WEBVTT - REPLAY: Turning Enemies Into Friends 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:08.119 A man dies when he refuses to stand up for 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:12.360 that which is right. A man dies when he refuses 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:16.279 to stand up for us. Yea. A man dies when 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.560 he refuses to pick up stand for that which is true. Yeah. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.840 The great and often unsung civil rights hero Bayard Rustin 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.159 once said, we need in every community a group of 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:36.640 angelic troublemakers. We are non violent because injury to one 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:45.120 is injury to all. In May, a ship pulled into 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.599 the harbor in Durban, in the city in South Africa. 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.440 Aboard the ship was a twenty seven year old Indian 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.280 lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi. The young man was an advocate 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.440 for the rights of immigrant Indian laborers across South Africa, 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.640 and he was not popular among the nation's white citizens. 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:05.400 An angry mob on the docks awaited Gandhi's arrival. Gandhi's grandson, 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.200 a ruined Gandhi, explains it happened just by a chance. 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:14.520 Was that the ship on which the Gandhi family was 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:20.840 traveling also carried several hundred indentured labors. The mob assumed 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.960 that the Indian agitator was connected to the arriving immigrants, 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.600 so this mob thought that he's bringing all these people 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:33.440 into South Africa to increase the population and overtake the 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.880 white population. Gandhi was advised to remain aboard for his 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.480 own safety. He refused. He was attacked as soon as 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:44.280 he disembarked. The mob hurled stones, eggs, and bricks at it. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.640 He was beaten and kicked. His turban was torn from 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:51.400 his head. The crowd intended to lynch him. Gandhi was 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:54.240 only spared when the wife of the local police superintendent 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.160 happened to pass by. She bravely shielded him with her parasol, 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:00.520 then held off the mob until the brew used in 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:04.520 bloody Gandhi was safely inside a nearby house. Gandhi was 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.280 later asked why he got off the boat. He explained 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.400 that he prayed for the courage to face the mob, 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.000 not for his own safety. Later on, the police were 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.200 able to arrest some of the people in the mob 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:21.679 and they invited Grandfather to come over and file charges 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.880 against them so that they could be tried and convicted. 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.480 And Grandfather came to the police station and he met 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.320 with these people and he told the police he said, 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.040 I'm not going to I don't want to charge them. 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.480 Gandhi offered his assailants only love and understanding. I believe 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:47.600 three of the four people who were arrested eventually became 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:54.760 his followers and his friends for life. In this episode 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.280 of The Thread, we delve into the influential life of 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.000 Mohandas Gando, the man who inspired million in South Africa 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.359 and India to challenge their oppressors and convert enemies into 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:15.679 friends in the world. Like in the World, Just like 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.160 I'm Sean Braswell. This season on The Thread, we trace 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:27.200 the origins of a powerful idea, non violent resistance. So far, 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.040 we followed the Reverend Martin Luther King's journey to combat 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.440 racial injustice in the United States. Then we heard about 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:37.320 Bayard Rustin, King's tutor in non violence. Now we turn 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.080 to the iconic figure behind Rusten and so many other 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:44.360 social movements of the past century behind us Gandhi. Before 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.400 Rustin helped shape the direction of the U s Civil 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.600 rights movement, he journeyed to India in nineteen forty nine, 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.720 shortly after Gandhi's death. There, Rustin learned firsthand about his 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.960 heroes non violent tactics from those who knew Gandhi, best 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.560 known as Mahatma or the great Ole. Gandhi was nothing 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.119 short of a rebel genius. He took up the age 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.240 old doctrines of love and pacifism and turned them into 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:12.640 tools of resistance. Gandhi, armed only with love, humility, and disobedience, 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.680 brought the most powerful empire on earth to the bargaining 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.240 table and eventually to its knees. If you're joining us 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.320 for the first time, we encourage you to go back 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:30.360 and begin this season's interconnected journey with episode one. Gandhi 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.479 was born in western India in eighteen sixty nine. He 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:35.960 