Gandhi

British Colonialism
- 1800s (Gandhi born in 1869)  British was THE world power (The British Empire)
- You occupy with a military force another country and you deny the native people civil rights and you export goods from that country for profit
- “The Sun never sets on the British Empire” meaning they owned/colonized so much of the world that it was daylight somewhere
- Natives are forced to dress like the British; forced to speak the Queen’s English; raised in British school and given British education including requiring the natives to be Christians  The British considered their colonialism a kind of missionary work; going to countries and converting the native people and helping them become more civilized (This is the world Gandhi was born and raised and goes against)
- In India, the British were exporting 3 things: Tea, Textiles, and Salt

Mohandas K. Gandhi
- Mahatma = Great Soul
- Born 1869 into a middle class family
- In 1884  he is married at 15 to a woman named Kasturbai
- Rare philosopher  he took his ideas and took them in the world and tried them out
- At this point, his father is dying and a sacred vow is that one family member sits with him so they don’t die alone
- Gandhi takes the vow to sit with his father, but he just got married to Kasturbai so he sneaks away to be with Kasturbai and while he is gone, his father dies and it is a great shame to him because it is a broken vow (basically to God and to his father) in order to satisfy a physical appetite.
- In 1888, Gandhi travels to London to go to Law School (Gandhi did believe that British were good Christians and that this was a type of missionary work)
- When he gets there, he encounters extreme racism and is not allowed to walk on the sidewalks with the white people
• #1 encounter with racism, but it doesn’t change his mind about the British and thinks that its just some people misbehaving in London.
- 1893 – He graduated and traveled to South Africa to practice Law in Johannesburg. He does not go back to India.
• #2 encounter with British racism – he buys a first class tickets to South Africa. He buys a new suit and hat, but when he gets on the train, they gave his ticket to a white person; but he still doesn’t change his mind at this point and still believes the British is doing God’s work
- 1906 – Turning point in Gandhi’s life. Zulu Rebellion takes place in South Africa. The Zulu were a native tribe of Africans outside Johannesburg. Zulu were an exception to the rule – they lived on their ancient tribal lands and still wore their traditional garb, but in 1906 the British decided they wanted the land that the Zulu lived on and put together a military force to remove them from their land. The British required native Africans and visiting Indians, like Gandhi, to fight the Zulu. At this point, Gandhi is already committed personally to non-violence; he is a passivist at this point in his life so he doesn’t want to serve in a violent way, but he feels that it is his duty to serve the British so he serves as an ambulance driver in order to avoid fighting. British show up and annialated the Zulu and killed even the women and children.
• #3 encounter - Gandhi sees all these dying people and is not allowed to pick them up so this is THE moment that Gandhi changed his mind
- He realizes and concludes that Christians would not behave this way
- Gandhi’s view of non-violence
• Main source of influence was Jesus Christ and His moral teachings and his Sermon on the Mount
- Gandhi was not a Christian; he was influenced by JC’s teachings but not a Christian; he did not believe JC was God
- JC said when someone hits you in the face, “you turn the other cheek”
- If someone steals your coat, “you give them your shirt”
- If someone curses you, “bless them”
- If someone persecutes you, “pray for them”
- Theme of non-violence as a solution
- “blessed are the meek” If the Roman soldier asks you to carry their backpack…you have to carry it one mile (Roman Law); but Jesus said, carry it another mile “go the extra mile”.
- Gandhi was Hindu and their Bible is the ‘Baghvad Gita’
- 1906  British also passed the Black Act which said three things: All people of color, meaning anyone who is not white, must
1. Observe curfew
2. They must have all paper identification on them at all times (Birth Certificate, ID Cards, etc)
3. A person of color may be detained by the police without probable cause meaning you can be stopped by the color of your skin
- Gandhi organizes a peaceful protest of the Black Act and basically, they all (1500 people) sat down outside of the courthouse in Johannesburg without their paperwork; however, it doesn’t work, the British police and military show up and beat the crap out of everyone there and the British use violence and jail all of them, including Gandhi.
- This is Gandhi’s first, but not last, stay in jail.
- By his 70s, he spends 1/3rd of his life in jail (just like Dr. King)
- This causes a backlash against colored people.
- Gandhi is confused the protest failed and he asked himself, why did it fail? His thinking is God wants me to never use violence so in obedience to God, and in an act of faith, I peacefully protested and because I obeyed God, I expected God to bless me, and to reward me by freeing us from British oppression  This question develops Gandhi’s philosophy and his answer is his philosophy
- Gandhi concludes that he left out an important part of the equation  He comes up with 2 concepts:
1. Swaraj + Satyagraha = Obedience to God
- He thinks during the Black Act, he had Swaraj, but not Satyagraha
- Swaraj means independence and self-control  He says this means having the self-control to not fight back when someone physically assaults and hurts you (“turn the other cheek”) – BUT, you have to do this in obedience to God.
• Swaraj also means freedom or self-control from physical appetites by making a vow (Goes back to the incident with his father) in obedience to God. One vow Gandhi makes is fasting.
• Gandhi thinks he got the Swaraj part right at the protest
- Satyagraha means “soul-force of love”  love thy neighbor as thyself
• Love for the oppressor  He says it is not enough to restrain from fighting back, but you must also love your oppressor while they are doing it. (must be genuine because God knows your heart)
• Gandhi thinks if you obey God with Swaraj and Satyagraha (must have both – an act of faith), then God will change the heart of your oppressor, show them the error of their ways, and they will stop oppressing you.
• Basically God will free you from your oppressors
- God works a miracle by an act of faith (having both Swaraj and Satyagraha)  This is totally up to God and him changing the situation.
- He publishes a book in 1909 and he calls it, “Hind Swaraj” = (Indian Independence) and he outlines this philosophy
- Civil disobedience and Swaraj is when you peacefully break the law
1. Ex: peaceful protest of the Black Act, however…
2. S&S is the peaceful breaking of laws plus love for the oppressor (This is the difference between Civil Disobedience and Swaraj)
- 1915  Gandhi returns to India, and he wants to try his philosophy. He never accomplished anything in South Africa – He had been gone for 27 years to go back and try the philosophy
- In 1915, he decides to try Swaraj on his own people; He says to his people that “We Indians are hypocrites. We complain about the British oppressing us, when we oppress our own people. Why would we expect God to free us from the British, while we are disobeying God by oppressing our own.”
- In India at this time, there is a Caste System. This is a 4000yr old religious tradition sanctioned by ‘Gita’; it was a social hierarchy, not based on race, but rather birth & family
1. Brahman
2. --
3. --
4. Untouchables – spiritually unclean; in the site of the gods, they were sinful and couldn’t get rid of their sins; no one else was allowed to touch them – The only job available to the untouchables was to carry out the chamber pots from people’s houses
- Gandhi says to get rid of the Caste System – This is an example of Swaraj – Gandhi says we need to be able to rule ourselves, which includes doing the right thing, if we want to be free from the British; and the only way we can show God this is by getting rid of the Caste System.
- Gandhi takes out his own chamber pots; Kasurbai refuses – Brahmans also hated this and Gandhi
- In 1915, he also takes a vow of celibacy – he does this because he is taking a vow

