The Influence of Gandhi
The Influence of Gandhi
Gandhi was an important man in India, who influenced much of the country. He was born in Western India in 1869 and was raised Hindu. At age thirteen, Gandhi entered his arranged marriage and a few years later went to attend law school in London. In 1893, Gandhi became an attorney in South Africa, where he first practiced passive resistance against the British law enforcers who oppressed the Indian race. In 1915 after Gandhi had made Indians lives better in South Africa, he went back to India to begin his struggle for independence from the British. Gandhi also helped to gain Indian independence, when it came, on August 15, 1947. To be such an influential leader in both South Africa and India, Gandhi had to get through many tough obstacles. Some obstacles are violence, religious persecution, racism, and discrimination of the castes. Gandhi opposed these things in order to attain the freedom of both countries. “To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse than starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body,” this quote is an example of how Gandhi firmly believed in freedom and equality for people. Gandhi believed his main obstacle in life was to end discrimination towards every one.
South Africa was one stage in Gandhi’s life in which he tried to end racial persecution. Being thrown off a train when he sat in the first-class section, was the first time that Gandhi experienced racial persecution there. After his realization that the Europeans in South Africa did not want Indians to be in a high status position, Gandhi tried to oppose them. He did this by burning his “pass” that was issued only to the non-Europeans. Other Indians immediately followed him even though it was against the law. This event was the first of many times that Gandhi used passive resistance to illustrate a point. He set up meetings for Indians to gather and protest non-violently. Even in his young years, Gandhi believed that all people should be treated the same and learn to love each other. “In nature there is fundamental unity running through all the diversity we see about us.” Gandhi was arrested after burning...