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Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha and Nonviolent Resistance

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Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha and Nonviolent Resistance City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research College of Staten Island 1997 Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha and NonViolent Resistance David M. Traboulay CUNY College of Staten Island How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/si_pubs/81 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] MAHATMA GANDHI’S SATYAGRAHA MOVEMENTS DAVID M. TRABOULAY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In my hometown of San Fernando, Trinidad, in the old administrative center called Harris Promenade, there is an impressive statue of Mahatma Gandhi striding forward with his head high looking towards the sea. I became interested in Gandhi as a boy, as, indeed, did all Indians of Trinidad. The descendants of nineteenth century indentured immigrants from India organized the movement to erect a statue of Gandhi to commemorate the achievements of Indians in Trinidad. West Indians of Indian and African ancestry experienced the bitterness of indentured servitude and slavery but by the 1950s had happily achieved advancement socially, economically, and politically, and in 1962 Trinidad won its independence from Great Britain. The statue of Gandhi signified not only the achievement of independence in India and Trinidad, but also the particular achievements of former indentured laborers. I have taught a course on Modern India at the City University of New York every year since 1981 and always placed Gandhi’s Satyagraha struggle at the center of the course. There were times when I was amazed how interested my American students were in the figure of Gandhi. When I asked them why, they often replied that it was because Gandhi was like them. Stunned because students today seem skeptical about idealism of any kind, I learned that they were very interested in Gandhi’s early life and his autobiography where he described his anxieties and fears as a young man. In other words, they were able to see Gandhi as human. If they were doubtful about the universal application of nonviolence, they remained firm in their respect for Gandhi as a human figure. There was yet another source that drove this work apart from the obvious interest in nonviolent solutions to political conflict. As a descendant of indentured Indians in Trinidad, I came to see how much Gandhi’s life and Truth-force were influenced by his experience with indentured Indians in South Africa. If Satyagraha has become an enduring movement for all peoples, the children of indentured Indians everywhere have every right to feel pride. As a US Fulbright visiting Professor to Delhi University, India, in 1993 and during my recent visit in 1998, I had the good fortune to meet many scholars and friends who encouraged me to dare to attempt another work on Gandhi. I know well the many outstanding studies of Gandhi, but I am hopeful that the perspective of a descendant of indentured laborers in the Americas will bring some fresh interest and insight. I am indebted to many people who were unfailing in their encouragement. Sarah-Rachel Walters, whose love for and interest in Gandhiji is great, read and commented on all the revisions; Arun Kumar, Harold Sirisena, Dr. Sadrul Khan, Dr. Tashi Tsering, and Michael Mohammed willingly gave their comments and advice; my nieces, Gayle Bickram, Charlene Mohammed, Marcia Abdool, Suzanne Bridgemohansingh, and Nicole Traboulay encouraged me constantly, especially when I considered giving up the project. Finally, I must give thanks to the thousands of my students at the College of Staten Island and the City University of New York who for over thirty five years persuaded me that the study of Gandhi was both inspirational and useful. 2 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii CHAPTER 1: PROLOGUE 1 Early life in Gujarat Young Gandhi in England CHAPTER 2: SOUTH AFRICA AND THE MAKING OF 23 SATYAGRAHA(1893-1914) Indians in South Africa Influence of Leo Tolstoy Home and Return to South Africa The Boer War Phoenix Farm Satyagraha CHAPTER 3: PREPARING THE GROUND FOR 70 SATYAGRAHA IN INDIA Champaran The Mill Strike at Ahmedabad Kheda Recruiting Agent for World War I CHAPTER 4: TRUTH FORCE VERSUS BRUTE FORCE: THE 106 ROWLATT ACTS SATYAGRAHA The Rowlatt Acts India and World War I The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms The Rowlatt Satyagraha Massacre at Amritsar Trials for Sedition The Hunter Commission The Punjab Revisited: Congress Report CHAPTER 5: NON-COOPERATION AND THE KHILAFAT 157 MOVEMENT The Khilafat Movement Non-Cooperation Gandhi-Tagore Debate The Great Trial 3 CHAPTER 6: THE MAKING OF THE SALT MARCH, 1930, 189 AND ITS AFTERMATH The Fast against Hindu-Muslim Riots, 1924 The Constructive Program The Simon Commission The Bardoli Satyagraha The Nehru Report The Salt March The Example of Abdul Ghaffar Khan 2nd Round Table Conference