Ahmedabad Satyagraha
DEFINITIONS
Ahimsa Usually translated as non-violence. ‘Action based on the refusal to do harm.’ Himsa means to wish to kill. A in front of himsa negates the word, therefore making it the renunciation of the will to kill or damage.
Tapasya Self-suffering. Suffering injury in one’s own person.
Satya Truth which implies love and firmness. Combined with Agraha is the title of the Indian movement "Satyagraha", a force that is born of Truth and Love or non-violence.
Sarvodaya "Uplift of all". The ideal society in which Gandhi worked towards. This was the primary objective of the satyagraha and the Gandhian movement.
***
The above-defined concepts were evident in the Ahmedabad Satyagraha. The Ahmedabad Satyagraha began in the winter of 1917 in India. To give a brief overview of the dispute that led to the satyagraha, this occurred between Ahmedabad millowners and workers. In 1917, the plague struck Ahmedabad, and the millowners were fearful of decreased production. The millowners gave those workers, who worked during the plague a bonus, however, once the plague ended, the millowners withdrew the bonus. As soon as the crisis passed, wages returned to the pre-plague bonus level. The workers believed that the wages were too low to begin with and wanted the increase in wages to be permanent. The workers stated that the increase was needed because of the increase in the cost of living. The millowners disagreed and the workers went on strike.
The satyagraha was carefully planned. The demonstration was based on the concept of ahimsa, which means non-violence or the refusal to do harm. This was important because in order for the workers to get their demands met, they needed the millowners ...
... middle of paper ...
...plight. Therefore this objective was not reached.
Another weakness of the satyagraha was the misunderstanding of the reason for Gandhi’s fast. He needed to keep the workers strong and to keep to their vow. He felt the only way to do this was to show that he was suffering right along with them. The millowners understandably took this as a move on Gandhi’s part to coerce them into giving the workers the increase, which goes against the objective of a non-violent movement. Gandhi explained that this was a consequence that could not be helped but was necessary to regain the workers faith in him.
Bibliography:
Bondurant, Joan V., Conquest of Violence (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988)
Desai, Mahadev Haribhai. Translated by Somnath P. Dave. Edited by Bharatan Kumarappa. A Righteous Struggle. (Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1951),
The mission of Gandhi’s life was to help the people of India free themselves from British rule. Many people have struggled for independence. They have fought bloody battles or used terrorism in an attempt to achieve their goals. Gandhi’s revolution was different. He succeeded as an independence leader with the use of nonviolent methods. The young Mohandas Gandhi did not seem as a boy that would become a great leader. He changed as he studied in Britain and practiced in South Africa. He fought for the rights of Indians in both South Africa and India. Gandhi believed that all people in the world are brothers and sisters. He didn’t hate the English. Actually, he saw a lot that was good about them. His nonviolent means of revolution was referred to as satyagraha, which is a combination of two Sanskrit words, satya, meaning truth and love, plus agraha, meaning firmness. Many people were influenced by satyagraha.
Hurd, Mary. “Siddhartha.” Cyclopedia of Literary Places (2003): 1. Library Reference Center. Web. 14 Jan. 2014
A resemblance between Bloch`s, Tilly`s and Rude`s viewpoints can be noticed. All three scholars deem the pre-industrial collective behaviour as very bifurcated, parochial and particular. It could be observed that Tilly`s traditional repertoire of contention could successfully fit the Captain Swing riots. As observed all three characteristics of the traditional repertoire can be applied on the way the Captain Swing riots were executed.
The following essay will attempt to evaluate the approach taken by Dworkin and Habermas on their views of civil disobedience. The two main pieces of literature referred to will be Dworkin?s paper on 'Civil Disobedience and Nuclear Protest?' and Habermas's paper on 'Civil Disobedience: Litmus Test for the Democratic Constitutional State.' An outline of both Dworkin's and Habermas's approach will be given , further discussion will then focus on a reflective evaluation of these approaches. Firstly though, it is worth commenting on civil disobedience in a more general context. Most would agree that civil disobedience is a 'vital and protected form of political communication in modern constitutional democracies' and further the 'civil disobedience has a legitimate if informal place in the political culture of the community.' Civil disobedience can basically be broken down into two methods, either intentionally violating the law and thus incurring arrest (persuasive), or using the power of the masses to make prosecution too costly to pursue (non persuasive).
