The Essential Gandhi
March 28th, 2005
An anthology of Gandhi’s writings, patched together with short biographical sketches. Takes a little getting into simply because many of the quotes are drawn together from all over the place and often you’re [not sure] that … you’re reading [inside or] outside the … square brackets23, but what the man has to say is revelatory. We all have this idea of Gandhi; mine is mainly derived form the Attenborough movie (which hit me at a very impressionable age.) To hear him explain himself is a real eye-opener.
In the future, whenever I hear anybody bitch about humanity’s supposed inherent evil, Gandhi will come to mind. Whenever we retaliate and answer terror with terror, Gandhi will come to mind…. He really was one of the preeminent thinkers of the 20th Century, and whenever we repeat mistake after mistake, it’s going to be crucial to remember that we already figured this out. It’s like MLK said: “If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable …. We may ignore him at our own risk.” And non-violence has made great strides since Gandhi (MLK, East Germany, Russia), but those stories aren’t told quite as frequently as that of the supposed “Greatest Generation.” It’s like the man says: “History is a record of an interruption of the course of nature. [Non-Violence], being natural, is not noted in history.”
What’s stunning to me is the strength and courage it took. I can think of nobody more principled than Gandhi, and it’s almost frightening: in order to transform the world, he knew it was essential to transform himself, and his lifelong search for Truth would always begin with himself. What’s easy to overlook is that to him, non-violence was the most powerful tool for change–not the choice of the weak, but the weapon of the most courageous. There’s lots of food for thought here, about what it means to live under an oppressive and illegal government, about freedom, will, power, love, optimism. There are also almost prophetic insights into the future of Pakistan and Palestine, industrialism and urban life. I wish I’d marked this book up so I could pull out some quotes for you, but this is a library book.
Perhaps I’ll buy my own and read it again.
March 28th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
All the more reason to get pissed off when Macintosh used him as a pitch man. The guy spun his own robes by hand and rarely wore shoes! He didn’t use an iPod!
The only negative thing you could ever say about Ghandi is that he wanted to outlaw booze.
March 28th, 2005 at 12:49 pm
Uhm, no offense Jordan, but that was exactly what I was talking about. You hear the name and you think “Apple Computers,” “barefoot,” and “funny home-spun clothes.”
Here’s what I think Gandhi would say to America 2005: Bush can’t rule without your consent. If you live under a corrupt government and you’re not in jail, you have made a cowardly deal with power. We’re compromised, weak and impotent by choice.
That’s the kind of principles we’re talking about. We’re all a bunch of spineless wimps compared to that funny man in the loincloth you saw in the ads.
March 28th, 2005 at 6:29 pm
Dude — that’s my point! I — I — sigh! Gandhi was a man who lived by extreme principle so much so that he — not only ended Imperialism in his own country by getting whacked in the head — but he refused to wear shoes. And how odd he was used to be sold computers. No need to get pedantic. Or podiatric.
On a related note. . .as we get closer to April 15 I can ease myself with the knowledge that my own personal donation to the till could only pay for — tops — a half-tank of tank gas.
March 28th, 2005 at 11:22 pm
So we can pretty much trace the downfall of democracy to the invention of the air conditioner and the drive-thru window. Because you have to be at least a little irritated before you are going to stand up to power. The bigger problem is that lots of people think they actually like Bush (you’ve seen the stickers I’m sure).
March 30th, 2005 at 9:31 am
Walk Across India Commemorates Gandhi’s Protest March
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service (15194) / Chicago Tribune (3793)
3/30/2005 6:15:06 AM
Chicago Tribune
(KRT)
KARELI, India - Mohandas Gandhi is a celebrity here, even if children do
not know exactly who he is.
His name is everywhere along a 230-mile stretch in the western state of
Gujarat, where hundreds are marching to honor the 75th anniversary of an
important Gandhi protest.
Gandhi’s great-grandson walks every day. Teenage villagers dress as
young Gandhis. There are pins of Gandhi, posters of Gandhi and Gandhi
baseball caps. Two elderly marchers closely resemble Gandhi with their
simple white cloth and glasses and bamboo walking sticks.
“Children come and pay me respect,” said one faux Gandhi, B.A. Rao, a
former freedom fighter who believes he is 82. “They don’t know the real
Gandhi anymore. They think I’m Gandhi. I am not, but it makes me very
happy.”