April 27, 2011
- Gandhi almost single handedly does away with the Caste System
- 1919  Amritsar Massacre takes place – It was a small town in India; the British military & police killed peaceful Indian protestors, but they went a little crazy and overboard and killed innocent bystanders as well.
- In order to cover up what they did, the British media portrayed the Indians as a violent mob who were loose on the streets (untrue) – British manipulated the media
- Because of this massacre, Gandhi assumes leadership of the Indian National Congress which didn’t have any real power because the British was still in rule. It was a group dedicated towards independence.
- He decided to put into practice his double edged sword = satyagraha + swaraj
- So…at the textile factories – he told the workers go to work 6 days a week and do exactly as you are told; however,
1. 1 day a week, show up to the factory, sit down in a big circle around the factory;
2. Wear native clothing only on that day, other days you wear British clothing
3. Sing hymns in praise to God and pray out loud for the British
4. Bring a spinning wheel and make your own clothes
- There is a theme running through Gandhi’s philosophy: How did Indians live before the British?
- You can see this theme through his method at the textile factories  Direct attack on colonialism (natives can’t dress in their clothing, etc)
- Now, the British military show up and beat the shit out of the Indians. Gandhi says, don’t fight back and love them (satyagraha + swaraj)  British do not look like good Christians anymore
- Now, the tea industry (British said you must observe High Tea which meant you had to buy your tea from the British Tea factories and drink it 3 times a day)
1. Gandhi orders everyone to stop drinking tea in one day  This one day almost destroys the industry
- Now, British Trains  They covered India with trains, and they said that you aren’t allowed to walk from town to town and you have to buy a ticket
1. Walk everywhere you go
2. Don’t ride the trains
3. Gandhi walked 70-80 miles a day
4. The completely shuts down and destroys the British train industry overnight
- He was trying to send the British a message
- Britain is crippling and it takes 3 short years (1922)  The British had enough and called Gandhi and said they were ready to talk and give India its Independence.
- It looks like the British India is being brought to its knees while Gandhi walks to meet them
- “Crime” of Chauri Chaura  They were holding a peaceful textile protest and British show up and beat the Indians, but they don’t have swaraj and they fight back & kill all of the British soldiers & drag the bodies into the town of Chauri Chaura & then they kill all of the police officers who were native Indians. They take all the bodies and put them in the police station and set the place on fire and dance throughout the night.
- Now the British have the sympathy of the world – Gandhi was pissed
- In the beginning, he told his people, “If you cannot govern yourselves (swaraj), then you don’t deserve to be free from the British”
- Gandhi calls the British and says, “It’s off…we don’t want independence & we don’t deserve it”. He tells the people to go back and do what you were doing…British industry comes up again.
- Gandhi punished everyone because of how one town behaved…people were pissed.
- Gandhi made his people wait 8 years  1930 – Gandhi reinstates and starts protest up again – textile, tea and trains.
- He calls the world press and tells them we’re going to do it again.
- This time, he does something different – He stages the Salt March to the Sea  This will be the last export Britain has
1. In British Law, it was against the law in India to make your own salt and you had to buy it from the British
2. Gandhi asked once again, how did we get salt before the British got here?
3. He announces to the world press & British that he will walk the length of India and when he gets to the ocean, he will make his own salt in defiance to the British Law
4. It takes him about 8 weeks and he makes his own salt
5. Goes to villages and tells people to join him….there are thousands that join him
6. He makes it to the sea & bends over and gets some salt from the seaweed and raises the salt and says “India is free”
7. British didn’t show up
8. August 15, 1947  India gets its Independence
- Gandhi never took the protest to the extreme and it took 17 years.
- The British leave willingly without a shot fired (besides Chauri Chaura)

