Civil rights activist in South Africa (1893 ~ 1914)

Gandhi in South Africa (1895)

Gandhi was 24 when he arrived in South Africa in 1893 to work as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian
Traders based in the city of Pretoria. He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics
and political leadership skills.

Indians in South Africa included wealthy Muslims, who employed Gandhi as a lawyer, and impoverished Hindu
indentured labourers with very limited rights. Gandhi considered them all to be Indians, taking a lifetime view that
"Indianness" transcended religion and caste. He believed he could bridge historic differences, especially regarding
religion, and he took that belief back to India where he tried to implement it. The South African experience exposed
handicaps to Gandhi that he had not known about. He realised he was out of contact with the enormous complexities
of religious and cultural life in India, and believed he understood India by getting to know and leading Indians in South
Africa.

In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at all coloured people. He was thrown off a train
at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first-class. He protested and was allowed on first class the next
day. Travelling farther on by stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to move to make room for a European
passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from several hotels. In another
incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do.

These events were a turning point in Gandhi's life and shaped his social activism and awakened him to social
injustice. After witnessing racism, prejudice, and injustice against Indians in South Africa, Gandhi began to question
his place in society and his people's standing in the British Empire.

Gandhi with the stretcher-bearers of the Indian Ambulance Corps

Gandhi extended his original period of stay in South Africa to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to
vote. He asked Joseph Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, to reconsider his position on this bill. Though
unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in
South Africa. He helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, and through this organisation, he moulded the
Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in Durban, a mob
of white settlers attacked him and he escaped only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent.
However, he refused to press charges against any member of the mob, stating it was one of his principles not to seek
redress for a personal wrong in a court of law.

In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian and Chinese
populations. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still
evolving methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or nonviolent protest, for the first time. He urged Indians to
defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for doing so. The community adopted this plan, and during the
ensuing seven-year struggle, thousands of Indians were jailed, flogged, or shot for striking, refusing to register, for
burning their registration cards or engaging in other forms of nonviolent resistance. The smaller population of Chinese
in South Africa also aligned themselves with the movement and were also jailed for defying registration laws. The
government successfully repressed the protesters, but the public outcry over the harsh treatment of peaceful Indian
protesters by the South African government forced South African leader Jan Christiaan Smuts, himself a philosopher,
to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas took shape, and the concept of Satyagraha matured during
this struggle.

When he returned to India in 1915, he was proficient at public speaking, fund-raising, negotiations, media relations,
and self-promotion. Gandhi developed these skills in the context of his South African law practice.

Gandhi and the Africans

Gandhi photographed in South Africa (1909)

Gandhi focused his attention on Indians while in South Africa and opposed the idea that Indians should be treated at
the same level as native Africans while in South Africa. He also stated that he believed "that the white race of South
Africa should be the predominating race. After several incidents with Whites in South Africa, Gandhi began to change
his thinking and apparently increased his interest in politics. White rule enforced strict segregation among all races
and generated conflict between these communities. Bhana and Vahed argue that Gandhi, at first, shared racial
notions prevalent of the times and that his experiences in jail sensitised him to the plight of South Africa's indigenous
peoples.

During the Boer War, Gandhi volunteered in 1900 to form a group of stretcher-bearers as the Natal Indian Ambulance
Corps. He wanted to disprove the British idea that Hindus were not fit for "manly" activities involving danger and
exertion. Gandhi raised eleven hundred Indian volunteers. They were trained and medically certified to serve on the
front lines. They were auxiliaries at the Battle of Colenso to a White volunteer ambulance corps; then at Spion
Kop Gandhi and his bearers moved to the front line and had to carry wounded soldiers for miles to a field hospital
because the terrain was too rough for the ambulances. Gandhi was pleased when someone said that European
ambulance corpsmen could not make the trip under the heat without food or water. General Redvers Buller mentioned
the courage of the Indians in his dispatch. Gandhi and thirty-seven other Indians received the War Medal.

In 1906, when the British declared war against the Zulu Kingdom in Natal, Gandhi encouraged the British to recruit
Indians. He argued that Indians should support the war efforts to legitimise their claims to full citizenship. The British
accepted Gandhi's offer to let a detachment of 20 Indians volunteer as a stretcher-bearer corps to treat wounded
British soldiers. This corps was commanded by Gandhi and operated for less than two months. The experience taught
him it was hopeless to directly challenge the overwhelming military power of the British armyhe decided it could only
be resisted in nonviolent fashion by the pure of heart.

In 1910, Gandhi established an idealistic community called 'Tolstoy Farm' near Johannesburg, where he nurtured his
policy of peaceful resistance.