was the fourth and last child of a politician and 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:39.880 a devout Hindu woman. Here's a ruined Gandhi again talking 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:43.359 about his famous grandfather. He had all the weaknesses that 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:49.320 teenagers have. He smoked cigarettes and he ate meat too, 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:53.360 and his family was vegetarian, and he would lie to 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.479 his parents. He just was not a very promising kid 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.440 in a lot of ways. This is Kit Miller, director 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.440 of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Non Violence, and 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:07.120 I really loved telling people that because we have this 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.760 idea that people like Gandhi are kind of coming straight 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.400 out of the egg in a certain way, and it's 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:18.000 far from the truth in his situation. Especially. Gandhi married 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.560 his wife when they were both thirteen years old. It 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.680 was an arranged marriage. Three years later, Gandhi's father unexpectedly 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.440 died and it was decided that the teenager should leave 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.600 for Great Britain in order to earn a law degree 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.239 and helped support his family. Gandhi boarded a steamer bound 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.720 for England one month before his nineteenth birthday. So Gandhi 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:40.400 went off to London. He arrived there wearing a white 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.960 suit in the wintertime and looked like an idiot. And 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:44.919 I think he felt like an idiot a lot in 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.720 the first especially weeks or months. There is an early 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.919 photograph of the young Gandhi taken just after his arrival 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.360 in London. He's almost unrecognizable to those who have only 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.160 seen images of him as an older man. The young 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.760 law student has no mustache or glasses. His thick black 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.880 hair has parted on one side. At first in London, 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.000 Gandhi was eager to fit in, to transform himself into 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.320 a Victorian gentleman. He bought a top hat in an 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:14.840 evening suit. He invested in French lessons, so he thought 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:20.640 that if he changed himself and became like the British, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:25.719 speak their language, dressed like them, and you know, become 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:30.440 British in every sense except the color. That he would 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:34.760 be accepted more readily. And he attempted to do that, 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:40.080 but he found that even that didn't help. Eventually, Gandhi 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.200 began a different transformation in London. In addition to his 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.560 legal studies, he read sacred Hindu and other religious texts. 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.719 A British Bible salesman even persuaded Gandhi to read the 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.200 Christian Holy Book. Gandhi later claimed that Jesus's Sermon on 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.880 the Mount, including its admonition to love one's enemies, went 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.120 straight to his heart in many ways. Gandhi was a 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.760 changed man when he returned to India to practice law 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.640 in eight But he was a lousy lawyer. He was 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:10.960 so shy, didn't represent himself very well. He got one 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.200 case in in what was then called Bombay and that 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.200 didn't go very well. So there was a sense of 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.920 what am I gonna do? Gandhi was about to give up. 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.760 Then he received an offer from South Africa the help 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.880 resolve a legal dispute between two Indian businesses. He accepted 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.080 the offer and decided he would try his luck in 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:34.160 a new country. The twenty four year old Gandhi arrived 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.480 in South Africa in eighteen It was not at all 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:39.840 what the young lawyer was expecting. I think he was 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.280 shocked by the racial prejudice in South Africa. It was 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.760 an order of magnitude worse than anything he had encountered 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:51.040 in India or in England. Gandhi boarded a train early 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.640 on in his time in South Africa. He purchased a 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:57.120 first class ticket, but when a white passenger complained about 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.400 the Indian's presence in the first class compartment, two railway 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.840 officials removed him from the train. Gandhi and his suitcases 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.520 were tossed onto the platform at the next station. He 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.320 spent the night in the station alone, far from home 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.920 and freezing cold. And that's where he suffered his first 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:17.680 physical act of prejudice, when he was thrown off the 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:22.000 train because of the color of his skin. And that 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:28.400 humiliation really brought about the transformation in his life. For me, 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:33.199 that's one of the magic moments in Gandhi's life. Instead 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:37.040 of becoming indignant simply on his own behalf, he made 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.280 the moral leap. Sitting there that night to recognize that 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:44.920 his situation was just one of a countless number of 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.440 moments of prejudice and racism that was taking place, and 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.400 he decided he wanted to do something about it. But 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.160 Gandhi also realized that he didn't have the capacity to 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:00.800 seek justice violently, so he wanted to find no reason 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:06.400 which he could get justice without having to fight for it. