Sakshi Education
By Srirangam Sriram, Sriram's IAS, New Delhi.
It was in 1893 that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi went from India to Natal in South Africa as a young lawyer. Except for a few interludes, mainly in India and England, Gandhi's stay in South Africa spanned 21 years. Mahatma Gandhi’s unique method of struggle and his ideology were shaped through his years in South Africa.
Settling in Natal, he was subjected to racism and South African laws that restricted the rights of Indian laborers. They removed the voting rights of a few Indians who had qualified. They began to refuse trading licenses to Indians. They imposed a three-pound tax on all “free Indians” to force them to re-indenture or return to India.
When confronted with the harsh realities of racial discrimination in South Africa, he insisted on legal equality for Indians with Europeans. He formed the Natal Indian Congress and drew international attention to the plight of Indians in South Africa.
In 1906, the Transvaal authorities gazetted an Ordinance requiring all Indians to register with ten finger prints, and to show the registration certificates whenever demanded by the police. When appeals to the authorities and to the British government failed, Gandhi and other Indians began to picket registration offices and court imprisonment against the ordinance. Mahatma Gandhi organized his first campaign of Satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience.
Through this struggle, he developed the philosophy of Satyagraha- fearless defiance of unjust laws, with a willingness to suffer and adherence to non-violence in thought and deed. A civilized and humane form of resistance to injustice, it seeks to convert the adversary and looks forward to reconciliation.
The Satyagraha was suspended in 1911, after the formation of the Union of South Africa, in the hope of a negotiated settlement, but the talks failed. Satyagraha was resumed in September 1913 in both Natal and the Transvaal, and this time women were invited to join. Such women participation was also encouraged in the Indian National Movement by Mahatma Gandhi.
A remarkable change in Mahatma Gandhi had come in South Africa itself. By May 1908, moving beyond expressing his concern merely over Indian issues, Mahatma Gandhi rejected the policy of segregation and envisioned a South Africa in which the various races “commingle”. Gandhi’s notions on race benefited from his intellectual exposure to influences such as those of Olive Schreiner and Jean Finot. Mahatma Gandhi’s criticism of the South African Constitution of 1909-1910 was also based on his vision of non-racial nationhood.
The experience of Satyagraha model of resistance in South Africa made Mahatma Gandhi the leader that India needed for the popular mobilization in the nationalist cause. Mahatma Gandhi’s persuasive methods of civil disobedience influenced leaders of civil rights movements around the world, especially Martin Luther King, Jr., in the United States.
Settling in Natal, he was subjected to racism and South African laws that restricted the rights of Indian laborers. They removed the voting rights of a few Indians who had qualified. They began to refuse trading licenses to Indians. They imposed a three-pound tax on all “free Indians” to force them to re-indenture or return to India.
When confronted with the harsh realities of racial discrimination in South Africa, he insisted on legal equality for Indians with Europeans. He formed the Natal Indian Congress and drew international attention to the plight of Indians in South Africa.
In 1906, the Transvaal authorities gazetted an Ordinance requiring all Indians to register with ten finger prints, and to show the registration certificates whenever demanded by the police. When appeals to the authorities and to the British government failed, Gandhi and other Indians began to picket registration offices and court imprisonment against the ordinance. Mahatma Gandhi organized his first campaign of Satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience.
Through this struggle, he developed the philosophy of Satyagraha- fearless defiance of unjust laws, with a willingness to suffer and adherence to non-violence in thought and deed. A civilized and humane form of resistance to injustice, it seeks to convert the adversary and looks forward to reconciliation.
The Satyagraha was suspended in 1911, after the formation of the Union of South Africa, in the hope of a negotiated settlement, but the talks failed. Satyagraha was resumed in September 1913 in both Natal and the Transvaal, and this time women were invited to join. Such women participation was also encouraged in the Indian National Movement by Mahatma Gandhi.
A remarkable change in Mahatma Gandhi had come in South Africa itself. By May 1908, moving beyond expressing his concern merely over Indian issues, Mahatma Gandhi rejected the policy of segregation and envisioned a South Africa in which the various races “commingle”. Gandhi’s notions on race benefited from his intellectual exposure to influences such as those of Olive Schreiner and Jean Finot. Mahatma Gandhi’s criticism of the South African Constitution of 1909-1910 was also based on his vision of non-racial nationhood.The experience of Satyagraha model of resistance in South Africa made Mahatma Gandhi the leader that India needed for the popular mobilization in the nationalist cause. Mahatma Gandhi’s persuasive methods of civil disobedience influenced leaders of civil rights movements around the world, especially Martin Luther King, Jr., in the United States.
Published date : 27 Oct 2020 11:29AM
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