In the years after blacks gained the right to vote in South Africa (1994), Gandhi was proclaimed a national hero with
numerous monuments.
Aktivis Hak Sivil Di Afrika Selatan (1893 1914)
Gandhi berumur 24 tahun apabila dia tiba di Afrika Selatan pada tahun 1893 untuk bekerja sebagai wakil sah
untuk Peniaga India Muslim yang berpangkalan di bandar Pretoria. Beliau menghabiskan 21 tahun di Afrika Selatan,
di mana beliau membangunkan pandangan politik beliau, etika dan kemahiran kepimpinan politik.

Orang India di Afrika Selatan termasuk Islam kaya, yang menjadikan Gandhi sebagai peguam, dan miskin
buruh Hindu dengan hak-hak yang sangat terhad. Gandhi menganggap mereka semua orang India, mengambil
pandangan seumur hidup bahawa "Indianness" agama transenden dan kasta. Beliau percaya dia boleh merapatkan
perbezaan bersejarah, terutama mengenai agama, dan dia telah mengambil kepercayaan dan kembali ke India di
mana beliau cuba untuk melaksanakannya. Pengalaman Afrika Selatan terdedah kecacatan kepada Gandhi bahawa
dia tidak gentar. Beliau sedar bahawa dia keluar dari hubungan dengan kerumitan yang sangat besar dalam
kehidupan agama dan budaya di India, dan percaya beliau memahami India dengan mengenali dan India di Afrika
Selatan yang terkemuka.

Di Afrika Selatan, Gandhi menghadapi diskriminasi yang ditujukan kepada semua orang berwarna. Beliau
telah dibuang dari kereta api di Pietermaritzburg selepas enggan bergerak dari kelas pertama. Beliau membantang
dan dibenarkan masuk ke kelas pertama pada hari yang berikutnya. Perjalanan lebih jauh dengan kereta pos, dia
dipukul oleh pemandu kerana enggan bergerak untuk memberi ruang kepada penumpang Eropah. Beliau mengalami
satu lagi kesusahan dalam perjalanan juga, termasuk dihalang daripada memasuki beberapa hotel. Dalam kejadian
lain, majistret mahkamah Durban mengarahkan Gandhi untuk membuang serbannya, yang dia enggan buangkan.

Peristiwa-peristiwa ini adalah satu titik perubahan dalam kehidupan Gandhi dan berbentuk aktivisme sosial
dan dikejutkan dia dengan ketidakadilan sosial. Selepas menyaksikan perkauman, prejudis, dan ketidakadilan
terhadap kaum India di Afrika Selatan, Gandhi mula mempersoalkan tempatnya dalam masyarakat dan berdiri
kaumnya dalam Empayar British.

Gandhi melanjutkan tempoh asalnya bagi penginapan pelancong di Afrika Selatan untuk membantu kaum
India dalam menentang rang undang-undang untuk menafikan mereka hak untuk mengundi. Dia bertanya kepada
Joseph Chamberlain, Setiausaha Tanah Jajahan British, untuk menimbangkan semula kedudukannya dalam rang
undang-undang ini. Walaupun tidak dapat menghentikan laluan rang undang-undang, kempen beliau telah berjaya
menarik perhatian kepada kaum India yang rasa tidak berpuas hati di Afrika Selatan. Beliau membantu mengasaskan
Kongres India Natal pada tahun 1894, dan melalui organisasi ini, beliau membentukkan masyarakat India Afrika
Selatan menjadi satu kuasa politik yang bersatu. Pada bulan Januari 1897, apabila Gandhi mendarat di Durban,
perusuh peneroka putih menyerang beliau dan dia melarikan diri dengan bantuan seorang isteri penguasa polis.
Bagaimanapun, beliau enggan untuk mendakwa terhadap mana-mana anggota gerombolan itu, menyatakan ia
adalah satu daripada prinsip-prinsip untuk tidak membetulkan yang salah peribadi dalam mahkamah undang-
undang.