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.160 And that's how the philosophy of non violence came about, 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:15.640 and he began to practice that and that became his 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.920 mission in life. Gandhi's commitment to justice and non violence 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.120 led him to make an important decision. He decided to 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.600 stay and help the Indian community fight for its rights. 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.400 Instead of remaining in South Africa for one year to 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:32.120 complete his legal assignment, Gandhi stayed for twenty one years. 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.080 At first, Gandhi was a loyal subject of the British 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.920 Empire and he worked to make change within the existing system, 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.240 But he came to realize that those in power were 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.839 not interested in changing the nation's laws or customs. Often 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.920 they wanted to pass new ones. In nineteen o six, 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.920 the government and transvol the Province of South Africa announced 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.800 it would require all Indian men, women and children to 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.280 register or imprisonment. Gandhi had an idea for how best 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.319 to protest the new law. The first expression of non 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:11.240 violence in a political frame actually took place on September 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.280 nineteen o six. It's the other September eleven. In the 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:20.720 following clip from film Gandhi, the young lawyer played by 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:24.679 Ben Kingsley, makes his case for non violence and non cooperation. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.080 On that day before a hall packed with Indian labors. 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.520 Gandhi proposed a new tactic. Whatever they do to us, 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:37.679 we will attack no one, kill no one, but we 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:42.040 will not give our fingerprints, not one of us. They 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.800 will imprison us and they will find us. They will 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.840 seize our possessions, but they cannot take away our self 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.400 respect if we do not give it to them. Gandhi 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.240 urged Indians not to register and to defy the new 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.480 law regardless of punishment. Rallies and protests were staged across 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:03.560 the country, which demonstrators burned their registration cards. I think 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.559 he began to see that people who are moral had 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:11.000 a duty to not obey unjust laws. Gandhi was sentenced 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.720 to two months in prison for his own refusal to register. 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.960 He began to move from being again like someone who 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.720 really saw himself as a middle class attorney, to being 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.760 someone who actually could best serve society by breaking the 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.120 laws when they were not just. And Gandhi's assault on 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:33.120 unjust laws was just beginning. A few years later, mine 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.160 workers in South Africa organized a strike against a new 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.199 government tax. At first, the striking miners went ahead without 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:44.720 Gandhi's help. Their protests turned into violent confrontations with government 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:49.400 forces and the strike went nowhere. Then Gandhi decided to 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.000 organize a march with over two thousand demonstrators, one that 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:58.160 took place over several days. He didn't let anybody show 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:03.280 any anger or frustration. It was very peaceful. Gandhi was 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.240 arrested and released on bail three times during the march. 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:10.640 And then something incredible happened. The British official in South Africa, 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.520 who previously used violence to stop the striking miners, asked 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.760 Gandhi to come to the negotiating table, and during that 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:23.240 time he confessed to Grandfather. He said, I could deal 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.880 with the strikers because there was so much anger and 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:32.360 frustration that that I could justify a violent action. But 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:34.560 he says, I don't know how to deal with you 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:40.640 because you are so compassionate and consider it towards us, 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.640 and that is the key to a non violent action. 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.840 We are not fighting an enemy, we are transforming a friend. 