Nonviolent Conflict Resolution in India s Independence Movement

Transcription

1 Nonviolent Conflict Resolution in India s Independence Movement By: Taylor Welzanuk Throughout history, there has always been one civilization or another trying to expand their territory to dominate another region in order to gain access to their natural resources and labor. That s exactly what happened to India, when British interests became entrenched in the region, and the British Empire demanded that the people of the region start paying a land tax (called lagaan) to the British Empire for their protection. The people of India never forced the British out of their country when they first arrived and, over the following decades, the British started to slowly colonize India (like they did with many other countries including our own). It was a long and slow process, taking about a hundred years to complete, but the British conquest took place nevertheless. This was the overarching theme in three of the films that we watched in Quantum Leap. Lagaan, a foreign musical (all in subtitles, I ll have you know) depicting the enforcement of British taxes so great that some of the smaller villages would border on starvation in order to be able to pay. The image above depicts the imperialistic attitude of the British and how would always go into weaker countries trying to add more land and greater resources to their territory. The octopus, representative of the British, illustrates how the British would take over a bunch of different countries, making new colonies in the process. Therefore, this image, a cartoon created in early 19 th century America, flippantly illuminates the plans of the British to get their hands on Egypt. They had recently purchased the Suez Canal toward the end of Queen Victoria s reign, which eventually served to weaken an already struggling Egypt. A&E s Mahatma Gandhi: Pilgrim of Peace, a biography and documentary on the contributions and motivations behind India s Independence Movement, which described his views and beliefs and how he practiced non-violence through civil disobediences like protesting and fasting.

2 An excerpt from the film, Gandhi, regarding the 240 mile Salt March, drove home the point that Gandhi s nonviolent methods could incite a passion and determination more ardent than a violent conflict. These films illustrated, from the point of view of the oppressed, a time when the British weren t welcome, and a time when India s people were faced with an internal conflict centered on their religious and spiritual beliefs, but also their political freedom and a declining social and economic situation. Nearly 80% or more of the population of India at that time believed in reincarnation. The Indians believed that if they did wrong, went against their moral code, or didn t fulfill their spiritual beliefs, no matter how hard they had it now they would have it worse in their next life. The people of India were torn in many ways; for example, their culture dictated that they were born into a certain lot in life. They had a very strong caste system that they adhered to. There is usually no way to move up in the caste system. That is where you are born and that is where your children will be born. They believed that the situation that they were born into was not something that they could challenge. The British took advantage of this complacency, and they took advantage of them. But the British people were also torn. They had a culture based on a strong structure, and this structure relied on laws and tradition. It was civilized and they were a civilized people. Civilized people abided by custom and their society was founded on personal liberties and due course. Because of this, they struggled to justify ruling the people of India by force. They did it by rationalizing it. First of all, they believed that they were intellectually superior to the uncivilized Indians. Secondly, they could apply something called Social Darwinism to this to strengthen their argument (the survival of the fittest). And, thirdly, they could justify that India s current state of affairs was not orderly or governed by laws, so the Indian people needed them to rule them. In India, the British rule was at first known as the Sakar ki Churi, which translates to the knife of sugar and basically just means that although it is made of sugar it is still a knife. During the time of unrest in the British occupation of India, Mohandas (Mahatma, Mahatmas) Karamchand Gandhi was a huge influence over almost everyone in India, as an antagonist of the British domination and as an inspiration to India s Independence Movement. Even though the Indians outnumbered the British by millions and could have quite easily simply attacked and drove them out,

3 this had not worked for them in the past. They were not well organized and had no clear leader to follow yet. In an uprising known as the Sepoy Rebellion, they were crushed by the well-armed British forces. The British were much more technologically advanced and they used that to their advantage by intimidating and subjugating the Indians to an even greater extent. The people of India were probably really frightening for a land of people who were largely vegetarians and had no need for technologically advanced weaponry. When you think about it, a pattern emerges. The British had a habit of going into a country, establishing themselves, then taking over and taxing the people for everything they could. As the burdens of the British became greater, they passed the burden on to the taxpayers of India until the people had no other choice but to rise up against them and fight the British out. As the burden became too great for the taxpayers, the enforcements became more brutal. This was the main reason that the people of India eventually rebelled against the British, and it was the main reason why we did, too. (You would think they would have noticed the pattern after they did the same things with us Americans just a little while before.) Their downfall may have come about due to their imperialistic attitude and their belief that they were somehow superior. A tipping point occurred in India with the salt tax, and this was something that we read about but also watched in an excerpt from the film Gandhi. Implementing a tax on something that everyone needed back then, salt, was both arrogant and foolhardy. Everyone would need salt back then because there was no refrigeration so that was the only way to save food. In addition, salt is a necessary component of the human diet; the human body needs salt. Gandhi organized his satyagrahis (the name translates to insistence on truth but was the name of the groups of followers that Gandhi organized) to march 240 miles to the sea where they would harvest their own salt in a show of defiance against British rule. Their point was that they refused to recognize the ban on harvesting salt and believed the taxes to be illegal and unjust. Over one

