M.K. Gandhi was, of course, one of the most amazing figures of the 20th Century. He believed in a God of Truth and in his autobiography "My Experiments With Truth" (1927), Gandhi admitted to making a "Himalayan" number of mistakes in seeking this Truth. The time he spent in prison for his acts of civil disobedience in South Africa formed the core of his later attempts to end British Rule in India and gain respect for all peoples of the world no matter what their station.
The clips in this film are from the early part of the movie. At this time in South Africa, Gandhi is a young lawyer representing the cause of migrant workers from India in the British colony. At this time (the 1890's) all over the English-speaking and European-dominated world, it was taken for granted that whites were superior. His own native India had a caste system
and he was born into the higher echelons of it. He "fought" not only against Western dominance but against the reactionary and violent forces of his own people.
Like his contemporary and political opposite, Winston Churchill, he lost his father early in life and made a name for himself in South Africa. (Churchill as an escaped POW in the Boer War; Gandhi in a campaign against unjust laws.) Gandhi had earlier gone to London to finish his studies to become a barrister. He had tried to "go native" while there, dressing in formal clothes and eating meat. He was once mocked by English passers-by on a street in London for wearing a tuxedo on an ordinary day when he first arrived. Later, in South Africa, he was thrown off a train for being a man of color in a whites-only compartment. He was later whipped and beaten and imprisoned in the cause of equal rights.
It was in prison that he read Leo Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You" and the American author Henry David Thoreau's essay "On Civil Disobedience". These writings, the basic tenets of the Common Law, the sacred writings of the Baghagvad-Gita and his own experiences sent him on a course to end segregation without violent uprisings but with what the Indians call "ahisma", a non-violent course of action. He led marches, boycotts in paying The Salt Tax and wearing textiles made in Britain, and personally and most famously threatened to end his own life through starvation to bring peace to his native land--a peace for Hindus, Muslims, Christians, for all people.
These are two clips from the early part of Lord Richard Attenborough's 1982 film, "Gandhi". The selections here contain what I think are some of the most interesting chapters of the entire film. M.K. Gandhi is not a "Mahatma" during this period. He is just a young lawyer but, like all great personages, he is not to be assuaged.
Ghandi was a beautiful human being.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky enough to have a copy of this movie and the book "My Experiments With Truth". A very interesting and amazing man indeed, I personally found some of the interactions between Gandhi and his wife quite interesting lol.
ReplyDeleteHe was ahead of his time. He did so much with so little. He was an impressive man,
ReplyDeleteI think Gandhi was a contradictory figure Doug. On the one hand civil disobedience is an effective weapon in confronting powerful institutions, but not for everybody. Gandhi was part of the British class system as much as the Indian caste system. His early campaigning in South Africa demonstrates this very well I think, he was seeking to empower the Indian ex-patriot community who had followed the British empire into Africa and established a middle class segment in colonial society there.
ReplyDeleteHe did not have a lot to say about the indigenous African population or their position in the imperial pecking order. Gandhi would not be known today were it not for the fact that he had the ear of the British ruling class, he was an auxiliary member of that educated professional class that were the administrators of the British empire. Whatever his intentions Gandhi was first and foremost a Hindu nationalist.
India today is not much of a tribute to his liberation struggles, the caste system remains firmly in place, inter communal violence is commonplace and corruption is endemic across Indian society from top to bottom. India is one of the most socially stratified economically divided countries on earth.....so I would only go part of the way in lionising the Mahatma. If the proof of the pudding is in the eating Gandhi's rebellion is a failure on economic, political and class terms which actually makes India an extreme version of the British class cleavages Gandhi was a part of himself as well as an implacable oponent of. I have a degree of scepticism about the Gandhi legacy and his role in the mythology of the Indian movement for self determination.
It would be a potentially lethal error to imagine we all could be like Gandhi I think, the role of the wider history of British imperialism cannot be airbrushed out of the picture to support the cult of the individual in this case in my opinion.
Indeed. The tenets of his public life were a blueprint for peaceful change in American Civil Rights, Northern Ireland, modern South Africa, etc. He made an incredible difference and, as the video shows, he still speaks to our collective consciences today.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I remember from his autobiography on his marriage was how he intended to teach his young wife to read--Gandhi states she was illiterate--but that his sexual passion would often get the better of him! Something like "she would be literate today if I could control my carnality" or some such. The film doesn't spend a lot of time on that issue, nor his habit of sleeping with young women as an older man to test his chastity. It's easier for me to steer focus to his public/political activity lol.
ReplyDeleteHe was praised by men as diverse as Albert Einstein and Douglas Mac Arthur. Impressive indeed!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nuanced analysis, AA. It's clear that Gandhi's role was an example of what a man might do in a single lifetime and a given political environment. Flawed as he might be as a reformer, I gather he had so much force to overcome in the British Raj that other issues like Muslim-Hindu frictions, poverty and the caste system needed more time and struggle than any man could muster.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone can be Gandhi, nor can appeals to the global community in the name of "moral authority" overcome all localized oppression as common sense would tell us. So much more needed to be done in 1940's India/Pakistan I'm sure (and today), but I submit it defys the efforts of one man or even one or two generations. And I'm certain you'd agree that if people cannot be Gandhi-like", many leaders aspire to a more craven agenda.
The film brings up the issue of how effective (or non-effective) non-violence might be in fighting fascism, for instance. Perhaps every form of protest and reform his its limits. And then there is the issue of how much any one man should be "lionized", but it is a blue print for a good start, especially in a society where your enemy makes the pretension of being a force that holds police power in the name of "human advancement".