For Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian philosopher and a leader of independence movement, such terms as swaraj and satyagraha were closely interrelated. Swaraj is a term that describes self-governance of India and its independence from domination of Britain. Swaraj, as Gandhi viewed it, was based on discarding British institutions in India and avoiding to establish a hierarchical government in India.
Satyagraha is a term created and popularized by Mahatma Gandhi. This term stands for non-violent civil resistance, which Gandhi deployed in the Indian movement for independence from British domination. So, for Gandhi, satyagraha was a way to achieve swaraj, and these terms were closely interconnected for him.
Satyagraha, or non-violent resistance, can be applied by a person only after aligning him- or herself with the truth and seeking out the truth that comes from God (Uebersax). If God decides to punish someone, he or she should accept this punishment. And in case a person does not want to accept this punishment, then this person should never mete out punishment to other people.
Gandhi’s non-violent resistance has been largely employed in political struggles in India in its movement towards independence from Britain, in such African countries as Zambia, Kenya, and Ghana (King). In addition, principles of satyagraha have been applied in many national independence movements, religious conflicts, colonial rebellions, etc. The main political struggle that was based on the principles of satyagraha was a peaceful movement towards self-governance of India and its independence from Britain. Another region that actively used satyagraha in its movements was Africa. Many countries preferred non-violent resistance against colonialism, taxation policies of imperial powers, poor working conditions, and alienation from ownership of territories.
Although satyagraha was successfully used in India, there are both advantages and disadvantages of Gandhi’s non-violent resistance. Among the main advantages are principles that satyagrahi (people who practice satyagraha) should follow: honesty, respect for other religions, nonviolence, not stealing, boycott of exported goods, non-possession, etc. However, at the same time, there are many disadvantages of a non-violent civil resistance. The first one is that a satyagrahi can be easily killed as one of the rules of satyagraha is acceptance of the opponent’s anger and readiness to suffer it. Another disadvantage is that a satyagrahi should never react and retaliate to any punishments or assaults. Also, one of the rules is that satyagrahi should voluntarily submit to confiscation of property. If a satyagrahi is imprisoned, he or she should never ask for a favorable treatment, he or she should obey all prison regulations and follow all prison rules. So, as we can see, there were many rules of satyagraha that were hard to follow as satyagraha is based on the grounds of peaceful resistance, and this is the reason why there are many disadvantages for people who support satyagraha movements.
Gandhi believed that external swaraj depended on the internal swaraj. External swaraj is a political independence from foreign nations and a self-rule in the country, as it has already been mentioned above. Internal swaraj is based on the Buddhist ideas of liberation of spirit, and internal swaraj as a term means freedom from fear, illusion, and ignorance (Comer-weaver). I think that Gandhi’s position that there is an interdependence of these two terms is correct. Self-rule of people can be based only when a freedom from fear and illusion is achieved, so internal swaraj is of the greatest importance for existence of political independence that is based on the self-regulation of people. Internal swaraj can be achieved by practicing satyagraha, and active practicing of satyagraha as a non-violent resistance will lead to the external swaraj and independence of the country from foreign states. Thus, it is rather clear that for Gandhi, there was a clear interdependence of internal swaraj and external swaraj, as external swaraj could be achieved only by achieving internal swaraj in the beginning of the satyagraha movement.
Plato stated that people tend to make judgements based on the appearance of objects, not on the real facts that can prove the assumptions. Plato said that there are only a few things that people do know, and in other cases people have to assume some things to determine the reality. For example, if we have seen how the car drives, we can assume that a similar car will drive in the same way. However, that will be an assumption based on the appearance on the car, and not on the reality. A good example of it will be gasoline and electric cars that look the same but work in very different ways. At the same time, Gandhi thought that human’s perception of reality is nothing more than an interpretation of the way how things appear to the human being (Borman). So, as we can see, Plato and Gandhi had different views on how appearance and reality are related, and for Gandhi, there was not much difference between appearance and reality, and Plato thought that people interpreted reality based on the appearance and assumptions of certain things that they did not know in order to make a whole picture how reality looks like.
Works Cited
Borman, William. Gandhi And Non-Violence. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press, 1986. Print.
Comer-weaver, Liam. "Nonviolent Weapons: The Transnationalism Of Nonviolent Resistance". Undergraduate Honor Thesis. University of Colorado, 2015. Print.
King, Mary. "Nonviolent Struggle In Africa". Satyagrahafoundation.org. N.p., 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
Uebersax, John. "Christian Satyagraha". Satyagraha. N.p., 2008. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
