Gandhi is the most important peace hero of the 20th century

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The still, small voice of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has defied time and has spoken through the ages, whispering into the ears of Martin Luther King, Jr., Lech Walesa, Cesar Chavez, and Nelson Mandela, urging them to peacefully revolt against what was unethical and to work for what the human spirit held to be true and right. Gandhi is the "Most Important Peace Hero of the 20th Century" because he taught the world that freedom from the oppressor could be obtained through nonviolent means.

"I am spinning the destiny of India," he said, but he has woven much more into the blanket of peace. Hundreds of others, inspired by his faith and dedication, would lead uprisings of civil disobedience - revolutions that would shake history and upturn mainstream opinions: the Civil Rights movement, Solidarity, the United Farm Worker's hunger strike, and anti-apartheid. But before that, there was merely the man, Gandhi.

An advocate of simplicity, he is etched into our minds as a tiny figure, rich of terra-cotta color, seemingly fragile and breakable, with a delicate frame balanced upon his nose, dressed in only a white loincloth, a bamboo stick in his hand - the Moses of India, the peace leader of the twentieth century, a man who would come to believe Henry Ward Beecher's axiom: "Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation." His compassion would not only affect the lives of his Indian brethren but also leaders around the world, and from one generation to the next.

Gandhi's revolution began on a train to South Africa. There, in a first-class compartment, he tasted the bitterness of racial discrimination. Ordered to move to the "colored" section of the train, he refused and was removed. This humiliation gave him the will to fight for social justice. In 1906, he discovered passive resistance, which would secure political rights through non-violent demonstrations proclaiming peace and love. Knowing how powerful his message was, Gandhi devoted himself to Indian self-rule, hind swaraj, which meant much more than mere independence from Britain; it became a symbol of individuality, self-reliance, and social justice.

Through the next thirty-three years, Gandhi led moral crusades against the all-encompassing British Raj. His gentle influence over the Indian people and his pacifist ideals of mass non-cooperation caused British officials to negotiate with him though he held no formal office nor title, save the one given to him by the people - Mahatma, or Great Soul.

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