CHAPTER 7: FASTING AGAINST UNTOUCHABILITY 229 The Great Bihar Earthquake of 1934 CHAPTER 8: NONVIOLENCE AND WAR: WORLD WAR II 249 Village Uplift Government of India Act of 1935 World War II: 1939-1942 Death of Charles Andrews Passing of Rabindranath Tagore Quit India Satyagraha CHAPTER 9:TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE AND PARTITION 305 Kasturbai Gandhi Constitutional Negotiations The Cabinet Mission CHAPTER 10:INDIAN HOLOCAUST 351 Mrs. Sarojini Naidu Refugees from the Punjab CHAPTER 11: BROTHERS IN SATYAGRAHA 397 GLOSSARY 425 BIBLIOGRAPHY 427 INDEX 4 CHAPTER 1 PROLOGUE I worship God as Truth only. I have not found Him, but I am seeking after Him…as long as I have not realized his Absolute Truth, so long must I hold by the relative truth as I have conceived it. That relative truth must meanwhile be my beacon, my shield. M. K. Gandhi, An Autobiography, p. 11 In the context of one of the most destructive periods of world history during the first half of the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi was able to practice ideals of service to humanity and so give hope to all human beings that it is always possible to live a life according to the highest principles and to engage in politics while insisting on its ethical grounding. When asked during the last year of his life what message he wanted to leave to posterity, he replied that his life was his message. What he meant was that he wanted to be judged by his actions. Gandhi certainly was not arguing that thought was insignificant to his life. On the contrary, he always found the time to meditate on his experience and ideas. At no time was his mind frozen and inflexible and he claimed for himself the right to change his opinion and judgment in light of new knowledge and insight. What he wanted, most of all, was to put into practice what he found useful in 5 uplifting and advancing human beings and reforming unjust social and political practices. It was not accidental that he entitled his autobiography “experiments with truth.” Gandhi is remembered most for his nonviolent struggle against British imperialism and as a seminal figure in the fight against colonialism. The study of Gandhi’s movement continues to illuminate the early challenge to the notion of empire and underlines how important India’s freedom movement was to anti-colonial movements in Asia and Africa. It also pays tribute to a remarkable person who, unlike leaders like Hitler and Stalin who inflicted terror on humanity, gave hope to the world of the 20th century. But does Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement have any significance for the world of the 21st century? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela have acknowledged Gandhi’s influence in their political struggles against racism and apartheid. They were attracted in large part by Gandhi’s commitment to the use of nonviolent means to achieve his political ends. Nonviolence for Gandhi, however, was much more than an instrument in the struggle against injustice. As he conceived and developed Satyagraha or Truth-force, Gandhi made nonviolence the foundation for his method of engaging everyone in the pursuit of truth, whether the objective was individual or community development, or resistance against oppressive rule. Satyagraha came to cover a broad canvas of human aspiration. Gandhi struggled to find answers to questions that were to be binding on all human beings, beyond nation, religion, gender and race. Controversy often surrounded him, but he was willing to pay the price of controversy and misunderstanding for his principled commitment to a political style that encouraged openness and thinking out publicly his inner feelings and doubts. His humanism drove him to work tirelessly for the 6 equality of all and he found his inspiration in the struggles he shared with his comrades and in his inner religious vision which, one should add, had little to do with formal religion. He often said that if he were a dictator, he would separate religion and the state. This critique of communalism and the mix of religion and politics became more poignant as the conflict between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs raged in the 1940s and threatened to destroy India. What Gandhi hoped to find in his search for the Truth was an understanding of reality that would inspire people to a life of service. He placed the principles of inclusiveness and respect for diversity at the center of his movement because he assumed that they were integral to his notion of Truth. As was often the case, he found the validation for his principles in his experiences with the despised poor men and women with whom he identified. In the struggle for justice for the oppressed, he came to understand the significance of nonviolent means in resolving conflict in a humane way: “In his own mind there was then only one unfailing solution to the problem – to adopt a means which was in a sense itself the end, which would generate qualities that would effectively transform any situation.
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