4 hundred thousand people were there, far more than the British anticipated, showing their disobedience to the rule of the British. When news of this reached the people in charge back in Great Briton, they decided that instead of throwing Gandhi in jail they would throw anyone who followed him in jail, because what s a leader if there s no one left to follow? When they realized that this would not deter Gandhi, and that he would keep doing it with more and more people, the British started to block off the salt mines. Next, the satyagrahis and their followers approached the salt mines without any aggression and were beaten down by the British. With thousands of people behind his nonviolent ways, Gandhi instructed them to get in a line and approach the gates of the salt mines. As they did, the British guards would knock out hundreds of them with bamboo sticks or clubs tipped with steal. They didn t have television back then so they had a reporter for a newspaper come out and watch the cruelty and brutality that they were treated with. These events were highly publicized and covered in the international news of the time, bringing word of British domination, atrocities, and brutality around the world. It brought a spotlight to the cause so it helped the Indian Independence Movement. If anyone didn't know about how the Indians were being treated before this, they definitely did after that, and anyone who didn't feel that strongly about the British occupation of India before these events definitely did after. The salt protests weren t the only way that the satyagrahis had of showing they wanted the British out; they would protest outside of all British stores and even burn all of the British cloth in huge piles, or refuse to pay rent on the land that they believed was rightfully theirs. Gandhi gave his followers many strict rules to follow; they were not to become angry, they were to quietly endure and suffer the opponent s strikes against them, they were not to return any assaults. They were instructed not to submit to an order given in anger, and to refrain from insults and swearing. Gandhi s followers were told that, if taken prisoner, they must behave in an exemplary manner, and agree to obey the orders of satygraha leaders.

5 Most of these protest movements, known as Civil Disobedience, were happening right after Gandhi was finally arrested by the British, when he was held in jail, or right after he got out and made a speech that would reinspire a nation. Although Gandhi only had a year of work ( ), he didn t actually free India. His actions, however, started the movement. Although it may seem like Gandhi was against the British, he had lived in England for years. It was where he received his education to become a lawyer, it wasn't until later in his life that he realized how cruel they were being to the Indians, to his home, and to his people. Returning to India, Gandhi helped them start the independence movement. He made it so the Indians had someone to follow, someone smart enough to realize that the British wouldn t quit, and someone who believed in helping those who had been wronged. Gandhi knew that the path to freedom lay in getting out a public message of oppression. He realized that the people of Great Britain probably didn t even know that much about the situation and, if they did, they would not approve. He was clever. Things like this happen all over the place, not just in India. An example of non-violent conflict resolution here in the United States was based largely on what Gandhi had demonstrated years before it was the Civil Rights Movement. Here in the United States, a man by the name of Martin Luther King, Junior used the same concepts to support equal opportunities and rights of African Americans. They wanted and deserved to be treated like equals and to have the same opportunities and privileges that every white man had. Similarly to Gandhi s Salt March, they used civil disobedience in various other ways. For example, sitting at lunch counters reserved for white men or drinking from public water fountains reserved for whites only were very effective methods of making their point heard. This happened again in America with civil rights for the Women s Movement. These examples may seem completely different to you, but I ve noticed that in almost every culture (or even every civilization) there has been someone being oppressed and another as the oppressor. While one less-fortunate and weaker group is being made to comply with the other s expectations because it s bigger or stronger, diversity and humanity are lost. While not all conflicts were solved through non-violent methods, many of them were. Others resorted to violence out of necessity. The reason that non-violence works in today s world is because of exposure. In ancient times, the world was less connected, so atrocities were easier to carry out without intervention. With our growing global world, where the media airs many events, non-violent protest methods can be very effective. I would say that this is especially true if you have something that others want because the world is still a greedy, greedy place.