Peacemaker

The last millennium saw the invention of some of the most destructive weapons and the waging of some of the most horrific wars imaginable. But there were also individuals who championed peace by using philosophies of nonviolence. Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi was such an individual. During the first half of the 20th century, Gandhi used civil disobedience and passive resistance to oust British colonial rule from his native India and to improve the lot of his country's poorest people. Gandhi's nonviolent revolution and philosophy of Satyagraha, which means “truth and firmness” in Sanskrit, inspired many others, including American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Born to a modest family in India in 1869, Gandhi studied law in London, England, and then moved to South Africa. There he was radicalized when he discovered he was considered a member of an inferior race. For 20 years, Gandhi protested against discriminatory treatment, and he was jailed on many occasions. It was in South Africa that Gandhi formulated his policy of passive resistance to authorities, based in part on the writings of Russian author Leo Tolstoy and American author Henry David Thoreau, as well as on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In 1914, after the South African government had met many of his demands, Gandhi returned home to India, where the British had been a colonial power since the 18th century. Armed uprisings in the past had failed, but Gandhi advocated different tactics for combating British rule. He encouraged noncooperation with authorities and urged Indian bureaucrats to resign from their posts. His method of nonviolent protest, called ahimsa (noninjury), eventually attracted millions of followers. In a 1922 speech, Gandhi stated his philosophy: “I am endeavoring to show to my countrymen that violent noncooperation only multiplies evil and that as evil can only be sustained by violence, withdrawal of support of evil requires complete abstention from violence.”

Gandhi became the leader of the independence movement and the most powerful individual in all of India, but he lived the simple lifestyle of the country's most impoverished. British officials could do little to thwart him. When imprisoned he fasted, and the authorities were forced to release him, knowing that the country would explode if Gandhi were to die in prison. In the end, all the political clout and military might of the British government were overcome by a peaceful man in a loincloth. India won its independence in 1947. The following year, while still working for peace in a country torn by religious factionalism, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist.

Gandhi showed the international community that guns and power were not the only—or even the most effective—way to topple an empire. A deeply spiritual man, his message went beyond politics and into the universal realms of human nature. Gandhi's life and teachings were of major importance in three of the biggest social struggles of the millennium: the battles against colonialism, racism, and violence. In recognition of his greatness, the Indian people gave Gandhi the Sanskrit title Mahatma, which means “great soul.”