Civil Disobedience Gandhi Research Paper

In South Africa Gandhi was exposed to a level of racism that he had never experienced before. He was not allowed to wear his turban in a courtroom and he was not allowed to ride in the same cars as Europeans on the trains. While traveling to by train to Pretoria, he was asked to leave his seat for the van compartment. He refused and was kicked off the train.8 To get to his destination, he found a stagecoach going to Pretoria. He was not allowed to sit in the coach-box with the white passengers, but was forced to sit with the coachman. Later, he was asked to give up his seat to sit on the floorboard. Gandhi would not agree to this injustice. And, although he received a beating for it, he remained in his seat.9 These incidents led Gandhi to decide to fight for the rights of Indian workers in South Africa.

Civil disobedience is the active refusal to comply with laws that is thought to be unfair or inequitable. Civil disobedience typically is a peaceful form of protest by the people, to force concessions from the government. Throughout the United States history, civil disobedience has played a significant role in many of the social reforms that helped frame our country today. Several famous American activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. risked punishment, such as violent retaliatory acts or imprisonment, to attempt to bring about changes in the law. Civil disobedience has forced our government to recognize and talk through social problems to find solutions that worked for everyone, although in some instances it has deemed illegal, resulting in prosecution.

Civil disobedience is an inherently ambiguous term, hard to distinguish from other forms of dissent, protest, and rebellion. However, over the course of history and societal development, civil disobedience has come to encompass the active protest of a power or ideology through non-participation coupled with passive resistance. As the definition of civil disobedience has developed, so has its power to accomplish societal change. Disobedient figures in history such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, and its original advocate Henry David Thoreau, have set an historical precedent for the power of civil disobedience that has persisted into a powerful instrument of social change in the present.

It seems to me that the conditions in both India and South Africa that led to the widespread discontent with British rule and shaped the long era of protest and unrest were racial discrimination and colonial imperialism. Gandhi’s awakening as a young barrister to British prejudice and bigotry began his struggle to mobilize the Indian masses and win independence from British rule by using nonviolent means. In 1893, as a young lawyer, he was traveling through South Africa by train, Gandhi had a first-class ticket, but nonetheless was summarily thrown off the train because of his skin color and ethnic background. Gandhi’s education and occupation could not protect him from British prejudice.

Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with the laws of a government, or of an international power. Most than often, civil disobedience has but not always being associated with non-violent resistance. One man most often associated with civil disobedience for the modern world is Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi travelled to South Africa to work and encountered discrimination against himself and the Indian minority. He started efforts to end discrimination. Influenced by Western and Eastern ideals, Gandhi coined the term Satyagraha, which means insistence on truth and the practice of non-violence and civil disobedience.

Obedience is as basic as an element in the structure of social life as one can point to. Should we obey the orders of an authority figure? Each generation seem to give a new meaning to these questions. Some system of authority is a requirement of all communal living. In less dramatic ways, conflicts over the extent to which we obey orders surface in everyday life. At one point or another, you may face a moral dilemma at work. Growing up obedience was not a choice you did what was asked of you, there was no questions asked, looking at it now I realized that it’s because we saw other people doing it which

I will explain how Gandhi advocated for non violent ,non cooperation protest. The non cooperation was led by Mahatma Gandhi he, started this cooperation in 1921 after. The goal of this was to resist british rule over India without being violent, which leads to the topic of non violent. Gandhi did not want to cooperate with the british rule but he wanted to this in a non violent way. He accepted that he might get thrown in jail for it, but he was fine with that. From watching the film Gandhi , I have noticed that he will go against the british rule knowing the consequences. By doing this the british rulers realize nothing they do makes him fight back or get made from the punishment they have given him, they end up always freeing him. Theses

In response to the inadequacy of the Simon Report, the Labor Government, which had come to power under Ramsay MacDonald in 1929, decided to hold a series of Round Table Conferences in London.

