Post by Magnet Man on Mar 16, 2006 16:23:09 GMT -5
Was the timing right when Ghandi initiated the anti-colonial revolutions?
The moral integrity behind Mahatma Ghandi’s mission to end imperial rule is unquestionable, but there was a fatal flaw in his understanding of the mechanics of human evolution; one that has yet to be brought to light. That flaw infected every revolutionary leader that followed his lead as the shout of “FREEDOM” swept across the globe.
As will be contended in this thread - that flaw is the direct reason why so much turmoil and bloodshed has resulted in the world since Ghandi was himself assassinated – and why two thirds of the world faces the possibility of mass extinction from starvation, genocide, sickness, international terrorism leading to nuclear warfare today.
As it stands now, the world thinks colonialism was a big mistake in the first place. It is highly questionable if this view is correct. We have already discussed the anti-Christ aspects of colonialism that Ghandi fought against. This argument will examine the flaw in Ghandi’s mission and unravel the ethical nature of the evolutionary imperative that underlies colonization.
Before going into the discussion, it could be instructive if we briefly examine the force of the moment that motivated Gandi to rebel against the status quo in the first place and start the revolution. There was a single instance in his life that all of a sudden woke him up from a deep ethnic slumber, and turned him into an unstoppable one-man nuclear force that radically altered the whole course of human history.
Mahatma Ghandi 's mission began in South Africa on the day he was personally insulted by a racist official. At the time (1906) Ghandi was heading from Durban to Pretoria by train, to take part in a civil law suit for a rich Indian merchant. He had been especially brought from India to give expert advise on the case. Newly arrived in the country, and still unaware of the unwritten laws of the land, he had bought a seat in a 1st class compartment reserved for whites only. When he refused to move the outraged conductor physically threw him off the train at Pietermaritzbrg station. As he watched the train disappear, a much-humbled 21 year old was forced to spend an anguished night in the railway station, re-examining himself and his cultural legacy.
(Other than in general terms, Mohandes Ghandi never shared in his autobiography, exactly what went through his mind that night. What his thoughts might have been could be very instructive. The view presented below is my own reconstruction. I believe it might well be close to the truth)
Ghandi was a high caste Brahmin by birth. He came from an ancient Indian tradition that condoned discrimination against lower castes. On that night the young lawyer was now caught, for the first time in his life, with the boot on the other foot
He has been feted that very day in a gala party thrown for him by the large Indian community in Durban after he arrived off the boat from India with his young wife. To the expatriate Indian population in Natal, he was a deeply respected Gujerati dignity - with a rare diploma from London Law School. Basking in their admiration only a few hours earlier, he now had to return and tell them of the personal embarrassment he had suffered. That humbling blow, not only to his own ego, but, by extension, to the Indian community as well, made him peer deeply into himself and his ancient culture, and then relate that to its 200 year old relationship with the British Empire that lorded over India. Confronted by the painful Truth of his own ingrained bigotry towards the lower castes of his own kind - and feeling for the first time exactly how that felt - added to his fawning complicity with the powerful Empire that ruled his people - an indomitable sense of personal integrity forced him to make a drastic revision in his social and spiritual outlook. The resolve to change that settled on hims that night, never left him for the rest of his life (That’s my view and I am sticking to it. I have some basis for making it. I spent some time at the old Phoenix community in Natal and got to know Ghandi’s daughter-in-law Ba Ghandi, who had married Manilal, his oldest son. I had many conversations with her in her old age.)
When he got back to Durban, Ghandi set about re-arranging the course of his life. He donned the doti of an untouchable, made his young wife give away her jewels and fine silk saris. He then started down the road on an incredible personal mission to alter the arrogant consciousness of a mighty Empire.
A small multi-racial spiritual community formed around him on the Phoenix settlement in Natal, where he developed and then reached out to advocate a policy of passive resistance against race discrimination. Persecution followed swiftly and he was jailed repeatedly.
Twenty years later, by then famous for his threats to fast to the death each time he was incarcerated by the authorities, he took his fame and what he had learned in South Africa to India and fought for home-rule among his own people. When the British Raj folded under mounting pressure from Ghandi’s followers in India in 1948, it set the stage for worldwide anti-colonial movements.
The theory on the pros and cons of colonialism that will be presented in this thread, will no doubt be hotly debated, for like the anti-Christ thread that preceded it, it is both controversial and confrontational – and we already know what happens initially when the psyche is shocked by a new idea that contradicts and challenges the comfort of conventional wisdom. The reason for broaching this subject is by no means frivilous - the goal, as we will discuss, has long term implications regarding our understanding of race relations. In the meantime, any comment or question at this stage will set the tone on how we proceed from here.