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.200 Gandhi's new friend agreed to rescind the tax and in 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.040 some of the other discriminatory laws against Indians. But Gandhi 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.199 was still learning about the power of his new non 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.440 violent philosophy, and his application of it was often imperfect. 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:05.800 For example, he largely turned a blind eye to the 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.840 suffering and discrimination being inflicted on the black South African population, 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.800 and some modern scholars accused Gandhi of prejudice towards that community. 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.240 Run Gandhi disagrees. He says that his grandfather's non violent 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.760 mission merely began with his attempt to help his fellow Indians. 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:25.640 So he felt that if it's difficult to convince my 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.800 own people, how am I going to go and convince 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:33.680 uh somebody else. Gandhi learned in South Africa that non 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:37.160 violence could be a powerful tool for social protest, but 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:39.640 he knew that his homeland in India was also suffering 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.440 under colonial rule, and to combat that long standing injustice 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:46.240 and pluck out the crown jewel of the British Empire. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.360 It would take a resistance movement unlike any of the 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:57.839 world had ever seen. India had been under British rule 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.120 for almost half a century. By the time gone He 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.120 returned to his homeland in nineteen fourteen, a population of 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.120 over three hundred million people was governed by a mere 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.920 two thousand British civil servants and around sixty thousand soldiers. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:17.120 Ruined Gandhi again. His success in South Africa had attracted 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.120 a lot of media attention in India, and many of 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:27.000 the Indian leaders felt that he could make a tremendous 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:31.280 contribution in India. Gandhi joined India's National Congress and, like 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.800 many supported Great Britain in World War One and the 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.040 hopes that the colonial power would treat India differently when 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.280 the war was over. The British did the opposite. There 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.640 were some really harsh laws that had been passed during 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:47.960 World War One, which the Indians hoped and expected would 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:52.000 be east up when the war ended, and on the contrary, 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.960 harsher laws were put in place. Among other things, the 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.760 new laws criminalized civil disobedience and prohibited more than ten 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:02.920 In Dean's gathering in a public place at any one time. 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.960 But the people were so you know, motivated by this 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:14.960 non violent action that in spite of that rule, more 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.880 than ten thousand of them gathered in a ground open 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:23.120 ground in the middle of the city of Umrits. That 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.040 open ground was a large six acre public garden with 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:30.000 walls on all sides and only five entrances. When Colonel 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.600 Reginald Dyer, the local British officer in charge, heard about 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.640 the crowd gathered there, he decided to quash the protest. 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.640 Dire later testified quote, I had made up my mind 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.600 I would do all the men to death. He brought 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:48.720 his military and surrounded the crowd of ten thousand and 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:54.480 opened fire on them point blank range, and within minutes 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:59.800 he killed more than three d and eighty six people. 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.720 Gandhi responded to the blood and violence in Amritzar by 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:09.000 encouraging Indians to boycott British goods, schools, jobs, courts, and 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:13.000 honors to refuse to pay their taxes. For months, Gandhi 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:16.080 toured the countryside in the torrid summer heat, speaking to 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.440 large crowds. He encouraged them to weave their own clothes 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:23.640 and to avoid British apparel. The crowds piled up shirts, coats, 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.760 pants and other clothes, which Gandhi set a fire. Gandhi's 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.160 non violent army in India was taking shape, but British 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.600 officials arrested Gandhi for preaching sedition in nineteen twenty two. 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:38.920 He was sentenced to six years in prison. Gandhi smiled 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:47.200 as he was led away to jail. Gandhi served only 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.960 two years of his sentence during that time. In the 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.360 remainder of the nineteen twenties, the British succeeded in thwarting 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:57.800 India's growing independence movement. They used a divide in rule policy. 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.480 They exploited the existing tensions between Hindus and Muslims in 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:05.800 India to consolidate their own power. A ruined Gandhi. So 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:10.840 they they exacerbated all of these divisions that existed in 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:19.200 society and kept people fighting within themselves and not the British. 