Ghandhiji life in South Africa essay
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Answer:
Early Career and Experiments with Truth in South Africa Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar in the princely state of Kathiawar in Gujarat. His father was a diwan (minister) of the state. Having studied law in England, Gandhi had gone to South Africa in relation with a case involving his client, Dada abdula
Explanation:
In South Africa he witnessed the ugly face of white racism and the humiliation and contempt to which Asians who had gone to South Africa as labourers were subjected. He decided to stay in South Africa to organise the Indian workers to enable them to fight for their rights. He stayed there till 1914 after which he returned to India.
The Indians in South Africa consisted of three categories one, the indentured Indian labour, mainly from south India, who had migrated to South Africa after 1890 to work on sugar plantations; two, the merchants mostly Meman Muslims who had followed the labourers; and three, the ex-indentured labourers who had settled down with their children in South Africa after the expiry of their contracts.
These Indians were mostly illiterate and had little or no knowledge of English. They accepted racial discrimination as a part of their daily existence. The disabilities these Indian immigrants had to suffer were many.
They were denied the right to vote. They could reside only in prescribed locations which were insanitary and congested. In some colonies, Asians and Africans could not stay out of doors after 9 pm nor could they use public footpaths.
Moderate Phase of Struggle (1894-1906):
During this phase, Gandhi relied on sending petitions and memorials to the authorities in South Africa and in Britain hoping that once the authorities were informed of the plight of Indians, they would take sincere steps to redress their grievances as the Indians were, after all, British subjects. To unite different sections of Indians, he set up the Natal Indian Congress and started a paper Indian Opinion.
Phase of Passive Resistance or Satyagraha (1906-1914):
The second phase, which began in 1906, was characterised by the use of the method of passive resistance or civil disobedience, which Gandhi named Satyagraha.
Satyagraha against Registration Certificates (1906):
A new legislation in South Africa made it compulsory for Indians there to carry at all times certificates of registration with their fingerprints. The Indians under Gandhi’s leadership decided not to submit to this discriminatory measure. Gandhi formed the Passive Resistance Association to conduct the campaign.
The Government jailed Gandhi and others who refused to register themselves. Later, the authorities used deceit to make these defiant Indians register themselves. The Indians under the leadership of Gandhi retaliated by publicly burning their registration certificates.
Campaign against Restrictions on Indian Migration:
The earlier campaign was widened to include protest against a new legislation imposing restrictions on Indian migration. The Indians defied this law by crossing over from one province to another and by refusing to produce licences. Many of these Indians were jailed.
Setting up of Tolstoy Farm:
As it became rather difficult to sustain the high pitch of the struggle, Gandhi decided to devote all his attention to the struggle. The Tolstoy Farm was meant to house the families of the satyagrahis and to give them a way to sustain themselves.
Explanation:
It is during the 21 years he spent in South Africa, from 1893 to 1914, broken by a few visits to India and England, that this timid young man who had just passed the bar examination became the man who would lead India to its independence and instigate the world movement of decolonization.Gandhi, a young Indian lawyer working in South Africa, refuses to comply with racial segregation rules on a South African train and is forcibly ejected at Pietermaritzburg. ... He formed the Natal Indian Congress and drew international attention to the plight of Indians in South Africa.He had numerous homes in South Africa but most have been demolished. He lived at the Krall with its designer, the architect Hermann Kallenbach, who bought 1,100 acres of land and gave it to Gandhi and his passive resisters. Gandhi said in his autobiography that he would "always be a South African Indian".