Resisters influenced rights movements
Last week, published a review by Ramachandra Guha of the book and the author of Reddy and Hiralal’s study on satyagraha, the first serious one of its kind in the country, drew from archival sources in South Africa, Britain and India. comprises excerpts f
PART I of the book provides a history of the struggle between 1907-1914. The excerpt below covers the treatment of Indian workers on strike:
In November 1913, it may be recalled, the coal miners on the “great march” were arrested and taken back to the mines.
Some of the mines were declared out-stations of Dundee and Newcastle prisons and the miners were placed at the mercy of the mine managers.
On November 21, the Indian Barracks of the South African Boating Company in Point Road, Durban, was declared an out-station of the Durban jail.
Alarming reports soon appeared of the flogging of Indian miners by mine owners to force them to go back to work.
There were strong protests from the Indian community and the Indian government expressed concern.
On November 25, Lord Gladstone, the governorgeneral, sent a telegram to the prime minister, General Louis Botha, expressing his concern: “I earnestly hope that General Smuts will himself make a searching enquiry at prison out-stations; have Indian complaints brought before him; as far as possible afford a public demonstration of the falsity of statements; and take the necessary action if illegal violence on the part of jailers and warders has in fact occurred. I need scarcely point out to you that it is of the first importance to the Indian government that official denials should be followed by a responsible statement by the minister after an inquiry on the spot, and that I am only asking for what South Africa itself has a right to expect.”
The Director of Prisons, CP Batho, called for a report from the Inspector of Prisons, Pietermaritzburg, G Mardall.
The latter sent the following preliminary report on November 30:
Indian prisoner Nargiah, alias Nagadu, died of natural causes, but there is evidence indicating that he was subjected, when in custody, to rough treatment on journeys between the mine out-station and Newcastle in a state of feebleness five days before his death.
Floggings and assaults on Indians took place at Ballengeich out-station on November 11 when Indians in custody, prior to conviction, tried to leave the mine for Newcastle, unaware at the time that the mine compound had been made a government jail.
Since conviction by the magistrate in Newcastle on November 12, Indians have shown no unwillingness to perform their tasks and no violence has been used to compel them to work . . . but reports of violence continued to be received from the mines and from workers on plantations and railways.
The Natal Indian Association obtained hundreds of affidavits and asked for access to the estates and collieries to collect more evidence.
World significance of satyagraha in South Africa:
The influence of Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy of satyagraha on numerous nonviolent movements and their leaders, as well other prominent persons all over the world, has been well recorded. Only a few comments need be made here.
Since Gandhi’s death, the term “passive resistance”, the cause of much confusion, had fallen into disuse.
Leaders of non-violent movements referred to “active non-violence, positive action or direct action”.
When African and Indian congresses launched a nonviolent mass movement in South Africa in 1952, they called it a campaign of defiance against unjust laws, which is perhaps closer to what Gandhi had led in South Africa and India.
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States, led by the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr was perhaps the only movement which had a large religious element as its leadership consisted mostly of clergy. Like other non-violent movements, it adapted the philosophy of Gandhi to the conditions in the US and the Christian traditions of African-Americans.
It used the law and the courts because of the special situation in the US where the laws in some states imposed racist oppression while the federal laws called for equality.
It organised training camps for volunteers to enable them to withstand the violence by the police and racist whites in the southern states.
However imperfect in terms of Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha, the non-violent movements have been a great force for freedom, justice and peace.
Regrettably, however, some of the movements adopted non-violent methods purely as a tactic during the struggle and did not seek reconciliation at the end.
Success of the struggles led to conflicts and civil wars.
In other cases, as in the recent Arab Spring, mass resistance against oppression was initiated by votaries of non-violence but was disrupted by forces wedded to hatred and violence.
The leaders of non-violent movements need to exercise utmost vigilance to prevent the Pioneers of Satyagraha, Indian South Africans Defy Racist Laws, 1907-1914 hijacking of the resistance.
Non-violent resistance led by Gandhi in South Africa at the beginning of the 20th century, developed and refined by him in India’s movement for national independence, and adapted by the Indian passive resistance in South Africa in 1946-1948, the Civil Rights Movement in the US and the liberation struggle in South Africa is a heritage that humanity needs to cherish. Part II contains information on individuals who participated and sacrificed in the resistance as well as those who provided significant assistance, though they did not court imprisonment Bandhu Etwary, Mrs: Was born in Pietermaritzburg. Married Gangadeen Bandhu on February 10, 1902. She took part in the passive resistance campaign in 1913 and was imprisoned for three months
Gandhi Before India.
with her 18-month-old baby. Dayal (Singh), Bhawani (Dayal Sannyasi) and Jagrani Devi: In October 1913, Bhawani Dayal organised a group of six women and 10 men to offer resistance by hawking without a licence in Germiston. They were arrested but released after a few hours.
Jagrani wanted to participate in the struggle. Bhawani tried to dissuade her but she was determined.
They decided to seek Gandhi’s counsel and met him in Johannesburg on September 30. He questioned Jagrani closely as he did not want people to court imprisonment impulsively, without the full knowledge of the issues involved and the consequences of their actions.
Jagrani told him: “When hundreds of our womenfolk are compelled to sell their bodies to pay the £3 tax annually and married Indian women are labelled mistresses of their husbands, then for me to enjoy the comforts of a home is unacceptable and the hardships that I would have to endure in a prison will help in a small measure to meet your demands.” Naidoo, P K: Mrs Naidoo was a pioneer settler at Tolstoy Farm when her husband, PK Naidoo, was in prison. She was one of the first group of 11 Transvaal women who went to what was then Natal to court arrest.
She addressed Indian workers on the mines and encouraged them to suspend work. She was arrested in Newcastle on October 21, 1913 and sentenced to three months of hard labour under the Vagrancy Act.
She participated in the 1946 Indian passive resistance campaign and was imprisoned. She was elected to the executive of the Transvaal Indian Congress that year.
Her son, K Naidoo, was also politically active in the freedom movement in the 1940s.