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GANDHI 1869-1948

surprise would have far-rea- founded the Phoenix
Many politicians also thought ching consequences. While Settlement in Natal in 1904
that Gandhi's plan for rural holding a first-class train tic- based on the ideals of commu-
self-sufficiency offering a ket, he was ejected from a rail- nal living whereby all per-
modest standard of living way carriage by a white guard sons, irrespective of their race,
based on rudimentary produc- in Pietermaritzburg for travel- nationality, religion, social
tion processes was obsolete. ling in a white's only compart- standing or occupation, would
Already, in 1947 at the end of ment and left shivering on the receive an equal wage --
colonial rule, India inherited platform. This was the start of which for that time was quite
an economy that was one of a twenty-one year period that revolutionary. The residents
the poorest in the developing saw Gandhi using the law, the also maintained a printing
world, with industrial deve- media, community action and press used to publish Gandhi's
lopment stalled, agriculture the force of non-violence stra- newspaper, Indian opinion.
unable to feed a rapidly gro- tegies to deal with political Although he travelled widely,
Economists predict that by
wing population, with one of injustices in South Africa. from this moment on he deli-
2020, India will be among the
the world's lowest life expec- berately lived in humble
leading economies in the
tancies and widespread illite- For ten years, he earned his poverty: "I have to reduce
world. If he had been alive
racy. The Congress Party in living as a successful lawyer myself to the level of the poo-
today, it is very likely that
particular favoured large-scale in the Natal Province of South rest of the poor."
Gandhi would have viewed
industrialization likely to Africa. He founded the Natal
this forecast with dismay. It is
create a higher standard of Indian Congress Party in 1894 In 1909, Gandhi spent three
also very probable that he
living for all. While Gandhi's and defended the cause of months in prison for leading a
would have been less than
plan was criticized for taking Indian settlers. He came to the passive resistance campaign.
enthusiastic to find that his
India backwards, by his words aid of the British by organi- While there, he read books by
portrait appears on all Indian
and his deeds he would set his zing an ambulance corps Leo Tolstoy, the Russian wri-
banknotes.
stamp on Indian politics in the during the South African War ter and reformer, whose ideas
first half of the twentieth cen- (1899-1902). However, the renouncing force as a means
Gandhi rejected the Western
tury. After overcoming count- sight of wounded and whip- of opposition were akin to
concept of progress. His idea
less social, economic and ped Zulus, mercilessly aban- Gandhi's own thoughts. He
of Utopia was where each
political hurdles, Gandhi doned by their British perse- entered into correspondence
Indian citizen lived in a small played a key role in the intel- cutors, so appalled him that he with the Russian, who consi-
village republic producing its
lectual ferment that would turned full circle from his dered Gandhi's ideas of
own goods. He wanted the
liberate his country. admiration for all things worldwide importance. He
rural population of India to be
British to celebrating the indi- was influenced by Tolstoy's
socially and politically self-
Gandhi was born in the port of genous and the ethnic. He own ideas on the right of the
sufficient so as to be able to
Porbandar which is nowadays resuscitated the culture of the individual to live in peace and
compete with capitalism. He
in the Indian state of Gujarat. colonized and the fullness of freedom and his rejection of
believed that, before the per-
His father and grandfather had Indian resistance against the all forms of oppression.
iod of British colonial rule,
both been chief ministers in British. Finding the term "passive
Indian villages had been inde-
the princely state of resistance"
inadequate,
pendent and self-reliant and it
Kathiawar. His mother was a During these years he studied Gandhi created the word
was his task to restore them to
deeply religious person and the Upanishads (the ancient satyagraha, meaning "non-
this position. The colonial
had a strong influence on his philosophical texts of violence".
education system in India
upbringing. When he was 12 Hinduism), the Koran and the
taught skills and knowledge
years old (!), he was married Bible. A book by John Ruskin, In 1910 he set up the Tolstoy
that reinforced the position of
to Kasturbai, who was the Unto this last, would affect Farm near Johannesburg,
the upper castes, while handi-
same age and by whom he had him profoundly. Gandhi read consisting of 1,100 acres of
crafts had traditionally been four children three messages into Ruskin's land with water supplied from
the monopoly of specific cas-
essay: (a) a good economy two wells and a spring. Adults
tes in the lowest strata of
Gandhi trained to be a lawyer should be for the benefit of all; as well as children engaged in
society. So, Gandhi stood the
in England and for two years (b) the earnings of a manual planting, pruning, harvesting
education system on its head
practised, with little success, worker (e.g. a barber) have the and forest-clearing. The
by insisting that productive
in India. Then, an invitation same value as those of a men- emphasis was upon simple
handicrafts be taught to all
out of the blue saw him leave tal worker (e.g. a lawyer); and communal living where indi-
children at school and the
for South Africa in May 1893 (c) the life of a labourer or vidual self-interests had to be
goods produced should be
to work in a legal practice. He craftsman is the only life curbed for the good of all. On
sold to pay for the children's
soon received an unexpected worth living. He decided the farm he lived as a vegeta-
education. This idea never
reprimand when a magistrate immediately to change his rian and learned to make lea-
prospered as a number of
would not allow him to wear a own way of life in accordance ther sandals.
Indian politicians considered
turban in the courtroom. But with Ruskin's teaching. He
it tantamount to child labour.
his second and even worse gave up his law practice and Gandhi had written a book in
44 1 2011 Diva

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