- Jan 7, 2015
- 7
- 5
Hotep,
I see there is a lot of reference to Gandhi here, but before proceeding in this direction I ask that we keep in mind the hidden and almost unspoken history of the man called Gandhi and to take a critical look at the idea he called "non-violence".
While living in South Africa for some 21 years 1893-1914, Gandhi joined the military and ACTIVELY participated in war against the blacks. He was a known subscriber to racist and prejudiced ideals.
Below are just a few quotes from Gandhi regarding the Africans, whom he called Kaffirs, while he was in the land of the Black Man, Africa.
(this is what Gandhi wrote to the medical officer of health of Johannesburg in 1905)
"Of course, under my suggestion, the Town Council must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population, and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen."
(a Bill was published regulating the use of fire-arms by the natives and Asiatics and these were Gandhi's thoughts on it)
"In this instance of the fire-arms, the Asiatic has been most improperly bracketed with the natives. The British Indian does not need any such restrictions as are imposed by the Bill on the natives regarding the carrying of fire-arms. The prominent race can remain so by preventing the native from arming himself. Is there a slightest vestige of justification for so preventing the British Indian?"
"Ours is one continued struggle against degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the European, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness."
(the Kaffir he speaks of here is the racist slur for the black African)
"It is one thing to register natives who would not work, and whom it is very difficult to find out if they absent themselves, but it is another thing -and most insulting -to expect decent, hard-working, and respectable Indians, whose only fault is that they work too much, to have themselves registered and carry with them registration badges."
"Clause 200 makes provision for registration of persons belonging to uncivilized races (meaning the local Africans), resident and employed within the Borough. One can understand the necessity of registration of Kaffirs who will not work, but why should registration be required for indentured Indians who have become free, and for their descendants about whom the general complaint is that they work too much?"
"...Now let us turn our attention to another and entirely unrepresented community-the Indian. He is in striking contrast with the native. While the native has been of little benefit to the State, it owes its prosperity largely to the Indians. While native loafers abound on every side, that species of humanity is almost unknown among Indians here."
(The natives he speaks of here are the Africans and he is in Africa while speaking these words)
He launched his Indian Opinion on June 4 1904: "The object of Indian Opinion was to bring the European and the Indian subjects of the King Edward closer together."
Gandhi has never ever stood to fight against oppression on the Black African, but rather he supported it, so why in the right minds of Black Africans do some of us stand up and wave his banner high.... I do not know.
here are just 2 very good books to get a better picture of Gandhi and his pursuit to create a strong Euro-Indian relationship and how the Black African was a "common enemy of colonial progress" to the both.
Grenier, Richard. The Gandhi Nobody Knows
Huq, Fazlul. Gandhi: Saint or Sinner?
I see there is a lot of reference to Gandhi here, but before proceeding in this direction I ask that we keep in mind the hidden and almost unspoken history of the man called Gandhi and to take a critical look at the idea he called "non-violence".
While living in South Africa for some 21 years 1893-1914, Gandhi joined the military and ACTIVELY participated in war against the blacks. He was a known subscriber to racist and prejudiced ideals.
Below are just a few quotes from Gandhi regarding the Africans, whom he called Kaffirs, while he was in the land of the Black Man, Africa.
(this is what Gandhi wrote to the medical officer of health of Johannesburg in 1905)
"Of course, under my suggestion, the Town Council must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population, and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen."
(a Bill was published regulating the use of fire-arms by the natives and Asiatics and these were Gandhi's thoughts on it)
"In this instance of the fire-arms, the Asiatic has been most improperly bracketed with the natives. The British Indian does not need any such restrictions as are imposed by the Bill on the natives regarding the carrying of fire-arms. The prominent race can remain so by preventing the native from arming himself. Is there a slightest vestige of justification for so preventing the British Indian?"
"Ours is one continued struggle against degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the European, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness."
(the Kaffir he speaks of here is the racist slur for the black African)
"It is one thing to register natives who would not work, and whom it is very difficult to find out if they absent themselves, but it is another thing -and most insulting -to expect decent, hard-working, and respectable Indians, whose only fault is that they work too much, to have themselves registered and carry with them registration badges."
"Clause 200 makes provision for registration of persons belonging to uncivilized races (meaning the local Africans), resident and employed within the Borough. One can understand the necessity of registration of Kaffirs who will not work, but why should registration be required for indentured Indians who have become free, and for their descendants about whom the general complaint is that they work too much?"
"...Now let us turn our attention to another and entirely unrepresented community-the Indian. He is in striking contrast with the native. While the native has been of little benefit to the State, it owes its prosperity largely to the Indians. While native loafers abound on every side, that species of humanity is almost unknown among Indians here."
(The natives he speaks of here are the Africans and he is in Africa while speaking these words)
He launched his Indian Opinion on June 4 1904: "The object of Indian Opinion was to bring the European and the Indian subjects of the King Edward closer together."
Gandhi has never ever stood to fight against oppression on the Black African, but rather he supported it, so why in the right minds of Black Africans do some of us stand up and wave his banner high.... I do not know.
here are just 2 very good books to get a better picture of Gandhi and his pursuit to create a strong Euro-Indian relationship and how the Black African was a "common enemy of colonial progress" to the both.
Grenier, Richard. The Gandhi Nobody Knows
Huq, Fazlul. Gandhi: Saint or Sinner?