In Ghana, calls to tear down a statue of ‘racist’ Gandhi
Academics say Indian struggle icon held shockingly racist views about Africans
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has long been admired around the globe for the role he played in India’s independence movement.
But this month in Ghana — a West African nation that also was once a colonial subject — a group of academics have called to pull down a statue of Gandhi that was recently installed on the grounds of the country’s premier university.
Their argument? The academics say that Gandhi, a leader best known for his promotion of nonviolent tactics and anti-colonialism, held shockingly racist views about Africans.
That argument has gained widespread attention in recent days. In a little over a week, almost 1,000 people have signed an online petition that calls for the statue’s removal. The petition, written by five members of the faculty at the University of Ghana in Accra, points toward several writings of the Indian leader in which he described Africans as “savages” and made other insults.
“How will the historian teach and explain that Gandhi was uncharitable in his attitude towards the Black race and see that we’re glorifying him by erecting a statue on our campus?” the petition’s authors ask.
Since the statue was installed in June, many Ghanaians have used hashtags such as #GandhiMustComeDown, #GhandiForComeDown and #GandiMustFall to voice criticism of the statue on social media.
Gandhi lived in South Africa between 1893 and 1914, before he returned to India, where he eventually led the country’s independence movement. However, there may have been a darker side to his time in Africa.
According to The South African Gandhi, a controversial book written by two South African professors and published last year, Gandhi had regularly “expressed disdain for Africans” during his time on the continent.