the British’s rules for Indians. When coming back from prison in 1859, things changed in India. The people if India were forced to mimic the English on how they dressed, copy their manner and accept their standards of beauty. When hearing this, Gandhi didn’t accept it and started his movement. According to the background document,” he shed the cloths that made him look like a British lawyer and dressed in a poor man’s traditional loincloth.”(Background document) By do...
Throughout his education, Martin Luther King Jr. tried to find a way to demonstrate his belief of racial equality with the most effective means possible. He quickly realized that the best strategy to end segregation was to use nonviolent forms of protest. At Crozer, Morehouse and Boston University, he studied the teaching of Mohandas Gandhi, who used nonviolent methods to help India claim its independence from Britain. King read several books on the ideas of Gandhi, and eventually became convinced that his methods could be employed by African Americans to obtain equality in America. King knew that any violence on the part of African Americans would lead to violent responses from segregationists, which would lead to injury or maybe even death for his followers. He had to teach his followers not to respond violently to cruel attacks from segregationists. King decided to sponsor workshops to train African Americans in nonviolent beh...
In an effort to help free India from the British rule, Mahatma Gandhi once again contributed to a protest against salt taxes, known as the Salt March. This protest advocated Gandhi’s theory of satyagraha or nonviolent disobedience as the nation came together on March 12, 1930 to walk the 241 miles long journey to the shores of Dandi to attain salt. Although some Indians criticized Gandhi for not achieving direct independence from the Raj or British rule, Gandhi’s execution of the Salt March helped to create a stronger nation for the Indians to live in. Gandhi motivated the Indians to act robustly against the injustices of the salt taxes through nonviolent means. This caused Gandhi to create a temporary compromising pact between Gandhi and the British viceroy over the turmoil created by the salt taxes. In addition, Gandhi drew a plan known as the “Quit India” resolution, whose immediate effect brought India closer to obtaining independence than before.
Gandhi was known first for his nonviolence behavior and would condemn his own party opposing violence. Gandhi made use of nonviolent and passive resistance through non-cooperation as his weapon of choice in the conflict against the British. The butchery of civilians by British military personnel resulted in increased public anger and acts of violence. Mahatma Gandhi criticized both the activities of British Government and the revenge of the butchery from the Indians. He extended consolation to the British victims and denounced the riots. Initially his party was opposed to his declaration. Later, however, they accepted Gandhi’s principal stating that any retaliation or violence was hurtful and could not be justified. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi success with nonviolent activism, Martin Luther King Jr. pushed forward his Civil Rights Movement with nonviolent activism as well. Although the two have personally never had contact, Dr. King learned of Gandhi 's discipline while in the seminary. His first application of the nonviolent campaign came in 1955 during the Montgomery bus boycott. Here, he had a witnessed firsthand the power of a peaceful