Smash Pacifism - Warrior Publications

has been bluntly termed a racist. Certainly, he accepted and
promoted aspects of the segregation doctrine, in so far as he
called for a social status for Indians that was different from
that of the Whites and Blacks. Gandhi organized a second
Volunteer Ambulance Corps during the Zulu Rebellion in
Natal in 1906...”
(Gandhi, p. 52)
As it was in 1899, the
ambulance brigade Gandhi helped
organize in 1906 was another attempt
to prove loyalty to the Empire as part
of the 'civil rights' campaign. In this
case, it was to assist the British
military not against rebel White
settlers, but against Indigenous
Blacks resisting British colonialism.
The Zulu uprising against the
British and a new poll tax began in
January 1906 and continued until
June of that year, when it was
crushed by a large military assault in
the Mome Valley, where 500 rebels were killed. Over the
course of the revolt, as many as 10,000 Zulus were
involved, with numerous battles and attacks on British
police, soldiers, and tax collectors. Some 2,000 Zulus were
killed, many more injured, and 4,700 taken prisoner.
Part of Gandhi's racism, and his belief that Indians
should be given equal rights over Blacks, was his view that
India was itself a civilization, while Africans were still
primitive children. This was the basis of the claim for
equality with White citizens of the Empire. If Gandhi had
any sense of anti-colonial struggle
and solidarity, any analysis of
imperialism, he would have seen the
Blacks as natural allies against a
common enemy. In fact, Gandhi
wasn't anti-colonial or antiimperialist—
he supported the British
Empire and sought to have Indians
recognized as equal citizens within it.
These were not the naive
beliefs of a young man who would
have many years to mature and
evolve his ideas. Gandhi was 40
years old and had been involved in
politics in S. Africa for some 15
years. Nor would Gandhi have a later
epiphany (a spiritual realization), for
his had already occurred by 1906.
Gandhi the Betrayer
From 1907-09, the passive resistance campaign
against the Transvaal government occurred. Protests were
held, with Indians burning registration papers. In late
January 1908, Gandhi met with the colonial governor and
left the meeting believing that an agreement had been
reached: if a majority of Indians voluntarily registered, the
act would be repealed.
“In the face of other Indians who wanted the act
repealed in its entirety, Gandhi took the lead in registering.
His action was seen as a betrayal and, far from unifying the
Indian community in the
Transvaal, intensified many of
its divisions...
“He suffered a further
humiliating defeat when he
discovered that, despite the
voluntary registrations, the act
remained in force.”
(Gandhi, p. 56)
This would be but the
first example of Gandhi
betraying movements by
accepting the weakest reforms
from the state, a tendency he
would maintain until his death.
He would always seek compromise and conciliation, and
this in fact was a built-in part of his doctrine of
nonviolence.
Founding members of the Natal Indian Congress,
Gandhi is in centre of back row.
8
Civil Rights Campaign, 1913
In 1910, the various British and Boer colonies were
organized into the Union of South Africa. The new regime
began enacting legislation once again aimed at restricting
and imposing greater controls
over Indian immigrants. A court
also invalidated Hindu and
Muslim marriages.
These measures prompted
a renewed phase of
mobilization among Indians.
Gandhi and the Natal Indian
Congress began forming plans
on how to counter the new
laws. In September 1913, two
groups set out from Gandhi's
Tolstoy Farm (established in
1910 near Johannesburg in
Transvaal province) to cross the
borders between Transvaal and
Natal and purposefully violate
the new laws. They sought arrest as a means of publicizing
their struggle. Some were arrested and sentenced to three
months in jail, including Gandhi's wife, Kasturbai.
In November 1913, Gandhi helped organize and
lead a march of 2,000 Indians across the border into
Transvaal from Natal, to march to Tolstoy Farm. Gandhi
was arrested, along with others. At the same time, striking
Indian indentured servants working on a S. Africa
plantation.