Gandhi's Concept of NonViolence
An Analysis of Salt Satyagraha
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For the most part, Gandhi's life before the Satyagraha movement in South Africa was ordinary. He was a barrister, married and enjoyed life's quotidian pleasures (Wolpert, 3). Yet, the life he led after this milestone was characterized by extraordinary insight, determination and courage. Gandhi's ideas about human relations, particularly conflict, are difficult to grasp because they ask the individual to subsume some of his/her most basic reactions to confrontation such as revenge, retaliation and punishment, which, arguably, are attempts to affirm the rightness of his/her position to a higher Truth, which is associated with Love. At the same time, Gandhi affirms the power of individual will, arguing that it is capable of withstanding and even challenging the strongest adversity. The key to satyagraha is the practice of non-violence. Gandhian non-violence is not passive or weak; rather, it is characterized by determination, courage and hardiness of will. The concept of non-violence is coupled with self-suffering, a concept that is probably alien to most of us. Self-suffering, based on choice, provides an alternative to violence and is ultimately an expression of the strength of one's will. In the salt satyagraha, multitudes of people practiced Gandhian non-violence in response to conflict. In this campaign, Gandhi and his fellow participants challenged the injustice of the government, a government that withheld a necessity of Indian life. Gandhi emphasized that it was no
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"usurping of the functions of government," and "the establishment of a parallel government" (Bondurant, 41).
The objectives of the Salt Satyagraha, a national movement which took place from March 1930 to March 1931, were to remove the Salt Acts and to protest against the British government with the hopes of achieving independence (Bondurant, 88-89). The Salt Acts were the basis by which the government monopolized salt. The taxation of salt, a necessity, was a "hardship on the people, especially the poor" (Bondurant, 89). The Salt Acts represented "an unpopular, unrepresentative, and alien government" (Bondurant, 89). The long-range aim of the Salt Satyagraha was to achieve independence (Bondurant, 89).
Gandhi marched for a month, covering 240 miles. About 78 males, representing most provinces, marched with Gandhi. The area chosen for the salt march was favorable; not only did it produce a large amount of salt, it was reminiscent of past campaigns (Brown, 103). Gandhi and his fellow participants lived a spartan life during the march, educating villagers on the salt tax as well as discussing village issues such as Untouchability (Brown, 101).
Gandhi drew large crowds, sometimes numbering over 10,000. Muslims and women, who
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Approximate Word count = 2356
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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