The Power of Ashima

          A new leader has emerged in South Africa who has given the common people someone to believe with. The man is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or to the common people better know as just Gandhi. This man has started a new type of movement, but in fact there is little movement involved. Gandhi has organized his supporters to be a non-violent type of rebellion, also known as ashima. The power of Gandhi’s inspiration to fight for Independence of India without military led to driving the British out of India and giving India Independence.

 

          First, Gandhi has issued ashima rebellion because he knows he has no chance against British military. British has the strongest army and for India to even attempt to drive the British out of India with force would just result in Indians dying. As a substitute, Gandhi went the other direction and used non-violence to drive the British out. This act can only be done with the use of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience can be used by the people because the Indians know when the rest of the world hears about the laws the British are issuing, British will not be looked on too fondly for controlling India.


 

          One example for British law being pointless is the fact that the British cannot even spin their own cloth. If an Indian were to do such a “crime” they would be punished by the British control and possibly sent to jail. Gandhi realized how pointless this law was and told all of his supporters to not buy from British clothing markets but to spin their own cloth. One item of clothing that Gandhi wore was called a dhoti. Many Indians would spin their clothes on a spinning like wheel called a charkha. By spinning their own cloth the British would be spending more money trying to stop the Indians from spinning then making money by selling their cloths in India. Eventually with this ashima behavior, the British would not have any interest in India and move out, giving India the ultimate reward of swaraj. Of course this would take constant pursuing by Gandhi and he would have to tell his supporters to not result in violence because if violence were to be used then the British would lose the respect they had for the Indians if there was any respect to start. This type of persistence showed how much Gandhi sought after swaraj or even Home Rule.


 

          Gandhi himself faced many consequences with his acts of civil disobedience as well. Gandhi faced many years in prison and the British made no difference on his drive for sawraj no matter how many times they threw him in jail. One act he was thrown in jail for was the Salt Satyagraha (Salt March) in 1930. This march was a rebellion against the British salt tax and Gandhi marched from Sabarmati, Ashram to Dandi, Gujarat producing salt without paying the tax. As a result of this, Gandhi was imprisoned for leading the march and 80,000 Indians were imprisioned as well. This shows the immense amount of support Gandhi had and the impact and inspiration he gave to other people. 
          
          Overall, Gandhi was an enormous inspiration to the people of India and people around the world also discriminated because of their race. His constant acts of ashima and civil disobedience enabled him to drive the British out of India without military force. This type of rebelling has inspired many other leaders including Martin Luther King. He followed Gandhi’s non-violence ways and his civil disobedience rules. Today Gandhi is still seen as an icon of India’s Independence and is honored nationally on his birthday October 2.

-Garrett Christ



Works Cited

Bibliography

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<http://www.progress.org/gandhi/gandhi01.htm>.

 

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charkha1.jpg>. Path: Gandhi.

 

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map-saltmarch.jpg>. Path: Map of Salt March.