In addition to these street demonstrations, there were massive waves of workers’ strikes in the mines and steel mills. At first, the government tried to threaten the protesters; the Committee of National Defense announced preparations for a national state of emergency. By the determination of the workers the Communist reali...
...ares Gandhi's Satyagraha to be similar to how Jesus would react towards nonviolence. He assumed that the ethics of Jesus were only effective in individual relationships (264). Gandhi preached about nonviolence and how we should not engage in violent behavior, no matter the issue. King,Jr felt like those claims were invalid until he read about Gandhi and immediately realized how wrong he was. He believed that Gandhi was the first individual in history to use the love ethics of Jesus on a larger scale. In the, "Negro Problem" article, Gunner states that the only way to resolve the problem was to better the conditions of the blacks. However, King, Jr stated that if the American Negro and other victims of oppression succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle for freedom, future generations will be the recipients of a desolate night of bitterness (265).
Ziolkowski, Theodore. "Siddhartha: The Landscape of the Soul." Hesse Companion. Ed. Anna Otten. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1970. 71-100. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 196. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Lastly, Gandhi continued to struggle with the satyagraha belief and was willing to devote his time on demanding the British to “quit India.” However, despite being imprisoned for this campaign, Gandhi aroused upheaval from the Indians who insisted the British to remove Gandhi from captivity. After the execution of the Salt March, the events that followed supported Gandhi’s philosophy on the satyagraha movement and further brought India closer to its independence from the British colonization. Works Cited Furbee, Mary and Mike Furbee. The Importance of Mohanda Gandhi.
The meeting the workers had been concerning the low wage pay and poor treatment from the employers. The workers gathered and hailed a strike “yes we must strike!...
10) Witvliet, Theo A Place in the Sun: An Introductio to Liberation Theology in the Third World (SCM Press Ltd. 1985)
Gandhi is a strong believer in hinduism and a bit of Jainism. Within both of these religions there is the idea of Ahimsa. Ahimsa means not to kill, it is also the concept of non-violence and the fact that any violence leads to consequences. This is where Gandhi got his ideas of nonviolence and civil disobedience. When the British Government tries to raise land taxes and increase India’s border tax, Gandhi uses the idea of Ahimsa and civil-disobedience to disobey the British Government, yet not violate and laws in a violent way. “‘Ahimsa’ is another Indian word for which there is no exact English word. Ahimsa means nonkilling, but actually it means much more than that. To live according to the doctrine of ahimsa is to feel only love for all living things.”(Gandhi 99) This quote shows what Ahimsa means and how Gandhi would implement it into his everyday life. As Gandhi mainly believes in hinduism, this shows how his religious beliefs affected him and influenced his belief of Ahimsa. Even though Gandhi himself was a Hindu, he did not agree with all of their ideas. He especially did not agree with the Hindu caste system. In which certain castes were assigned certain roles in society, and assigned certain classes of families. Gandhi believed in equality for everyone, and he wanted to rule out the untouchables, the lowest caste of people in hinduism. “Below the four castes are the Untouchables, or outcastes, who
...e in their times of political oppression and is just one of the many teachings of Gandhi which are evident in the Philippine revolution of 1986. The law of suffering is one of the teachings of Gandhi that was used in the Philippines people revolution which helped their progress. Also faith and Satyagraha are two of the teachings of Gandhi that the people of the Philippines used to fight political oppression and unite the people. If the people of the Philippines would have used violence to fight their oppressive political force the outcome would have not been a peaceful one as it was on those four days of February 1986, in which no lives were lost.
Many Indians feel that the Quit India Movement was one of the most influential and successful moments in history. The s...
Gandhi's teachings of non-violent resistance, known as satyagraha, has had a lasting effect and influence on the world today. He has been the role model for many famous, influential people such as American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and former South African President Nelson Mandela. His continued influence can still be felt today in many non-violent peace organizations around the world bearing his name or teaching his philosophy.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian Spiritual leader once said “In this context religion means the religion of love. This is the only religion in the world. There is only one caste, the caste of humanity.” he has highlighted one of the main problems in the Indian culture. Guru Nanak, an Indian Spiritual leader has also said “I am neither a child, a young man, nor an ancient; nor am I of any caste.” This system is suffocated the people that are trapped in it. The caste system is a way to categorize people without their authorization. For example, if a young boy’s father is a servant, the boy too must be a servant. In other words it is your destiny that is picked from birth. That the caste is part of their culture. In this novel a young man discovers