Gandhi uses people's sayings toward his non cooperation and calling it unconstitutional and he denys these saying by stating non-co-operation is a just and religious doctrine and has the inherent right of every human being and it is perfectly constitutional with a statement from a great lover of the British Empire on the British constitution even a successful rebellion is perfectly constitutional and his statements of violence will never serve anyone is India like it serves people in Europe with his sayings of if the non cooperation stays non non-violent it wouldn't be unconstitutional. Gandhi asks "If it is unconstitutional for me to say to the British Government "I refuse to serve you?" Is it unconstitutional for our worthy Chairman to return

It wasn’t until Gandhi moved to South Africa that he received a glimpse of the real world and how discriminated it really was. Upon arrival, he was asked to remove his turban, which he refused, and reprimanded that he was unwelcome. (Biography.com) Shocked by the way he was treated, he didn’t decide to really make a change until he was told to move to the back of the bus and refused. He was

Once countries started industrializing competition grew for more land, markets, a new way of gaining more raw materials. This caused countries to take over less developed countries to not only gain these advantages but also be more powerful then their competitors. This newly claimed countries where sued for the benefit of the mother country. The mother country would force the countries people to produce raw materials. Also, the mother country would hold political power over the conquered countries and decided their judicial, social, and economic systems. This process was called imperialism and happened in many countries such as India. This process of imperialism eventually leads to several responses from the conquered countries for independence. Some countries used violence while others promoted non-violent protests. India rebelled nonviolently through the help of Gandhi and gained independence. Therefore, non-violent civil disobedience is the most effective strategy for achieving major political change.

Gandhi used marches, boycotts, and fasts to defend the rights of non-whites in South Africa. He called this method “Satyagraha”, and it was very efficient. His civil rights campaign started he went to South Africa to find a job as a lawyer. In one of his first court dates, he was asked to remove his turban. He refused and left the courtroom. According to Biography.com, “The Natal Advertiser mocked him in print as “an unwelcome visitor.”” (“Mahatma Gandhi”). So, Gandhi not only lost one if his first jobs, but he was also publicly humiliated by a newspaper. Later in South Africa, a white man objected to Gandhi riding in the first class section of a train. Nevertheless, Gandhi refused to move and was forcibly thrown off the train, even though he had a ticket. This was his first act of civil disobedience, and it would lead to much more. Gandhi vowed that he would “try, if possible, to root out the disease and suffer hardships in the process.” (“Mahatma Gandhi”). The disease he was talking about was the racial injustice

Gandhi was a major key leader in granting India’s independence from Great Britain. Without his leadership and timely guidance, India’s independence would of been prolonged or might of never happened. Following WW1, he began his activism towards protesting India’s poorest classes as well as other injustices. In order to do so he led successful movements, he was imprisoned several times during his pursuit of non-cooperation, and he even undertook a number of hunger strikes which ended up earning him his reputation as the Indian political leader who coordinated and led a successful national struggle for

Gandhi was 24 when he arrived in South Africa in 1893 to work as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian Traders based in the city of Pretoria. He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills. Indians in South Africa included wealthy Muslims, who employed Gandhi as a lawyer, and impoverished Hindu indentured labourers with very limited rights. He believed that he understood India better by getting to know and leading Indians in South Africa. He faced several challenges in South Africa. He majorly faced the

Gandhi planted the seeds of his impacts throughout various countries. It started when he spent twenty-one years in South Africa. Being railed against the injustice of racial segregation opened his eyes to how big of a problem racial bias was. He had proof when he experienced being thrown from a first class train carriage, despite having a valid ticket (History). This made him contemplate about life back in India. Once he returned to India, Gandhi created his practice of non-violent civic disobedience to raise awareness of oppressive practices. This is when he took the lead of the Indian National Congress to reorganize the party’s constitution around the principles of ‘Swaraj’(Scoop Independent News). Those principles meant complete independence from British rule. All of his ways, however, were peaceful.