Index Gandhi's principles of nonviolenceGandhi in South AfricaGandhi in IndiaConclusionMohandas .K. Gandhi, known as "Mahatma" (great soul), was the great founder of the principle of nonviolence as a political lifestyle. Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar. He was born into both a political and religious family, as his father was the prime minister of the city at that time and often frequented the temple when not engaged in his political works. His mother, on the other hand, was well informed on matters concerning the state and observed fasts and the religious teachings of the church. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay In Gandhi's early childhood, he was very shy and avoided talking to people, so he ran home as soon as school was adjourned. Books were his only companion and this was demonstrated by the various prizes and scholarships he won at school. He hated sports and only participated in cricket when forced by his sports teacher. He also became interested in the holy books through his sanskirt lessons, which were a form of pastoral lesson that Asians engaged in. At the age of 13 Gandhi married Kasturba, a simple, independent and persevering young woman. Here we see him take on his first responsibility as a husband. At the age of 16 his father died due to a long illness; this saddened Gandhi due to his close relationship with his father. Gandhi later decided to follow his father's Gadi (official job) by going to England (London) to study his first degree in Law in the years 1887-1893. The caste elders and religious leaders were proud of Gandhi's efforts but were not happy because they thought his values would be compromised. Despite this, Gandhi promised to keep away from meat, women and alcohol, which he did during his stay there. When he was in London he gained the responsibility of chairman of the executive committee of the Vegetarian Society, where they met and talked about religious teachings and values. He was also absolved with the Gita and learned some Christian teachings which he found very interesting (Beatitudes). Gandhi is guided by values and ideas that remained throughout his life thus giving reason to his great admiration by previous leaders. The principle of Nonviolence shows how anger and evil must be eliminated for the purposes of self-analysis and self-purification, therefore winning good from evil, right from wrong. He used nonviolent/civil resistance to clarify and broaden understanding of freedom. It was governed by Satyagraha, a movement that excluded non-violence, whereby people fought using soul force/truth force instead of body force to bring about change in society. In his meetings he was arrested and beaten several times but despite this he continued with his efforts to bring about change in society. Gandhi's ethical stance stemmed from actions as well as reflection. His basic approach was based on his tools: ahimsa and Satyagraha. Ahimsa means non-violence, showing how an individual cannot offend anyone regardless of their tastes towards him. Here we see that one cannot entertain uncharitable thoughts, even towards those they consider enemies. If one expresses his love – Ahimsa – in such a way that it imprints itself indelibly on your so-called enemy, he must then reciprocate that love. Gandhi uses it as a tool to fight political war, considering it infinitely higher than violence. On the other hand Satyagraha literally means "clinging to the Truth". Canalso be described as love strength, soul strength, or, more commonly but less accurately, passive resistance, which has been changed to civil resistance. In the presentation we will discuss Gandhi's principles, protests and effects as they have had on Eastern thought and the world. From the beginning, we will talk about him as a social thinker, activist, transformative leader and religious ascetic who shows what allowed him to make the principle of non-violence effective in society. Gandhi's Principles of Nonviolence A person operating from a nonviolent belief does not feel the humiliation of the offensive behavior of violent opponents, because self-respect neutralizes the effects of the insult; the aggressor is instead the one who loses his dignity. Such an approach would help minimize outbreaks of violence in any civil disobedience campaign. This principle was particularly aimed at empowering the powerless, especially the poor in India. Gandhi realized that the poor, often uneducated, were easy targets of oppression and injustice. Contrary to the violent struggles, filled with a feeling of revenge, through his non-violent campaigns, Gandhi sought to suffer the consequences of disobedience to his so-called opponent. . On numerous occasions Gandhi went to prison, fasted until his health failed, was beaten but never gave up in his fight for truth. Therefore, to obtain justice through non-violent means one must be ready to face and suffer the consequences of the struggle. Gandhi conceived of intentional self-suffering as a formal statement against grievance, politics, wrong, law, or military occupation. He based his theory on the idea that by inviting the opponent to suffer (pain greater than the original grudge) knowingly inflicting suffering becomes a source of power because it leaves the enemy perplexed. Gandhi