Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed exhibited a story of a fight for human rights, the struggle and hardships of discrimination, and the pursuit of a human being believing in what is right. After reading Unbowed it really shed some light on previous historic events and political leaders she had in common with. I found that Maathai drew many comparisons to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Two leaders that both fought for equality for their people Unbowed drew similarities to Marcos “The Fourth World War,” when Wangari explained Kenya’s rapid change in the early 1960’s and Alice Conklin’s “A Mission to Civilize.” These are just some of the main themes that I found coincided with the Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed.
The reason I believe Maathai is similar to Gandhi is due to her acts of protest in 1990. When a group of protesters were killed by the police at a rally for democracy, Maathai took action when many people were arrested for their protests. Maathai demanded that the locked up protesters be released. She led a group that threatened to starve themselves to death if the government did not release them. She would not resort to violence even if it meant she would be beaten and hospitalized as a result.
Gandhi had strong beliefs in nonviolence when he protested for India’s independence; in fact Gandhi found the best nonviolent protestors were women, as Wangari and her people demonstrated. Her similarities to Gandhi don’t just end their, both Mohandas and Wangari were well educated. Gandhi was a philosopher, Lawyer, and a Hindu theologian, while Maathai attended the University of Pittsburgh where she studied biological science and studied at the women’s college Mount St. Scholastica, as well as earning her Ph.D. at the University of Nairobi.
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...arcos pg.322) Kenya was fortunate enough to have Wangari Maathai to take a stand against a corrupt government.
Overall I believe that Wangari Maathai was a strong individual that overcame adversity, hardship, and physical injuries in her pursuit of developing a better nation. . Wangari Maathai was a figure that was not only discriminated for the color of her skin but also for being a woman. She was denied jobs and was not given many opportunities even when she was the most qualified and educated candidate. She is held in the same company as Nelson Mandela and Mohandas Gandhi because she fought for what she believed was right. Along with fighting these battles, she became an educated woman, and led her Green Belt Movement to be successful all throughout Africa. As a campaigner and environmentalist she fought for women’s rights and sought for equality for all people.
Mohandas Gandhi was a non-violent promoter for Indian independence.He was married young at 13,and went to London to go to law school.Gandhi got his degree there and was on his way to being a lawyer.He went to his first case,but couldn't even speak. Gandhi then got invited to South Africa from a businessman. Gandhi’s luck their was no good either.European racism came to him,after he got kicked off of a train,because he was “colored” and was holding a first class ticket.When Gandhi fought back because of it,was arrested and was sent to jail.After this, he became know as as a leader.Gandhi returned to India in 1896,and he was disgusted by it.British wanted them to wear their clothes,copy their manners,accept their standards of beauty,but Gandhi refused.Gandhi wanted people to live free of all class and wealth.Gandhi tried so hard and was more successful then any other man in India.They won independence in 1947. Gandhi’s non-violent movement worked because,Gandhi used clever planning, mass appeal, conviction, and compassion to win independence for India.
In the novel a Grain of Wheat written by Nugugi we explore in-depth the hardships and courage of African men and women who were forced to fight for their independence in the War of Independence. This book reveals to us the life of a man named Gikonyo. As a reader we learn that Gikonyo was through into a detention camp a poor and confused man. When released, Gikonyo is a new man with motivational and leadership abilities. Finding his true self in the camp and proving to be a true leader among his people. Although he is a new man after the camps, Gikonyo finds himself falling further apart from his beloved wife then he had ever been before.
Mohandas Gandhi and Mao Zedong were two great leaders who succeeded in many ways by their actions and decisions. Gandhi was an Indian leader and Mao a Chinese leader. However, their approach to success, peace, and ultimately, a revolution, was very different. Mao favored peace through violence, and Gandhi favored peace through non-cooperation and standing up for what is right. He also believed that these changes will be accomplished by “conscious suffering”, was the way he put it. However, despite their differences, these two leaders were similar too. They were both very charismatic leaders who successfully made it through their revolutions. Mao’s revolution led to change in class structure while Gandhi’s revolution involved India as a country, and he wanted people to realize that working together is a great way to gain independence. While Mao and Gandhi both believed that each of their countries have the need of independence, their views differed when it came to the use of violence, development towards the revolution, and their thoughts on a caste system.
“ First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” (Mahatma Gandhi). Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbandar. Throughout his life Gandhi helped those in need. He was taught that everyone and everything is holy. He married at the custom age of 19 and went to London to study law. The thing that helped Gandhi promote nonviolence is that he worked his entire life saying that violence didn’t change the way people acted. He lived his life saying that an eye for an eye only made the whole world blind. Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked because he had something to prove and everyone else in the world agreed with him.
