Ghandi (centre left, stripped to waist)
and followers
(ulstein bild/akg-images)
Gandhi
Known popularly as Mahatma ('great soul') Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi
was an Indian spiritual leader and politician. He fought for the
independence of India – in his time a colony of the UK – using
non-violent tactics. And he preached a system of non-violence
that is still very much with the activist movement today.
Gandhi opposed the inequalities of the colonial system, particularly
the apartheid he had seen when he travelled to South Africa. His
struggle inspired other colonial peoples to work towards their
own independence.
Although Gandhi was a Hindu, he was open to ideas from many religions,
including Islam and Christianity. In his way of seeing things,
people were capable of living together peacefully in the same
country if they had the same rights. Gandhi's principles have
been important to generations of activists, from Martin Luther
King Jr to Nelson Mandela.
In 1947, the independence Gandhi had fought for became a reality.
But India split into two different countries, India and Pakistan,
which Gandhi had never wanted.
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