Mahatma Gandhi

M.K. Gandhi was an Indian who protested successfully against Britain and ultimately influenced future events around the world. Gandhi’s most successful tactic to gain Indian independence was “Satyagraha” or passive resistance because the majority of society would disagree with the opponent, they will continue to protest no matter what, and it was successfully used in the Salt March. Firstly, using this tactic, about 80 Indian citizens were publically brutalized by British authorities which greatly influenced the world against them because an eyewitness wrote and sent thousands of newspapers, talking about British police brutality, around the world. For example, in Source 3 the text says, “Webb Miller’s eyewitness account was published in over a thousand newspapers around the world.”

History is filled with stories of dedicated human rights activists that risked their lives to fight for what they believe in. Three good examples of human rights activists that never gave up are Melba Pattillo Beals, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Jones. Melba Pattillo Beals and Gandhi actively worked in fighting for racial equality while Mother Jones worked to improve children’s and workers’ rights. These determined human rights activists never gave up when fighting to improve the rights of persecuted people facing discrimination.

Personal experience motivated Melba Beals and Harriet Tubman to get equal rights, while Mother Jones was affected by what she saw to get worker’s rights. These three are very important, all making a change to these human rights.

British rule was tough on many Indians. Gandhi, an Indian born lawyer, believed in freedom and peace for his people. He once experienced racism when he was kicked out of a train in Europe. He changed people’s point of view without breaking the law, which was tough for him. Gandhi made his nonviolent movement work through the use of determination, peaceful civil disobedience, and being a powerful leader.

He outed the moral and political philosophy of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance, which he had developed while in South Africa. His message to Indians was simple: develop your own resources and control the instincts and activities that encourage membership in colonial economy and government, and you shall achieve swaraj or self-rule. Faced with Indian self-reliance and self-control pursued nonviolently, Gandhi claimed, the British eventually would have to leave. When the Depression struck India in 1930, Gandhi asked for his people not to use salt showing his new way of civil disobedience. Salt symbolized tasked the Indians' defeat to an alien government. To break the colonial government's control, Gandhi began a 240-mile march from western India to the coast to gather sea salt for free. With him were seventy-one followers representing different regions of India. Thousands of people met around and encouraging them to hold independence from British rule. (Pollard, Rosenberg, Tignor 2015 Pages

Gandhi, King, and Mandela each fought for their causes with a method that was very rarely used but even less rarely successful. Their efforts at peaceful protest without retaliation to attacks were successful in overthrowing trans-continental rule and ending segregation of races. Gandhi transformed the idea of non-violence into a way to fight for freedom and justice which would ultimately end in success and

In South Africa Gandhi was exposed to a level of racism that he had never experienced before. He was not allowed to wear his turban in a courtroom and he was not allowed to ride in the same cars as Europeans on the trains. While traveling to by train to Pretoria, he was asked to leave his seat for the van compartment. He refused and was kicked off the train.8 To get to his destination, he found a stagecoach going to Pretoria. He was not allowed to sit in the coach-box with the white passengers, but was forced to sit with the coachman. Later, he was asked to give up his seat to sit on the floorboard. Gandhi would not agree to this injustice. And, although he received a beating for it, he remained in his seat.9 These incidents led Gandhi to decide to fight for the rights of Indian workers in South Africa.

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world” stated Mahatma Gandhi-- a fierce activist who fought for basic human rights of the people of India. Gandhi, Daisy Bates, and Nelson Mandela were all leaders in the fight for equality. Mandela fought for the rights of the African people while Bates fought in the Civil Rights movement in America. These three individuals used persistence, courage, and peace to defend the basic human rights of all people.

Hira Baig Mr. Beal English III AP 5 5 February 2010 Thoreau’s Influence on Modern Social Movements Henry David Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience had a noteworthy amount of impact on Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and therefore motivated the work they did in their respective social movements. Before analysis can be done to determine Thoreau’s importance to Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., an adequate understanding of Thoreau’s concept of civil disobedience is necessary. According to Thoreau, civil disobedience or passive resistance is, in essence, the practice of deliberately disobeying a law a person believes is unjust. The catch is, however, that the person who practices civil disobedience must oblige

Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 in the Indian coastal city of Porbandar (Background Essay). He then studied law in London, where he noticed that Indians were expected to imitate their rulers, the Englishmen (Background Essay). Gandhi wanted all people to live free, even those imposed by India’s caste system so he decided to take action in a peaceful manner (Background Essay). By doing so he was able to gain India’s independence in 1947 (Background Essay). This caused Gandhi to be known as “ Mahatma” or “ Great Soul” because he was able to do it without violence (Background Essay). Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked because he accepted the consequences to his actions, strived for fairness to all mankind, and didn’t think of the British as enemies.

When people think about nonviolent movement leaders, the first person people think of is Mahatma Gandhi. Born in October 2, 1869, Gandhi is known for his accomplishment for freeing India from Britain in 1947 with no violence. But how did he do it? His nonviolent movement worked because he had mass appeal, compassion, and clever planning helped him free India.

In South Africa, he involved himself in an attempt to end discrimination against the minority Indians residing there. During this course, he developed “satyagarha”, which translates into “soul force”, or an approach of non-violence resistance, against the British governments in South Africa. In the years following the World War I, Gandhi became a leading figure in India for his struggle to achieve independent from the mighty British rule. His willingness to tolerate the punishments and the prison confinement earned him the title of “ Mahatama”, a “great soul” in India in 1914. (Mohandas Gandhi, 2015)

Gandhi is considered by many around the world as the father of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi spent over 20 years in South Africa working to fight discrimination. It was in South Africa that he developed his concept of Satyagraha, a non-violent way of protesting against discrimination. The first time Gandhi used Satyagraha was in South Africa beginning in 1907 when he organized opposition to the Black Act. In 1907, the Black Act was passed, requiring all Indians to keep registration documents on them at all times.

Writing of Bhagat Singh and mahatma Gandhi on the use of violence as instrument in politics

How can you change the world? Gandhi, Mother Jones, and Mohamed Zaree, have in many ways shapes and forms. Gandhi has changed the world by helping not only South Africa, but also India gain independence from Britain. Mother Jones inspired many people to fight against Child Labor Laws, and it was eventually banned, and Mohamed Zaree is a leading figure for civil rights in Egypt. These three individuals have helped enact change by leading and supporting peaceful forms of protest that eliminate human injustice and support human rights.