Mahatma Gandhi

2 Pages 392 Words

Without question, Mahatma Gandhi is the quintessence of peaceful protest and humanity. He led India to independence from Great Britain and in his 79 years on this planet, he achieved so much more than he could have possibly anticipated. In his Hind Swaraj, or the Indian Home Rule written in 1909, Gandhi explains his concepts of self rule.
Gandhi was a firm believer of many things. He gave up practically all of his belongings and clothes, despite coming from a rather wealthy back round. Some of his beliefs are ¡§ahimsa¡¨, or non-violence, truth=god, to be fearless, chastity, character, not fighting injustice is cowardice, fight the system not the people, do not judge others, practice what you preach, and fasting. He practiced all of these beliefs and incorporated all of them in his book in which he wrote on board of a ship during his trip from England to South Africa after a mission.
His writings, actions, and presence alone affected the lives of millions. Gandhi used his peaceful, anti-war attitude in a positive way. Instead of fighting violence with even harsher violence, he fought it with his mind. With protests, speeches, and sometimes clever/humorous negotiation tactics, he was somewhat of a guerilla. During the Great Salt Yatra (march) of 1930, the British denied the people of India from making salt because they were making too good of a living (in their eyes) of doing it, so the British put a ban on salt making. Gandhi led a 240 mile walk in a peaceful protest against the British parliament. During this march, there were hundreds of thousands arrested, but his point was clear.
Through chastity, poverty, truth, and fearlessness, Gandhi adopted four very powerful weapons of passive resistance. This led him to campaign against the British made goods, schools, offices¡K etc. What made Gandhi such an important figure was that people saw him give up everything material worth value in his life to have nothin...