Episode 2: India "Defying the Crown"

Episode two focuses on British rule over India and the methods to free Indians from the rule.

This episode begins with the famous Salt March put on by Gandhi and Indian followers. The Salt March of 1930 is one of the most famous and successful nonviolent marches in nonviolent history.
Gandhi leads a 250-mile march to the sea from his ashram, where he and thousands of protesters violate the law by making their own salt. Many compare the Indian Salt March to the American Boston Tea Party. Once Gandhi breaks the salt law, many follow him to the sea to break the law themselves and follow in his footsteps. His action had indeed sparked an entire country to follow him. Though Gandhi was arrested, civil disobedience spread, and the campaign grew to include the boycott of British cloth and the resignations of Indian officials that work for the British in government.

The boycotting put a great strain on the British, but the boycotting also welcomed brutal reprisals from the British rule. Indians were clubbed, arrested and had their land seized by the government.

"A mass of demonstrators approaching a salt depot in Dharasana is viciously beaten; thousands are arrested, the number of participants swells, and resistance stiffens. Overcrowding the country's jails is part of Gandhi's strategy to put a strain on British civil services, and the barbarism at Dharasana elicits worldwide support for the Indian cause. With India's infrastructure under strain, and world opinion turning against the Crown, Lord Irwin agrees to one-on-one negotiations with Gandhi in February 1931. While the social and legal concessions that he grants are more symbolic than concrete, the great Indian resistance of 1930-31 mobilizes the nation as never before to pursue independence, which it finally achieves in 1947...Although the campaign does not dislodge the British from India, it shatters the legitimacy of British control and rallies the Indian people to the cause of independence, which eventually comes in 1947." (aforcemorepowerful.org)

Though some thought that Gandhi had compromised and went out of his way and were not satisfied with the compromise, Gandhi stood by his belief that the movement wasn't in vain. He knew that you couldn't have everything in one try, that it would take many steps to reach the final goal. He had, in fact, given people the power to achieve their own independence and made them realize that they had the power to make change.

 

INDIA TIMELINE:

1906    Gandhi leads nonviolent campaign against anti-Indian laws in South Africa.

1915    Gandhi returns to India from South Africa.

1920    Gandhi leads first of his all-India campaigns against the British Empire.

March 12, 1930    Gandhi and his followers begin salt march, which launches the civil disobedience campaign for independence.

April 6, 1930    Marchers arrive at coast and make salt; civil disobedience begins to spread across India.

May 4, 1930    Gandhi is arrested.

January 1931    Gandhi and other Indian leaders are released from prison.

February 17, 1931    Gandhi-Irwin talks begin, resulting in "truce" and suspension of civil disobedience.

January 1, 1932    Civil disobedience resumes.

August 1947    India gains independence from British Empire.

Below is a video from  Jorge Gidi from the World March for Peace and Nonviolence in Canada and the Vishnu Mandir Temple, who meet for the Gandhi Walk in commemoration of the anniversary of the 1930 Salt March.





photo courtesy of: aforcemorepowerful.org
video courtesy of: jorgegididelgadillo via youtube.com