Civil Disobedience, the act of purposely disobeying and breaking the law based on moral or political principles is a phrase that conjures up images of the American civil rights protests of the 50’s and 60’s, Anti-Vietnam protests of the 70’s, Tiananmen Square protests in China in the late 80’s, and the civil disobedient acts of many peaceful nonviolent protests in colonial India. This non-violent movement lead by Mahatma Gandhi finally took hold after many decades to free India from English rule called the Raj. Gandhi was the predecessor to all for his nationalistic views and believed in an independent and free India, believing that all people should be treated equal. He was able to see his dream of a free India, only to be assassinated 6 …show more content…
He believed that with these four essential elements, India could be free from colonial rule (sangamithra, 2013). From upon his return in 1915 till the independence in 1947, he started a satyagraha, or a devotion to truth, which he developed while in South Africa. His goal was seek out and to reveal truth and confront injustice through non-violence. One of his most famous non-violent marches came in March 12th, 1930 when he lead what started as a small group of followers 240 miles from his home in Ahmedabad to the Arabian Sea coast about a month later on April 6th, 1930. This march was a protest to English tax and monopoly on salt, an essential mineral of the Indian culture and diet. Gandhi and his supporters were to defy British policy by making salt from seawater. Gandhi sends a public letter to the Viceroy of India at that time, Lord Irwin, announcing his intent to break the British salt monopoly at the conclusion of the march to the sea, “... I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of the salt laws. I regard this tax to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man 's standpoint…” (Indian Independence: Nationalism Source 3). At the same time, he implores Indian local officials to resign their posts, to drive a wedge between the raj and the nationalist movement. His letter also advocates for a boycott of imported British goods, including cloth in favor of homespun cotton. This strategy is of added significance for Indians who have been thrown out of work by Britain 's large textile and manufacturing industry. News traveled quickly of the march, and by the time the small group reached the
In India, a reformer named Gandhi lead his followers across the country to protest the British salt restrictions. These restrictions prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, which was very important to Indian cuisine. Indians were forced to purchase from the British who placed a tax on salt. To help his people, Gandhi resisted the British salt policies and started a civil disobedience. When Gandhi and his followers accomplished their travels, they planned on making salt from seawater. Gandhi and his people's dedication to resistance spread across India. In a result, many got arrested including Gandhi himself. Although in prison, the resistance still fought on. This resistance easily helped grant India’s
The mission of Gandhi’s life was to help the people of India free themselves from British rule. Many people have struggled for independence. They have fought bloody battles or used terrorism in an attempt to achieve their goals. Gandhi’s revolution was different. He succeeded as an independence leader with the use of nonviolent methods. The young Mohandas Gandhi did not seem as a boy that would become a great leader. He changed as he studied in Britain and practiced in South Africa. He fought for the rights of Indians in both South Africa and India. Gandhi believed that all people in the world are brothers and sisters. He didn’t hate the English. Actually, he saw a lot that was good about them. His nonviolent means of revolution was referred to as satyagraha, which is a combination of two Sanskrit words, satya, meaning truth and love, plus agraha, meaning firmness. Many people were influenced by satyagraha.
Mahatma Gandhi, a prominent leader in the independence movement of India once said, “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt.”(brainyquotes.com) Gandhi states that protest and civil disobedience are necessary when the authority becomes unscrupulous. This correlates to “Declaration of Independence,” by Thomas Jefferson; “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau; and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr., because all three leaders felt that civil disobedience was important to help protest against an unjust ruling. Jefferson stood up to the injustice of the king by writing the Declaration of Independence and urged others to stand up for the independence of America. Thoreau exemplified
Civil disobedience is a main focus of discussion in chapter six of James Rachels’ The Elements of Moral Philosophy; this can be defined as a usually peaceful, but powerful act of protest against a law or demand from the government. Normally when one would non-violently refuse to obey a certain law, they would see that the law was unjust to them.
In the Theory of Justice by John Rawls, he defines civil disobedience,” I shall begin by defining civil disobedience as a public, nonviolent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law usually done with the aim of bringing about a change in the law or policies of the government”.
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. The use of nonviolence runs throughout history however the fusion of organized mass struggle and nonviolence is relatively new.
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.
One of the laws prohibited Indians from making their own salt. Salt was essential in the Indian culture and the British forced them to buy salt and had a tax on salt. A large population of India was impoverished and struggled due to the expense of salt and the additional tax. Gandhi led the salt march, an act to defy the British laws on salt. Thousands of people joined Gandhi on his march and they gathered at the seaside to make sea salt. Symbolically, they reach the sea on the anniversary of the Massacre of Amritsar. The protest, once again aggravated the British. The police arrived and demanded that they hand over the salt. After refusing to give the salt to the police, many Indians were arrested. It was an issue for the British primarily because of money. They made it illegal for the Indians to make their own salt because the needed the profit they got from selling and taxing salt. The Indian people suffered from poverty from many of the British laws, and the salt laws were increasingly frustrating for them. A group of non-violent protesters arrived at the Dharasana Salt Works and were beaten. Although every man before them had been brutally knocked down, the peaceful protesters continued to walk up to the British. The act showed the British the determination of the Indian people. No many how many times they were beaten or arrested, there would still be people protesting. Soon after the protest at Dharasana Salt Works, Gandhi and others were released from jail. A conference was held in Britain to discuss the possibility of India’s independence. The Indian people were successful in their fight against British
Gandhi believed “Non-violence is the greatest force man has been endowed with. Truth is the only goal he has. For God is none other but truth. But Truth cannot be, never will be, reached except through non-violence.”(‘Non-Violence- The Greatest Gift). One of Gandhi’s best-known non-violent protest was the Salt Satyagrah, that took place from 1930-1931, a 241 mile march to the coast to protest British rule and the salt taxes. Gandhi used techniques such as formal statements, prayer, boycotts, and honoring of the men and women killed or wounded by the British especially for those who were killed at Amritsar in 1919. Indian gained its independence from Britain on August 15, 1947 and Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu extremist who did not share the same beliefs as Gandhi ("Gandhi begins fast in protest of caste
After spending a night in jail for his tax evasion, he became inspired to write “Civil Disobedience.” In this essay, he discusses the importance of detaching one’s self from the State and the power it holds over its people, by refraining from paying taxes and putting money into the government. The idea of allowing one’s self to be arrested in order to withhold one’s own values, rather than blindly following the mandates of the government, has inspired other civil rights activists throughout history, such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. Both these men fought against unjust laws, using non-violent, yet effective, methods of protest.
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.
Martin Luther King Jr. looked up to Gandhi’s idea of civil disobedience in order to protest for black people’s right in America.
Nelson Mandela: The Art of Civil Disobedience 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.
On studying the aftermath of the Salt March from various reliable sources, we know that the news spread like a wildfire all over India. The impact of the Salt March was considerably significant. According to The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings, 1994 , “Dandi salt march break out into mass civil disobedience movement, many Indians broke the law by making or illegally trading the salt....The salt march also inspired, Ghaffar Khan led non-violent movement against the British
Gandhi devoted himself for Satyagraha in order to decolonize India from British without violence. In his book Home Rule he says,” Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering, it is the reverse of resistance by arms. When I refuse to do a thing that is repugnant to my conscience, I use soul-force” (5). He deployed this concept in Indian Independence Movement. For him, Satyagraha has three essentials meaning: “Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatsoever; and it ever insists upon truth” (6). Also, he presented some rules for this “soul-force” to the individuals of India as a campaign to follow and to reach the independency. For instance, these are the rules that he wanted his people to obey without viole...