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Indian nationalism
Effectiveness of non-violent protests during civil rights movement
Why is nonviolent protest effective
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Recommended: Indian nationalism
From 1885 to 1940, Indians were involved in high tensions between the British. This would eventually lead onto protests against the British. Although these were peaceful protests, they were surely effective. The main reason for these tensions were due to the fact of General Reginald had banned public meetings, but they did not follow. In wake up the Indians not following orders, General Dyer launched an open fire on the peaceful crowd of protesters, known as the Amritsar massacre killing about 400 and wounding more than 1,000. These events would later lead on to the Indian Nationalist Movement, in where numerous individuals were involved, such as Gandhi and their methods changing how they were being treated. The Indian Nationalist Movement was originally set forth once the Amritsar massacre was in progress during World War I. However, it officially happened when the British promised Indians self-government because of Indian nationalists and did not follow through with their promise despite Indians serving overseas under the British. They did however propose some minor changes after all the fighting. In wake of the massacre, Indian …show more content…
The Indian Nationalist Movement, led by Gandhi preaching ahimsa. The main philosophy of the INM was nonviolence. Despite not using any source of violence, the Indians promoted nonviolent resistance. He believed by using love, that people would correct the wrongs to the good. The Indians used western education as well as indian influences to prove that they could rule on their own. These efforts however did not work. Gandhi preached the idea of civil obedience, which states that if an individual feels a law is unjust, that it is ok to refuse it. In addition to civil obedience, he used western ideas of democracy and nationalism. He worked vigorously for equal rights for all Indians and to end the unjust
“ 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.
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.
On December 29, a shot was fired which started the massacre and did not end for an hour. After one hour, the camp was covered in blood due to the constant shooting from soldiers. A huge burial ground was set up to bury the 146 victims. People later realized that the Indians were innocent and they were killed for no justifiable reason. However, on the bright side, this was the last confrontation between the government and the Indians and it taught people to treat others as equals.
From the onset of man fighting for freedom or his beliefs, the question has always been whether one person can make a difference using words rather than wars. Philosophically, the concept of civil disobedience would appear to be an ineffective weapon against political injustice; history however has proven it to repeatedly be one of the most powerful weapons of the common man. Martin Luther King Jr. looked at the way African Americans were treated in the United States and saw an inequality. By refusing to pay his taxes and subsequently being imprisoned for a night, Henry David Thoreau demonstrated his intolerance for the American government. Under British rule, India remained oppressed until Mohandas Gandhi, with his doctrine of non-violence lead the country to freedom.
Under British rule in India, the British were harshly oppressive and only interested in exploiting products from India for their own use, causing many Indians to become extremely poor. They became so oppressed they were on the verge of violent civil disobedience, when Gandhi appeared to negotiate with the British threw non-violent tactics such as sit-ins and hunger strikes. The people were supportive on Gandhi and were set to become violent if anything happened to him. Things were resolved without violence.
Indian Betrayal Looking back at the history of the United States, there are many instances and issues concerning race and ethnicity that shape the social classes that make up the United States today. There are many stories concerning the American Indian that are filled with betrayal, but there is probably none more cruel and shameful than the removal of the Cherokee Indians in 1838. Blood thirsty for money and property, the white settlers would soon use dirty methods to drive the Cherokee out of their home- lands. The United States government played a critical role in the removal of the Cherokee. “Soon the state governments insisted on the removal of the native peoples, who were already out numbered by the white settlers and considered to be uncivilized “heathens,” not worthy of the land they held” (Sherman 126).
Gandhi made use of nonviolent and passive resistance through non-cooperation as his weapon of choice in the conflict against the British. The butchery of civilians by British military personnel resulted in increased public anger and acts of violence. Mahatma Gandhi criticized both the activities of the British Government and the revenge of the butchery from the Indians. He extended consolation to the British victims and denounced the riots. Initially, his party was opposed to his declaration.
Try living in a society where starving children lay on the streets looking for food, or where lack of education leads you nowhere. However, a man with knowledge and wealth helped his people fight for their rights. Gandhi’s background made him who he was; giving him an idea of how to get India’s independence, and impact on India helped people realized you can fight with knowledge and nonviolence to change a way of life.
Days prior to the Amritsar Massacre, the city of Amritsar was put under martial law. With General Dyer in control of the city, he banned any type of gatherings or meetings in the city. In 1919, the day of the Amritsar Massacre, there was a gathering of a couple thousand unarmed Indian protesters. When the British found out, they squared up thousands of men and shot to kill. The result of the shooting were hundreds of deaths, along with thousands of shootings.
A revolt in which angered Iraqis fought the British in hope for their once promised independence. The revolution was lost and Iraq didn't manage independence until it was granted to them in 1932. Meanwhile in India the total polar opposite happened. Even Though Indian protest against British colonial rule brought violence it was in the form of the Amritsar Massacre, which was committed by the british. This massacre instead of leading to a violent uprising within the Indian people led it to a
In another scene, Gandhi is in jail, and some of his followers are peacefully gathered in a square. The police lock up the square and kill almost everyone, over 1,500 people. Gandhi is disgusted and discouraged. He continues to preach non-violence, but the Indians do have occasional conflict with the police. Gandhi’s counter to the popular phrase “an eye for an eye” says that after that, “everyone will be blind.” Gandhi leads several organized protests against British rule. In one, all Indians stopped doing their work, and the major cities in the country were disabled. Another time, he led a 165-mile walk to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt. The Indians made their own salt out of the sea.
Whilst the growth of Indian nationalism put considerable pressure on the Raj, historians offer many interpretations as to the fundamental cause of Independence. Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and subsequent campaigns meant that nationalism began to appeal to the masses and helped establish a broad based movement for Independence. However, the British were always able to supress the nationalist movements, through reform or by using force, up to the Quit India movement of 1942. British involvement in the Great War and particularly the Second World War placed them in a weaker position economically, whilst the social and political expectations of the Indian people were changing, which strengthened nationalism and discontent.
“The strongest physical force bends before moral force when used in the defense of truth.” - Mahatma Gandhi (Bondurant). Mahatma Gandhi was the main leader in helping India become independent through the principles of non violence, self-rule, and the unity of Hindus and Muslims. His full name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but he was given the name Mahatma later on in his life. He wanted to see an united India without the rule of the British Empire. He accomplished this with passive resistance or resistance by non violence because he wanted to show that violence is not always the best answer.
1919-Rowlatt Acts, or black acts passed over opposition by Indian members of the Supreme Legislative Council. These were peacetime extensions of wartime emergency measures. Their passage causes further disaffection with the British and leads to protests. Amritsar Massacre. General Dyer opens fire on 20,000 unarmed Indian civilians at a political demonstration against the Rowlatt Acts.
Indian Rebellion of 1858. It was systematically articulated for the first time by Lord Frederick