Pada tahun 1906, kerajaan Transvaal menggubal Akta pendaftaran menarik baru penduduk India dan Cina
koloni. Pada mesyuarat bantahan besar-besaran yang diadakan di Johannesburg pada 11 September tahun itu,
Gandhi angkatnya metodologi masih berkembang daripada Satyagraha (ketaatan kepada kebenaran), atau protes
tanpa kekerasan, buat kali pertama. Beliau menggesa kaum India untuk menentang undang-undang baru dan
menderita hukuman untuk berbuat demikian. masyarakat menerima pakai pelan ini, dan semasa perjuangan tujuh
tahun yang berikutnya, beribu-ribu orang India telah dipenjara, disebat, atau ditembak untuk menarik, enggan
mendaftar, untuk membakar kad pendaftaran mereka atau terlibat dalam lain-lain bentuk rintangan tanpa
kekerasan. Penduduk lebih kecil Cina di Afrika Selatan juga bersekutu dengan pergerakan dan juga dipenjarakan
kerana melanggar undang-undang pendaftaran. Kerajaan berjaya menindas penunjuk perasaan, tetapi bantahan
orang ramai terhadap layanan keras penunjuk perasaan India aman oleh kerajaan Afrika Selatan terpaksa pemimpin
Afrika Selatan Jan Smuts Christiaan, dirinya seorang ahli falsafah, untuk berunding kompromi dengan Gandhi. idea
Gandhi mengambil bentuk, dan konsep Satyagraha matang pada perjuangan ini.

Apabila dia kembali ke India pada tahun 1915, beliau adalah ahli dalam pengucapan awam, pengumpulan
dana, perundingan, hubungan media, dan promosi diri. Gandhi membangunkan kemahiran ini dalam konteks amalan
undang-undang Afrika Selatan.
 Gandhi memberi tumpuan perhatiannya kepada kaum India manakala di Afrika Selatan dan menentang idea
bahawa kaum India perlu dirawat di tahap yang sama seperti Afrika asli manakala di Afrika Selatan. Beliau juga
menyatakan bahawa beliau percaya "bahawa bangsa kulit putih Afrika Selatan perlu menjadi perlumbaan dikuasai.
Selepas beberapa insiden dengan Whites di Afrika Selatan, Gandhi mula berubah pemikirannya dan nampaknya
meningkat kepentingannya dalam politik. Peraturan White dikuatkuasakan pengasingan yang ketat di kalangan
semua kaum dan konflik dihasilkan antara komuniti-komuniti ini. Bhana dan Vahed berhujah bahawa Gandhi, pada
mulanya, berkongsi tanggapan kaum lazim masa dan pengalaman beliau dalam penjara sensitif dia kepada nasib
orang asal di Afrika Selatan.

Semasa Perang Boer, Gandhi secara sukarela pada tahun 1900 untuk membentuk sekumpulan pengusung-
pemegang jawatan sebagai Natal India Ambulance Corps. Dia mahu menyangkal idea British yang Hindu tidak sesuai
untuk aktiviti "waras" yang melibatkan bahaya dan melakukan senaman. Gandhi dibangkitkan seribu seratus
sukarelawan India. Mereka telah dilatih dan perubatan bertauliah untuk berkhidmat di barisan hadapan. Mereka
pembantu dalam Pertempuran Colenso kepada White sukarelawan ambulans kor; kemudian pada Spion Kop Gandhi
dan pemegang berpindah ke barisan hadapan dan terpaksa membawa tentera yang cedera untuk batu ke hospital
lapangan kerana kawasan itu terlalu kasar untuk ambulans. Gandhi gembira apabila seseorang berkata ambulans
jururawat tentera Eropah tidak boleh membuat perjalanan di bawah haba tanpa makanan atau air. General Redvers
Buller menyebut tentang keberanian kaum India dalam penghantaran beliau. Gandhi dan tiga puluh tujuh India lain
menerima Pingat Perang.

Pada tahun 1906, apabila British mengisytiharkan perang terhadap Zulu Kingdom di Natal, Gandhi
menggalakkan British untuk merekrut India. Beliau berhujah bahawa kaum India perlu menyokong usaha perang
untuk mengesahkan tuntutan mereka kerakyatan sepenuhnya. The British menerima tawaran Gandhi untuk
membiarkan detasmen 20 India sukarelawan sebagai kor pengusung pembawa untuk merawat tentera British yang
cedera. kor ini telah diperintahkan oleh Gandhi dan dikendalikan untuk kurang daripada dua bulan. Pengalaman ini
mengajar beliau ia adalah sia-sia untuk mencabar secara langsung kuasa tentera yang amat menggalakkan daripada
British tentera beliau memutuskan ia hanya boleh ditentang dengan cara tanpa kekerasan oleh tulen jantung.

Pada tahun 1910, Gandhi menubuhkan masyarakat idealistik dipanggil 'Tolstoy Farm' berhampiran
Johannesburg, di mana beliau dipupuk dasar beliau rintangan aman.

Pada tahun-tahun selepas kulit hitam mendapat hak untuk mengundi di Afrika Selatan (1994), Gandhi telah
diisytiharkan seorang wira negara dengan pelbagai monumen.