PEACETOPIAN MILESTONES

A holistic movement for a better world
has been evolving throughout history...

1906-1914
"Satyagraha"

Mohandas Gandhi is an iconic figure revered for profoundly proving that nonviolent action is a powerful force for change. While working as a lawyer in South Africa, Gandhi became politically involved in defending the rights of the oppressed Indian minority population living and working there. Starting in 1906 and 1907, new discriminatory legislation called the Black Act required all Indians to be fingerprinted and to carry registration documents at all times or face imprisonment or deportation. Gandhi and others refused to register and instead organized massive protests and strikes. This was the first time Gandhi used nonviolent non-cooperation as a tool to bring about change. Influenced by the idea of 'natural rights' described by the writers of the Enlightenment, Henry David Thoreau's ideas of 'civil disobedience' and the idea of 'passive resistance' urged by others before him, Gandhi coined the term 'satyagraha' to describe the type of nonviolent resistance he developed. Loosely translated from the Sanskrit as 'insistence on truth', 'truth force' or 'soul force', Gandhi's philosophy was based on the idea that when people are being exploited they can look past the current situation to see the universal truth of their natural right to be free, and nonviolently refuse to follow an unjust manmade law. Over the next seven years he developed his concept of satyagraha; many protesters, including Gandhi, were beaten and arrested, but ultimately the Black Act was repealed, proving the success of nonviolent protest. Using the practice of satyagraha he developed in South Africa, Gandhi helped India gain its independence from British rule. Gandhi's actions and teachings greatly influenced many other nonviolent struggles for a better world, including Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaigns for civil rights, Nelson Mandela's struggle under apartheid in South Africa, and Cesar Chavez's advocacy for worker's rights.