To what extent were Gandhi’s methods successful in fighting injustice in South Africa? This essay will discuss what Gandhi faced in south Africa and the methods he used in an attempt to make all humans be treated equally no matter what race or nationality. Throughout this essay, Gandhi’s way of fighting injustice will be shared along with his major successes he managed to make and the awareness his spread as well as some of the failures he had along the way. It will show how fighting as Gandhi did in a nonviolent way and be just as effective if not more effective than physically fighting. First this essay will discuss Gandhi’s train ride to Pretoria followed by the Natal Indian Congress, Phoenix Farm and Indian opinion. Then the empire theatre …show more content…
Only the Indians had to go down and register, nobody else. They were to carry around passes with them everywhere they went and the authorities could come into your ‘dwelling’ at any point without knocking and demand to see documents. This was called the Black Law On September 11th , 1906, A mass meeting was held at the Empire theatre in Johannesburg which Gandhi had asked all Indians nearby to attend. In this meeting they discussed how it was injust that only they had to follow these rules. Gandhi made the way they were going to handle this situation very clear. He said they would not use violence but they made an oath that none of them were to go down to the authorities and register. Gandhi said they would let the police take his dead body but not his obedience. This means that he will let the officers beat him and kill him but that he would never give in and do as they say. If they kept fighting in this way, Gandhi thought they might even earn the respect of the men rather than them being scared of him. Now Gandhi tried to stop the law coming into affect. He did this by using non-violent tactics that became known as Satyahraha, which means ’truth force’. Gandhi was somewhat successful in fighting the black law. Although the law was quickly passed and in 1909 Gandhi was given a two-month prison sentence, he did raise awareness of the matter and the respect of the Indians and even some
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.
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...
“ 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.
The introduction of civil disobedience reminded the world that it had the option of nonviolence and that negative action did not have to be countered with equally negative reaction. Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” embraced the idea of a man who took action to maintain his morality, even if it meant defying the government. Mahatma Gandhi, in turn, instigated his own act of civil disobedience in the Salt March where he marched across India and collected salt forbidden by British law. Thoreau’s writings on civil disobedience inspired Gandhi’s nonviolent movement, the Salt March, in which he was compelled to take action against a corrupt government.
In one of Gandhi’s writings, he blatantly states that “We can refuse to pay taxes if we have the requisite strength” (Gandhi). This statement shows that the Indian people have to work as a unified body in order to create change and do good. Thoreau similarly wants change in the government, which requires people’s personal opinions. Thoreau conveys the idea of unity by teaching that everybody should be one with their own consciousness. Gandhi similarly to Thoreau says to “Never bow to outrageous laws” (Gandhi). Which is conveying the idea of opposing the government because you feel they are doing something wrong. Nelson Mandela, the deceased president of South Africa, started his life in prison and worked his way up to the top of society. During his lifetime, Mandela taught many lessons that many people can learn from. On May 10th Mandela was inaugurated as Deputy President of the new Democratic, and non-racial South African government. During this inauguration both the old anthem of the republic and the new anthem of the democracy were sung. In order to create unity in this non-racial government the whites sung
India and South Africa are two different countries in terms of their geographical location, religion, language, etc. however they have one entity in common. Both these countries were ruled by the British; both countries fought to regain their freedom and establish democracy. They wanted a solid government, which could assist them to stand on their feet and assure them that not a single citizen suffers. Nelson Mandela, first black African president of South Africa, and Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of Independent India, were two distinct freedom fighters who played a major part in their country’s freedom fight and had devoted their lives to serve their country. This lends them
He showed how he believed that in order to not support evil, one must not succumb to violence. Gandhi closed by giving the judge and the assessors [of the court] two choices: to resign their jobs and therefore separate themselves from what Gandhi called evil (most likely the British Empire). They would only do this, he said, if they strongly disagree with the laws that Gandhi was accused of, or if they believed Gandhi to be innocent. The other choice was to punish Gandhi according to the law, showing that they agree with the laws and believe that are beneficial to the
In the year of 1919, a crowd of 379 nonviolent protesters were murdered by British Indian Army troops. These protestors were killed because they were Indian. Racism was already existent in many countries that were colonized by Britain. Gandhi, a social reformer came to a realization that Indians deserve equal rights and that such acts were in humane and unacceptable. So what made Gandhi’s peaceful movement such a success? It was his civil disobedience practice, which he reached through nonviolent protests, embracing the enemy, and accepting jail time.
When he refused to comply for their ridiculous viewpoint and tried to come to a peaceful agreement with them they had Gandhi thrown off the train. When Gandhi met with the Indian Congress in South Africa they stated that some Muslims and Hindus felt like they were nothing and to work in the mines. This was later enforced by dominance as when Gandhi and his early followers of his movements peacefully marched on the mines the owner tried to use force from the police that the workers were his property. Dominance was also used by the British viceroy after some British civilians were killed when the riots started; Gandhi wanted the violence to stop so one of the spokesman decided to have a peaceful rally at a stadium to talk about Gandhi about the violence and killings that they need to stop and for it to be peaceful. Unfortunately, British armed forces entered the stadium under the command of British General, "Reginald Edward Harry Dyer", entered the property then have his men open fire on the crowd with the belief that they broke the law since there was a martial law in place for which didn't allow large crowds to congregate for rallies.
Most importantly, it is to be remembered that during his early life, Gandhi has had little to no contact with Africans and therefore, didn’t understand their vulnerability. During the struggle of Indians in 1914, with more than 50 thousand Indians on strike for mobilizing the Indian community against racist South Africa with about 10 thousand jailed and tens of Indians killed, Gandhi openly supported African rights and praised the leaders of Africa. 6 B.
In the late late twentieth century, the apartheid in South Africa portrays the reaping benefits of breaking the law for the greater good of the South Africans. After the all-white government came to power in South Africa, the officials began imposing unfair laws upon restricting the majority nonwhites. This lead to the mass revolution through armed and peaceful protests, breaking laws such as the Population Registration Act. This upheaval led to providing more power to the nonwhites and providing more equality between the people, increasing peace relations and making a more stable environment for the next generation. Such outcomes outweigh the infraction of going against the law, proving it justifiable to break the law for the sustainability of the future.
This allowed the British to imprison anyone without trial, for up to two years. The goal of this law was to suppress conspiracy and public unrest. Gandhi and other Indian leaders were angered by this law, and decided to fast, secluding themselves from the commerce of India, in order to express their feelings towards the British. After violent riots in multiple provinces, Gandhi was forced to end his seclusion, and put an end to the violence. While Gandhi did oppose British rule, he did not believe violence was an option.
Gandhi was pissed and so he withdrew from public life once again. Just them in 1935 the British gave the Indians a great amount of rights but they were not happy.
Gandhi is motivated by religious means; he believes that everyone is equal in God’s eyes. He gets involved in several movements for equality, and he stresses non-violence very strongly. The Indians are very mad because British rule continues to limit their rights. They are supposed to all get fingerprinted, and their marriage laws are invalid. Gandhi’s followers vow to fight their oppressors to the death, but he discourages them from violence.
It can be easily stated that the apartheid movement bestowed cruel and unusual punishments upon the people of South Africa, in order to execute its purpose. However, apartheid could have not been carried out if they were not individuals who believed in its principles. In order to understand the National parties ideologies regarding the issue of apartheid, it is essential to acknowledge the history of Boer soc...