Mahatma Gandhi and The Salt March Essays

Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, politician, social activist and writer who would lead the independence movement of India to free the country of British rule (“Mahatma Gandhi,” 2017). He would prove that a single person could change the course of history and take on the entire British Empire. Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence and civil disobedience are attributed to his success in gaining independence for India. The act of passive resistance allowed Gandhi to generate more support for his movement for independence while making it difficult for the British to find reasons to arrest them. He argued that although violence could be more effective than peaceful

In order to counter-act the pervasive actions the British were enacting onto the Indians, Gandhi began one of history’s most influential movements. Termed the "Salt Satyagraha", this prodigious struggle for independence had fundamentally changed the England's influence over India forever; a march which, although having minuscule beginnings, swelled to over 100, 000 humans whom all desired one thing- freedom from British oppression (MapsofIndia, 2015) Culturally, this campaign was of utmost importance as it was within the realm

Gandhi used determination to make his nonviolent movement work. In Document C, Gandhi says, “If these men had committed an offense, I had committed a greater offense…” This shows that Gandhi was determined to have a worse offense, perhaps, to motivate his people. By having a greater offense than his followers, he had more people on his side so that he could be even more successful. This information helps me answer the question, what made Gandhi’s nonviolent movement work, because Gandhi had been determined about his decisions which made him a better leader as well.

Gandhi was most opposed to the salt tax, so he started the Salt March. Before the march, Gandhi sent a letter to a British governor named Lord Irwin, informing him that he was about to break the law. However, he did not want to break the law, as he said in his letter. " Before embarking on Civil Disobedience and taking a risk I have dreaded to take all the years, I would approach you... and find a way out." He wanted to find some peace; his nonviolence acts spread across the world (Document A).

He outed the moral and political philosophy of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance, which he had developed while in South Africa. His message to Indians was simple: develop your own resources and control the instincts and activities that encourage membership in colonial economy and government, and you shall achieve swaraj or self-rule. Faced with Indian self-reliance and self-control pursued nonviolently, Gandhi claimed, the British eventually would have to leave. When the Depression struck India in 1930, Gandhi asked for his people not to use salt showing his new way of civil disobedience. Salt symbolized tasked the Indians' defeat to an alien government. To break the colonial government's control, Gandhi began a 240-mile march from western India to the coast to gather sea salt for free. With him were seventy-one followers representing different regions of India. Thousands of people met around and encouraging them to hold independence from British rule. (Pollard, Rosenberg, Tignor 2015 Pages

Inspired by Mohandas K. Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha during his strive for freedom from government control, Attenborough depicts this in his film. During Gandhi’s first non-violent protest in South Africa, the cross-cutting between Gandhi burning legal documents outlining the rules of the Indians and the English policemen restraining Gandhi signifies the competing political perspectives that exist on the freedom and rights that should be given to Indians. Attenborough emphasises the concept of Satyagraha through Gandhi’s patience and non-violent rebuttal regardless of the Englishmen beating him. Similarly, following the Amritsar massacre, Gandhi reiterates his idea of fighting for the freedom of his nation as he claims people would prefer ‘their own bad government to the good government of an alien power’ which contradicts to the perspective of the British rulers who feel chaos would ensure if that was to occur. Attenborough motto in the film of “peaceful, non-violent, non-co-operation” highlights Gandhi’s motivation to give his people independence. Gandhi makes a statement on non-violent protests through the symbolic salt march scene where the panning of Gandhi marching

In the Salt March, Gandhi and his people protested Britain’s Salt Tax Law and repeatedly chanted protests until they were beaten down by the British. For example, the text in Source 3 written by an eyewitness says, “As the throng drew near the salt pans they commence chanting the revolutionary slogan, Inquilab zindabad (long live revolution), intoning the two words over and over.” It also said, “The survivors without breaking ranks silently and doggedly marched on until stuck down.” This quote proves that they thoroughly protested without applying any violence to the disagreement. There is also one other massive component to this

By using the principle of individual autonomy, rather than civil disobedience, Gandhi created “Satyagraha”, a nonviolent resistance to unfair laws.