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.680 So Gandhi also devoted himself to helping his fellow Indians 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:27.399 improve themselves. Kit Miller again, his attention very naturally turned 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.840 to well what kind of country will we be after 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:33.399 they leave um? And then also trying to get people 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:37.399 to become able to be non violent. He many times 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.639 called off campaigns if violence would break out, and he 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:45.479 would fast himself in penance, um using his own moral 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:50.160 credibility with the Indian people to try to get them 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.720 to stay nonviolent even when they were provoked. British officials 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.879 in India had no idea how to respond to the 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:00.879 unorthodox tactics being used by the quiet man in sandals 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:05.119 and a white loincloth. They told new administrators when they 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.840 were coming from England to India to stay away from 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:13.600 Gandhi because he was so compelling. Ah, he like literally, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.080 holl Gandhi will get you, they said. Gandhi's impact on 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.280 his own people was even more remarkable. He was really 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.600 regarded as a saint. I mean, he didn't ask for 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.480 the honorific of Mahatma. He didn't actually like it because 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.520 he felt that it separated him from other people. He 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:35.280 lived ate, dressed and traveled like the poorest people in 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.960 a very poor country. When he was asked why he 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:40.560 always traveled third class, he said he smiled and said, 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.919 because there's no fourth class. Still, the man they referred 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.840 to as Bapu or father, had not delivered on any 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:51.160 major reforms that was about to change. Gandhi would demonstrate 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.280 the power of non violence to the world as it 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.399 had never been shown, a message that would resonate with 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:00.720 Bayard Ruston, Martin, Luther King, and others down corridors of 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:08.640 history to this day. Gandhi grew frustrated by the pace 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.520 of progress in India. He knew he needed something that 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:13.920 would break through, that would put more pressure on the 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.159 British and forced them to change course. And then he 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.040 found it. The colonizers made Indians by British salt at 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.560 a high price, even though Indians could make it much 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.800 cheaper themselves. Gandhi knew he had his pressure point ruined. 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:32.960 Gandhi again, he suddenly realized that this would be a 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:38.919 great way of mobilizing the entire community, because salt is 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:43.880 something that everybody were, the rich or poor or whatever. 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:51.000 Everybody needed salt. So he announced the launching of the 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:56.720 AsSalt March and the defiance of the AsSalt Law. Gandhi 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.280 and seventy eight followers set out from a village in 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:02.639 western India for a two hundred and forty one mile march. 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.440 They had to due south towards the sea. The British were. 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:11.600 They laughed it off. Then they didn't do anything um 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:16.080 to prepare for this kind of major revolution that it became, 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.600 and millions of people joined within a couple of days. 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:26.600 That's when the British realized, how you know, popular this was, 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.119 but by then it was too late for them to 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:33.359 do anything to stop it. Gandhi and his followers watched 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.560 for twenty four days from village to village along winding 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.879 dirt roads, the army growing in size at every stop. 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:43.480 Soon the eyes of the world were transfixed on Gandhi 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.359 in India, and by the time they finished up, there 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.919 were thousands of people walking along. Kit Miller. He was 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.040 in his late sixties by then, and he just he 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.720 could just eat up the ground walking. He was he 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:59.160 was just on fire. Gandhi and his followers finally reached 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.760 the country's coast in the early morning. Gandhi scooped up 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.080 a handful of mud and salt left by the ocean 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.520 in defiance of the British law. He declared, with this salt, 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.760 I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire. People. 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.639 Immediately after the first moment of when he grabbed the 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.240 salt from the shore people all over the country started 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:23.159 to follow suit, and um, you know, it was a 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:28.639 remarkable moment of people recognizing that they could be free. 