Rao is one of about 250 people retracing the footsteps Gandhi made 75
years ago when he - joined by dozens of followers - walked 230 miles and
defied British law by picking up a lump of salt from the ground in the
coastal village of Dandi. Gandhi was quickly arrested for violating the
law, which stated that Indians could not freely collect salt, forcing
them to buy taxed colonial salt.
The protest against the British tax led to a saltmaking rebellion of
sorts. Jails across India overflowed with salt-law breakers. The action
marked a crucial early point in Gandhi’s push for India’s independence.
The anniversary march, which started March 12 and ends April 5, comes at
a crucial point in India’s present, some argue.
They wonder if Gandhi, considered the father of India, a man who called
for simplicity and self-sacrifice, is still relevant in today’s India
with its fast-paced urban life and expensive gadgets. They wonder if his
message of peace matches up with India’s nuclear weapons.
They wonder if young people know anything about Gandhi, who died in 1948
at age 78. The Hindustan Times newspaper quoted a man who thought it was
Gandhi’s 75th birthday and a woman who never had heard of Dandi. Only a
few miles from the route of the march, many people did not know about it.
Others worry about the marketing of Gandhi. One company plans to build
an amusement park in Dandi, which would include an exhibit on Gandhi.
Politicians from the ruling Congress Party, which helped organize the
march, also seem to take it over at points, turning it into a political
rally.
“Gandhi did not want this kind of India,” said Yasin Khan, 53, one of
the marchers, who does not belong to any political party. “His spirit
must be crying.”
Others say politics pose no problem because Gandhi supported the
Congress Party.
“This is a political thing,” said Brijesh Prajapati, 18, who marched for
one day as a young Gandhi and often portrays Gandhi in school plays.
The major opposition party has described the march as a “joke and
farce.” Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party also note that the march
comes as the government is considering a new tax on products, including
salt. They also complain that they were not invited.
“It’s not a wedding in my family that I have sent out invitations for,”
countered Tushar Gandhi, Gandhi’s great-grandson, who helped organize
the march and said anyone was welcome.
This anniversary march is similar to the original in some ways. Like
Gandhi, the marchers wear white. Like Gandhi, they walk on dusty roads
through fields of tobacco and banana trees, through river muck and
villages that seem stuck in time and poverty.
Some participants, especially the 30 or so foreigners, talk about the
influence of Gandhi and how his message of peace and non-violence still
is relevant today. They try to pick up trash left by other marchers.
But in some ways this anniversary march is more like a parade. The
marchers are greeted by garlands of flowers, fireworks and cheers. Bands
play. Villagers wear sun visors with pop-up pictures of a walking
Gandhi. A theater group performs skits for villagers.
“It’s a very weird experience,” said Alison Worrall, 82, an Australian
who came with her daughter and grandson. “I guess you’d say that. Never
experience this again in our lives. We’ve been treated like royalty.”
So many vehicles follow the marchers that if any people fall behind,
they can be pushed off the road, where they choke on the dust. There is
a buttermilk truck, an ambulance, a van with Internet service and a
truck carrying toilets. One truck is more like a float, carrying a
life-size model of Gandhi at his spinning wheel.
Other vehicles with window curtains and special license plates carry
politicians, who often march for a few hours before leaving.
In a state racked by anti-Muslim riots three years ago, Khan wears a cap
that shows he is a Muslim and helps other marchers by sprinkling
anti-fungal powder on their feet. His wife, Shamshad Bibi, marches in
the heat wearing a black burqa that covers everything.
“This is our identity,” Khan said. “And nobody hates us. Everybody loves
us.”
Despite devotion to Gandhi, human nature takes over at a certain point,
especially after walking about 12 miles a day and sleeping in tents with
strangers. Men snipe at each other in a large tent at lunchtime if fans
are moved. Garbage-conscious marchers complain about those who drop
trash as they walk.
The Gandhis trade barbs over who is the better Gandhi.
Each man carries a photo of himself dressed as Gandhi. Each touts his
association with Gandhi and to Gandhi’s birthday. Each talks about how
much he walks.
Prakash Bhai Modi, 75, from Gujarat, said he has been barefoot for 40
years. He wears the simple white cloth and round wire-rimmed glasses of
Gandhi, although his glasses have no lenses. Modi said he is known as
“the second Gandhi.”
Modi said Rao does not walk enough.
Rao said he is called Gandhi in his village because he lives and dresses
like Gandhi. He said Modi has “an irritating character.”
But the two Gandhis do agree on one important fact.
“I look like Gandhi, I live like Gandhi and I think like Gandhi,” Modi
said. “But I am not Gandhi.”