One of the most widely known event would be when Mahatma Gandhi employed nonviolent strategies such as hunger strikes and protest marches in order to fight oppression. In 1930, Gandhi started the “Salt March” which was aimed at the British “salt tax”- Taxing on Indian salt so the people would have to import salt from Britain. Indians were unable to both collect and sell salt because of the British salt monopoly in India. The march and hunger strikes eventually led India to independence from the Brits. Gandhi’s success in guiding his country to freedom by conducting nonviolent means has proven civil disobedience and direct action to be

On March 2nd, 1930, Gandhi sent a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, forcefully saying that if Indian demands were not met, he would be forced to violate the ‘salt laws.’ The Lord ignored his letter. Gandhi began a 240 mile trek to the sea with 78 of his followers. As the trek continued, more and more people joined Mohandas Gandhi, and by the time Gandhi arrived at the sea thousands of people stood behind him. Gandhi picked up a clump of sea salt along with thousands of others. Gandhi was soon arrested for his actions along with tens of thousands of others. Gandhi was pardoned to travel to England for negotiations which accomplished nothing, and was arrested upon his return to India.

During World War I, Gandhi had an active part in recruiting campaigns by launching his new movement of non-violent resistance to Great Britain (Byers 202). When Parliament passed the Rowlatt Acts in 1919, Satyagraha, which means insistence on truth, spread throughout India, recruiting millions of followers. British soldiers massacred Indians at Amritsar as a demonstration against the Rowlatt Acts. In 1920 the British government failed to make peace, which resulted in Gandhi organizing a campaign of non-cooperation (Andrews 103). There was chaos in India as the public

Soon, salt gathering broke out all over India. Over the next few months a total of 60,000 Indians were arrested. Among these included Gandhi himslef who was arrested on May 9. In conclusion, this Salt March and arresting led to Gandhi’s role in India’s government. Following the salt march, Gandhi was asked to call off his supporters.

Gandhi, a wise and pacifist leader, dedicated his life to promote racial equality because he experience first-hand racial discrimination. Gandhi, a wise leader, experienced first-hand racial discrimination, in which he dedicated his life to promote racial equality through pacifist means. Gandhi’s first major encounter with racial discrimination was when he bought a first-class ticket on a train and was later asked to be removed from the first-class section. Gandhi refused to move to the back and was eventually thrown off. Afterwards he made the commitment to himself that he would fight the “deep disease of color prejudice” (“Mahatma Gandhi”). Britain ruled over India at this time, and non-white people were discriminated. Gandhi’s ethnicity was Indian, and therefore officials cast him off the train. Instead of using violence to fight colored prejudice, “Gandhi developed his philosophy of ‘Satyagraha’, or resistance through non-violent civil disobedience” (“‘Satyagraha’: Gandhi’s Legacy”). Gandhi used Satyagraha because he did not believe that violence was the right way to fight. He believed that without peace, no government can exist. An example of how Gandhi used Satyagraha was when Britain passed the British Salt Act in India: an act that “prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt...and imposed a heavy tax that hit the country’s poorest particularly hard…” (“Mahatma Gandhi”). The Indians were infuriated by its passing. In response to this act Gandhi gathered more than 60,000 Indians and marched 240 miles to the Arabian Sea to get salt instead of buying it (“Mahatma Gandhi”). Even though Gandhi was arrested for breaking the law, other people took

What was gandhi’s intention for his march against the British salt tax? Gandhi had an intention to march to the nearby dharasana salt works. Before the salt march gandhi was thinking about mining for salt instead of boiling it at the beach on the salt flats. India gained its independence from the British in 1947.("Salt March").

In 1869, one of the most prominent and influential men to ever live was born. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Gujarat, India. Known for leading India to its eventual freedom and inspiring movements across the world, Gandhi became India’s ‘Father of the Nation’. His non-violent and non-cooperative civil disobedience provided a sense of truth and firmness. Better known as Satyagraha, as coined by Gandhi, became one of the best methods to fight injustices. Around the world, Satyagraha has proven to work amongst others besides the Indians. In 1905, thousands of workers protested in Russia to overthrow the Tsar and for better working conditions for the peasant working class. Not only did it work in the 20th century, but Satyagraha has worked in the 21st century. In 2005, a breakdown occupying the Faroe Islands commenced leaving all workers to protest in hopes for raises throughout their civil disobedience acts. During the 1980s, the US government used the Marshall Islands as a nuclear test site and natives used non-violent protests in hopes to end the lease and be able to return back to their homes. While Satyagraha was a concept developed in 1906, the method is constantly used and was used even before Gandhi.