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:33.080 That Salt March and and the defiance of the salt 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:38.480 law was the last straw on the camel's back, and 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:46.200 from that point onwards, independence was inevitable. The following year, 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:51.960 Gandhi traveled to England to argue for Indian independence. Fear 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:55.000 years at last the mystery man of India, and he's 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.440 carrying with him is pots and pans, which he declared 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.840 that the customers. When asked to speak into the sound 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:05.479 film microphone, he said, I think not. Gandhi, now aged sixty, 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.600 did agree to some interviews, though his words were fear, 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:14.000 if England does not grant to your demand, what force 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:25.720 of action will follow them? Of course, colia civil disobedience, 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:29.520 Gandhi answered, But Britain's leaders did not grant Gandhi's demands, 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:32.840 so he pressed on. This is Gandhi addressing a crowd 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:35.919 in Geneva, Switzerland, after his trip to Great Britain. I 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.800 regard my tip as a soldier, though a soldier of Pe, 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:43.160 the soldier of peace was greeted as a conquering hero 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:45.800 when he returned back to India, and he was more 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:49.119 convinced than ever that India could prevail over Britain using 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:52.119 love and non violence. It was just a question of 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:56.080 how long that would take up Next, Gandhi's dream of 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:59.720 independence for India was realized, but not without a steep price. 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:19.520 Gandhi returned home to India nineteen thirty one. He is 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:23.120 a hero beloved, but India is still under British rule. 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.240 Gandhi continued to lead his fellow Indians and acts of 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:29.920 civil disobedience and non violent protests throughout the nineteen thirties. 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.680 It had only a modest effect. Britain responded with more 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:38.480 violence and oppression. Then the Second World War intervened. Finally, 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:41.879 in the years following the war, great Britain's resolves started 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:45.720 to fade. It came to the table, ruined Gandhi again. 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:53.399 I think the you know, the massive defiance in India 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:59.560 against British rule, plus the tremendous losses that they suffered 0:23:59.600 --> 0:24:03.240 in War War two, really broke the back of the 0:24:03.280 --> 0:24:07.840 British and decided that, you know, it's time that they 0:24:08.160 --> 0:24:19.080 gave India independence. August fifteenth nine, Independence Day for India. 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:22.240 In London, the flags of the new Indian Union flattered 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:26.000 over the headquarters of India and Pakistan. An era has ended, 0:24:26.280 --> 0:24:30.360 a new epoch begins. The Indian subcontinent achieved its independence, 0:24:30.520 --> 0:24:33.520 but only after its land was divided along religious lines 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:38.000 into Hindu controlled India and Muslim ruled Pakistan. Gandhi was 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:42.359 quite heartbroken with away. Independence was finally broken. Because of it, 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:46.399 the divisiveness between Hindus and Muslims um I mean, he 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:50.160 really went to the mat to try to avoid um 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:54.080 that division. Gandhi feared that partition of the Indian subcontinent 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:58.400 would spark widespread violence between Hindus and Muslims. He was right. 0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:03.040 The streets filled with corpses. Decades of non violent resistance 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:10.439 were drowned in a river of blood. The possibility of 0:25:10.480 --> 0:25:14.119 death was a constant companion for Gandhi, but he continued 0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:18.280 on kit Miller again. He wouldn't take the security. He 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:21.240 just would continue in his daily habits, so very easy 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.840 target for assassination. Like he knew he was putting himself 0:25:24.880 --> 0:25:27.680 at risk, but it was not his His own safety 0:25:27.760 --> 0:25:30.720 was not his highest priority. Gandhi was on his way 0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:34.880 to address a prayer meeting on the evening of January 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:37.800 when a young Hindu nationalists fired three bullets into his 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:41.920 chest at point blank range. Gandhi died soon after. You know, 0:25:41.960 --> 0:25:44.720 when someone was crediting him for being non violent, he said, well, 0:25:44.880 --> 0:25:47.560 my test of non violence will really be at the 0:25:47.640 --> 0:25:50.159 end of my life. Will I be able to if 0:25:50.200 --> 0:25:52.960 I'm killed by someone? Will I be able to die 0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:55.840 with my prayers for their well being on my lips? 0:25:56.400 --> 0:25:58.440 Close to a million people to send it on New 0:25:58.480 --> 0:26:01.399 Delhi to pay homage, to go and watch as his 0:26:01.480 --> 0:26:05.040 body was burned atop a large funeral pyre. All this 0:26:05.160 --> 0:26:08.200 time wherever he went, I'm a Hatma's doctrine of commonal 0:26:08.320 --> 0:26:11.560 peace brought hope and faith to millions in village and city. 0:26:11.560 --> 0:26:15.760 Are luck. The news of it went all around the world, 0:26:16.600 --> 0:26:18.760 And you think about it. You know, Gandhi never had 0:26:18.760 --> 0:26:22.240 an army, he never had political office, he never had 0:26:22.280 --> 0:26:25.320 any money. I think he died with like five possessions, 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:29.800 you know. So to think of someone who lived their 0:26:29.840 --> 0:26:32.960 life in the way that he did and had such 0:26:33.240 --> 0:26:39.639 enormous moral power, moral force, it changed the world, you know, 0:26:40.200 --> 0:26:43.119 the way he lived changed the world. Martin Luther King 0:26:43.160 --> 0:26:47.160