Now, people began to fight over who was going to run India
- It was the Muslims vs. Hindus; civil war – it was a mass violence across the country
- Gandhi has a solution – He uses swaraj again his own people
1. He announces to the world and to India his #1 fast to end Muslim vs. Hindu violence “I’m not going to eat until you stop killing each other”
2. “If you don’t stop killing each other, you will kill me”
3. He takes a vow to God and he stops eating
- They Muslims and Hindus try to stop fighting and Gandhi gets 4 weeks into his fast and is bedridden
- 5 weeks into the fast he starts losing consciousness – but at this time, they stop fighting
- It works! They give him some lemon juice and he comes back
- He praises God that he changed the Muslims and Hindus heart
- 4 mos. later, they start fighting again
1. #2 fast – Won’t stop eating until they stop fighting
2. 4 weeks – bedridden
3. 5 weeks lost consciousness
4. 6 weeks – slips into a coma – They stop and it works this time.
5. They form a conference between the Muslims and Hindus and divide the country into provinces
6. Kasturbai steps up and gives Gandhi some beef broth & he comes out of his coma
- He praises God & Muslims and Hindus maintain their conference
- Jan. 1948 – Gandhi takes his morning walk to Deli for prayer and a man shoots him 8 shots in the chest – he is assassinated by one of his own people; a young Hindu Indian nationalist because the young man wanted the Hindus to be in control of the country
- 3 mos. later, the Muslims and Hindus still fight and are still fighting today.
- Gandhi’s family asked that the young man be let go with no punishment at all and to be forgiven.
- They hung him 3 days later.
- World War II was going on during this time; and was asked what should we do about Hitler? – forgive them, love them, and lay down your weapons and don’t fight.
- Winston Churchill would not meet with Gandhi during WWII
- Gandhi did meet with Mussolini he walked down a long hallway with torches & Mussolini sat there and stared at Gandhi across a desk for an hour.

What reasons besides God did the British leave?
- No longer profitable – used up resources
- Treaty of Versailles – hypocrites
- Pressure by the media – the whole world knew what the British were really doing
- Ultimately, Gandhi would say it was God working a miracle