Gandhi

In preparing for discussion of the Gandhi, I first reflected on my memories of what I have learned about him in my other classes. What amazed me was my lack of memory of detail. I have some initial observations that just struck me when I did these readings. I think that these observations are largely in response to my attempts, through paxo, to organize events.

Firstly, Gandhi seemed masterful at articulating a problem and designing a campaign that not only had a clear message but was effective. His methods at this were refined over the course of his action, they started on a smaller scale in S. Africa but grew in momentum and effectiveness.

Secondly, it amazed me the amount of impact that he had on convincing people to do things or agree with him on his moral grounds. This is exemplified for me in the story of Gandhi convincing the Judge of his moral superiority.

The third item that struck out at me was his respect for the authorities against whom he was fighting.

The fourth interesting remark I wanted to make was the precision with which he organized. He compared his forces to those of the military. It seemed amazing to me the amount of conviction and his total self confidence.

The fifth item I wanted to highlight was his religious convictions. I think that his notion of the divinity of every person is central to his campaigns. Gandhi believed that natural tendency of good was to triumph in the long run. I think that it would be interesting to discuss how Gandhi would view the world, where arguably there is a great deal of evil. I would postulate that Gandhi would still be hopeful about the possibilities of good in the world.

Along this same line of thought, Gandhi was rightly concerned with the role of partition in future relations between India and Palestine; I wonder how Gandhi would view the current situation and how he would suggest to move forward.

Can Gandhian methods of satyagraha be used in any conflict? What are the limitations that it would have? The methods of NV were used later in the civil rights movement with great success but how would NV look on a more international stage? Is that possible?

In a class that I had with Andy Murray he said roughly, “Gandhi accomplished what Hitler could not, the defeat of the British Empire.” I don’t know if that is his quote or another’s but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.