Indians Renew Their Struggle for Self-Rule: Gandhi p. 401

Frustration, 1919 Over a million Indians went to fight for Britain in the Great War. They came home to continued poverty and British prejudice. Indian nationalist leaders felt the British had cheated their people into fighting in WWI for them. Talk in India about self-determination led to protests against Britain. A strong, peaceful leader arose.

British repression The Viceroy outlawed public meetings and speeches against Britain. Many Indians continued public meetings. Some British officers took the order to heart and carried it out to the letter of the law…..

Amritsar Massacre: British General Dyer ordered troops to fire on a large crowd listening to speeches in the Punjab, killing and wounding 1500 men, women, and children. The event angered Indians and a new demand arose, Get the British “out of India” and achieve self-rule!

Clip: Gandhi--Amritsar General Dyer’s response to a Sikh public meeting Why don't the soldiers refuse to shoot innocent and unarmed people listening to a speech? (2) Why do the people not fight back? Inquest What is General Dyer’s basic reason for his violent response? How is the inquest panel an example of “indirect rule”? Does the inquest panel support General Dyer’s answers? Explain Who does support General Dyer’s answers? Explain

Clip: Gandhi--Amritsar General Dyer’s response to a Sikh public meeting Why don't the soldiers refuse to shoot innocent and unarmed people listening to a speech? (2) This is their job and the British used troops from other colonies who had no personal ties to the demonstrators. They are not the same ethnicity as the Sikhs. Why do the people not fight back? They are following Gandhi’s policy of civil disobedience, which the speaker was just discussing.

Clip: Gandhi--Amritsar Inquest What is General Dyer’s basic reason for his violent response? He was enforcing the government’s “no meeting” law. Making an example….. How is the inquest panel an example of “indirect rule”? There is an Indian member with the White members. Does the inquest panel support General Dyer’s answers? No, their faces and tone of voice are skeptical. Who does support General Dyer’s answers? The army members in the back of the room. They say “hear, hear!” when Dyer makes his points defending the shootings.

Clip: Gandhi--Amritsar Inquest What is General Dyer’s basic reason for his violent response? He was enforcing the government’s “no meeting” law. Making an example….. How is the inquest panel an example of “indirect rule”? There is an Indian member with the White members. Does the inquest panel support General Dyer’s answers? No, their faces and tone of voice are skeptical. Who does support General Dyer’s answers? The army members in the back of the room. They say “hear, hear!” when Dyer makes his points defending the shootings.

M. K. Gandhi A new nationalist leader in the Indian National Congress (INC) arose in the 1920s, Mohandas Gandhi. He insisted that the INC needed to reach to all Indians, Until then, it was just elite and middle class Indians He felt that independence was possible if lower class Indians were part of it. He gave up his comfortable, Western lifestyle for the lifestyle of the most common Indians

Gandhi-ji Gandhi based his civil rights teachings and techniques on Indian and foreign ideas and practices: Ahimsa: A Hindu practice of non-violence and respect for all life. Gandhi and his followers did not fight the police or attack enemies on the streets, The police and opponents used violence This made them look bad to the media and world opinion. It pointed out the injustice of unfair laws and law enforcers.

The Mahatma Gandhi also borrowed civil rights techniques from the West…. Civil Disobedience: It was American writer Henry David Thoreau’s idea to break an unfair law in front of the public (with media attention), to point out how wrong the unfair law was. When moral people realize a law is bad, they would change or abolish it.

Gandhi fights for the…. Untouchables: (called “pariah” and “dalit”) The lowest Indian social group. Traditionally they were discriminated against by all castes above them. Because they did unclean work. Gandhi wanted to end Indian prejudice and discrimination against these people

British! Out of India! Boycott: grey refusal to buy or use from a company or country Because the company or country commits Injustice Inhumane acts destruction Gandhi sought to end the British monopoly on cotton and textiles. The act challenged Britain to arrest the millions of Indians breaking the law. They called the illegally made Indian fabric “_____” homespun The spinning wheel became his symbol……

1925 Margaret Bourke White, 1946

1930s Gandhi began another mass civil disobedience act against another British monopoly….. salt production and sale. He walked 240 miles from his ashram to the sea (vid) There he held up salt on the shore and told Indians to make their own salt. It is reenacted by admirers annually.

Gandhi was arrested many times, Indian, world, and even British public opinion was increasingly in favor of Indian rights and independence. The British found they had to arrest tens of thousands of Indians at a time. They also learned that Gandhi’s supporters continued the effort when he was arrested. A key skill which demonstrators teach one another today.

Disappointment In 1931, Gandhi was invited to ______ (4) London, where he…. met the royal family Had negotiations with the Prime Minister and members of the government about Indian home rule (video, if time) Though no solution was decided, Britain was now considering leaving India. Two decades and one world war later, India would achieve independence, but not the way Gandhi wanted.

Hwk

Standards Check, p. 402 Question: Inadequate reforms by the British Broken British promises made during WWI for Indian support. Incidents like the Amritsar Massacre

Standards Check, p. 402 Question: Boycotts and other non-violent protests Increased their own industries so India would be more self-sufficient.

Image, p. 402 Question: World opinion might have been sympathetic to the nonviolent approach. Shocked at the violent British reactions.

Standards Check, p. 403 Question: Indian protest against British oppression

Thinking Critically, p. 404 1. Securing rights or bringing change without using violence. 2. Yes. Using “soul-force”, whether for a just or unjust cause, never involves violence toward others to accomplish a goal. The one who uses “soul force” is the only one who gets hurt. (the win is in standing up/suffering for the cause.)

Brief Response How did Gandhi’s “civil disobedience” succeed in getting Britain to give more rights to Indians and even begin talks of Indian independence?