encouraged his supporters to hate sin but not to do it. the sinner or hate the repression and not the suppressor. The ability to distinguish between the individuals involved and the system they administered or represented was crucial to Gandhi because it allowed conflict to be conducted on a depersonalized basis without the corrosive effects of animosity or hostility. The actions resulting from the animosity have only increased and deepened the hatred. Through the above principle, it is quite clear that those who advocate nonviolent action differentiate the act performed by the adversary from the adversary himself. Nonviolent action is then undertaken with the assumption that the adversary is ignorant of the real truth similar to a teacher-student relationship. A teacher allows the student to see the wrong/mistake in a certain act thus helping the student to realize his/her mistake. This therefore does not mean that the teacher defeated the student or that the student lost. Likewise, nonviolent action is taken to teach one's opponent what is right (higher truth) with respect to defeating the opponent. Therefore, the triumph of the person who advocates nonviolence does not mean the defeat of an opponent. Gandhi initially called his nonviolent campaigns passive (resistance), however he was not satisfied with the implied meaning of this term, as it was not the true nature of his campaigns. The passive has the three elements of fear, guilt and submission. The nonviolent campaigns, however, were courageous and willing to suffer until death. The people who supported Gandhi's campaigns (Satyagrahis) had the ability to kill and use physical force as such they were not weak. However, through the above principle it can be seen that they were able to endure suffering as they knew they were fighting for the truth.Gandhi suggested that Satyagraha was not a technique that could be used when other means of achieving justice had failed. In fact, he felt that the practice of non-violence (Ahimsa) should be ingrained in one's daily life so that it becomes a culture. Therefore, to achieve ahimsa based on justice, it was necessary to change internally or change one's nature or attitude. Non-violent actions are pure and should therefore not contain any feeling of hatred towards the enemy even from within, as Gandhi claimed, a follower of non-violence "loves his so-called enemy just as he loves his friend. Gandhi in South Africa Gandhi, in this point, he was a mild-mannered, politically indifferent person, prone to stage fright. South Africa changed him considerably as he faced the humiliation and oppression commonly directed at Indians in that country for his activism. First he was thrown off the train because he refused to move from first to third class despite having a first class ticket. Later, while traveling in a stagecoach, a conductor beat him for refusing to travel on the train platform to make room for a European passenger. This experience led him to examine more closely the hardships suffered by his people in South Africa. Gandhi returned to India briefly to bring his wife and children to live with him in South Africa. When he returned, a white mob attacked him and tried to lynch him. He refused to press charges saying it was one of his principles not to seek redress for a personal wrong in a court of law. At the start of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians needed to support the war effort to legitimize their claims for full citizenship rights, and organized a volunteer ambulance unit consisting of 300 free Indians and 800 indentured laborers. However, as the war ended, the Indians' situation continued to worsen. At a mass protest meeting in Johannesburg in 1906, Gandhi first adopted his Satyagraha platform, calling on his countrymen to defy the new law and suffer punishment for doing so, rather than resist through violent means. This plan was adopted and led to a seven-year struggle in which thousands of Indians were jailed (including Gandhi himself on many occasions), beaten or even shot for striking, refusing to register, and engaging in other forms of nonviolent resistance. While the government succeeded in suppressing the Indian protestors, public outcry resulting from the harsh methods employed by the South African government when faced with peaceful Indian protestors finally forced South African General Jan Christian Smuts to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi in India In 1919, Parliament passed the Rowalatt Bills, which authorized the government to imprison those accused of sedition without trial. Gandhi called for a Satyagraha which led to a violent outbreak across the country, most notably the massacre of 400 Indians by the British army in the city of Amristar. In 1920, Gandhi expanded his platform of nonviolence to include swadeshi, or the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British products. Related to this was her support for all Indians to wear khadi (home-spun cloth), spun by Indian women, instead of British-made cloth. In addition to boycotting British products, Gandhi urged people to boycott educational institutions and courts, resign from public jobs and refuse to pay taxes. This new program has truly empowered the people."
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