Passive Resistance is the nonviolent act of resisting to methods of the government, a dweller of power, or certain laws. Since 1897, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has acted on this idea, after questioning his people’s [Indians] status with the British Empire. There were many protest, five in which Gandhi was arrested. When he went to prison, he went on hunger strikes, greatly embarrassing the British Empire. Gandhi later died in 1948, inside of a prison, fighting for the civil rights and liberties of people under the British control.
Martin Luther King Jr. practiced the same form of passive resistance and went through obstacles, such as being arrested for protesting, as did Gandhi. He was later assassinated in 1968, fighting for African American civil rights. The British ruled the Indians with little regulations, regulations or interference from their government. They treasured India for their potential, but that changed when the Industrial Revolution transformed Britain into the world’s workshop.
Britain realized that India was a major supplier of desirable raw materials for their workshop and Britain’s view of India’s potential, was altered into the idea of the profits they can make from India. The British created restrictions, preventing the Indian economy from working on its own. Indians were forced to buy goods and produce raw materials for the British to manufacture and sell for their own profit. Indian [people] felt that they were being unfairly treated and they disagreed with British rule. Nationalists groups emerged with the thought of staying loyal to their culture and history and used civil disobedience to accomplish this.
Nationalist groups wanted to reject British goods, by buying their own. They wanted to have their own schools and boycott government establishments, but British imperialism grew over time. The idea of Social Darwinism was applied (“Might makes right”). This meant that the superior [British] are always correct and that they choose whether or not if the weak [Indians] lived. As the British moved into India, destruction of tribalism, forced new languages, and loss of traditional lifestyles took place. Gandhi found a way to oppose government rules and laws, but Ghose thought otherwise.
Aurobindo Ghose supported the nationalist groups, but he was a freedom fighter. Instead of abiding by the law, he rebelled and resisted against the harsh government. Passive Resistance has, obviously, not been very popular with the government, but has helped the people on the weaker side of Social Darwinism. They get freedom from someone who fought and sacrificed their life to give liberty to the people and the motherland. There will always be the people who want to stop the fight for change, for freedom, but the quicker passive resistance is used, the quicker liberty for all will come.