She believed that nonviolence does not come easily and has learned. On July 14th, 2006, while delivering a speech to school children, she made an extremely controversial statement saying, “I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence, ' because I don 't believe that I am non-violent. ... Right now, I would love to kill George Bush. I don 't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die, the anger in me is just beyond belief.” She believes that it is the duty of all humans to protect human life and if we fail to do so we lose our right to life and joy (Williams). A Gandhian critique of this statement would be that saying she wanted to bring physical harm to someone is just as violent as actually harming them. Based on this statement, however, I do not think Williams believes in principled nonviolence the way Gandhi and his followers
Injustice has bred leaders who believe people should be able to protest against the unjust laws with civil disobedience and rebellion. The leader who is most inspiring is Malala, she is a very young woman who, although shot and injured, still stood up for what she believed in, still trying to set women equal to men in Afghanistan. The most admirable is Aung San Suu Kyi because she has been arrested multiple times but nonetheless continuously working for political freedom and adversity.
Mohandas Gandhi and Malcolm X were both strong believers in a God in their lives. Gandhi believed in Brahman and Malcolm X believed in Allah. They were both strong leaders and strong speakers. Mahatma Gandhi used non violence methods to stop the British from invading their land and to make India an independent country. Malcolm X had helped stop racism when it was a big deal back then.
Like other Activist Martin Luther king faces a number of obstacles in his fight for equal rights in Ameri...
Mohandas Gandhi is an Indian lawyer and a spiritual leader that led a successful nonviolent resistance movement against the British colonial power. “The tactic of nonviolence civil disobedience in the Civil Rights Movement was deeply influenced by the model of Mohandas Gandhi, (...) Gandhi 's approach of non-violent civil disobedience involved provoking authorities by breaking the law peacefully, to force those in power to acknowledge existing injustice and bring it to an end”. (1) “Provoking authorities by breaking the law peacefully” this is an example of how nonviolent disobedience allows the message to stay focused and reach the point where people in power cannot ignore. Violent actions draw the media away from the message and fuels the rich and powerful; those who hide behind barriers in order to mute the underprivileged. An example of underprivileged people is African American’s during the 1950s who were treated like second class citizens. “Laws separated people of color from whites in schools, housing, jobs, and public gathering places”. (3) The types of methods used to fight against segregation are, “One of the ways African American communities fought legal segregation was through direct action protests, such as boycotts, sit-ins, and mass civil disobedience”. (1) This is how nonviolent disobedience is fought
Throughout his education, Martin Luther King Jr. tried to find a way to demonstrate his belief of racial equality with the most effective means possible. He quickly realized that the best strategy to end segregation was to use nonviolent forms of protest. At Crozer, Morehouse and Boston University, he studied the teaching of Mohandas Gandhi, who used nonviolent methods to help India claim its independence from Britain. King read several books on the ideas of Gandhi, and eventually became convinced that his methods could be employed by African Americans to obtain equality in America. King knew that any violence on the part of African Americans would lead to violent responses from segregationists, which would lead to injury or maybe even death for his followers. He had to teach his followers not to respond violently to cruel attacks from segregationists. King decided to sponsor workshops to train African Americans in nonviolent beh...
Wangari Maathai was one of the first African women who won the Noble Peace prize. She was from Kenya, Kenya was not considered to be an ordinary country at that time, but it was composed of many different tribes. When Kenya was given to Britain, and their colonization had a major impact on Africa, especially on people who lived in Kenya. Britain brought them a medicine, aware of education, not only for boys but also for girls too. The new way of life brought the positive and negative things for the people of Kenya. The positive thing is that their children was able to get an education and people have access to many other resources like medicines. The negative part is that people of Kenya had to demolish their old ways of living, and they were
physically related, and also in many other forms related to the Samburu and Turkana. The
...Because of Gandhi’s power, his flaw, and his catastrophe, one would say that Gandhi fits the model of a Greek tragic hero. Gandhi’s power was his heightened goodness, proven by his innumerable civil disobedience acts, where he continued to fight even while he was regularly jailed. His flaw was his tolerance and acceptance of everyone which led to his catastrophic assassination by Nathuram Godse. Gandhi’s teachings of nonviolence and peace still live on today, as they have inspired many other human rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Gandhi’s teachings are responsible for the successes of civil rights movements in other countries. He not only helped free India from British rule, but also gave people new thoughts about violence and imperialism around the world. Even today, India continues to live and remember the tutelage of Gandhi.
Gandhi and King both agreed that nonviolence is accomplished by revolutionizing the relationship between adversaries, and that its strength lies in their commitment to justice. However, Gandhi puts emphasis on a need for personal suffering in the practice of nonviolence, a stance that is somewhat less aggressive than
To conclude, Mahatma Gandhi is a very inspirational role model who not only reacted to violence without violence but overcame it and (for the most part) succeeded in life without violence. He had everything going against him but still found a way to get what he most desperately strived for: peace. He was a victim of bullying and segregation and looked past the odds and was inspirational for many people. He is a major role model for many people in the world who try to make this world a better