Author: David Hardiman
Publisher: Permanent Black
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 338
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8178240548
Description
In this book, David Hardiman examines Gandhi as the creator of a radical style of politics which has proved effective in fighting insidious social divisions within India. Written with passion, clarity, and a deep knowledge of Gandhi’s home region of Gujarat, this book provides a wonderfully fresh understanding of Gandhi and his relevance to the contemporary world.
He argues that where as politicians usually garner support by demonizing those they oppose, Gandhi resisted such a politics with his whole being. He asserted that there are always grounds for a fruitful dialogues between opponents.
How did Gandhi create this new form of politics? Hardiman shows its basic within Gandhi’s s larger vision of an alternative society base on mutual respect, lack of exploitation, non-violence, and ecological harmony. His politics constituted one of the many directions in which he sought to activate this peculiarly personal vision. The practice of such a politics entailed personal and institutional experiments in relation to his opponents, who ranged from British colonials to Indian advocates of violent resistance, from right-wing religious leaders and upholders of caste privilege to communists, socialists, and Dalits. Gandhi’s conflicts with all these are studied, as is his manner of conducting conflict s and working towards their resolution.
Various key issues in Gandhi’s life and legacy are also examined. Gandhi’s sexuality and his programme for women are looked at in the light of Feminist critiques. Gandhi’s inconsistencies, mistakes and failures (for example as husband and father) are carefully scrutinizes. Hardiman’s effort is to show precisely how Gandhi, despite his limitations, provides a beacon for women and men because of the uncompromising honesty of his political life and moral activism.
Three chapters look at Gandhi’s legacy in this respect, both in India and on the global stage. Figures who were inspired by Gandhi-Jayaprakash Narayan, Medha Patkar, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Petra Kelly are discussed. Gandhi’s influence on a series of new social movements –by environmentalists, anti-war campaigners, feminists, human rights activists and others-are closely examined in order to assess his legacy.
Contents
Preface
INTRODUCTION: The Gandhian Dialogic
AN INCORPORATIVE NATIONALISM
Forging a Nationalist Hegemony
The Disciplined Nation
Invented Histories of the Nation
DIALOGIC RESISTANCE
Popular Forms of Mass Resistance in India
Satyagraha
Individual Conscience
Ahimsa
Satyagraha Within the Indian Polity
AN ALTERNATIVE MODERNITY
Hind Swaraj
A Gandhian Civilisation
The Constructive Programme
Gandhi, Socialism, and the Doctrine of Trusteeship
The Gandhian Critique Beyond India
FATHER OF THE NATION
Gandhi’s Family Life
Gandhi and Sexual Desire
Marriage and Patriarchy
Women and Satyagraha
The Critique of Patriarchy
DALIT AND ADIVASI ASSERTION
Dalits
Adivasis
Dalits, Adivasis, and the Indian Nation
FIGHTING RELIGIOUS HATREDS
Gandhi, Muslims, and Hindu Nationalists
The National Duty of the Hindu Patriot
Gandhi and Christianity
Partition and Gandhi’s Finest Hour
Gandhian Anti-Communal Work Since Independence
GANDHIAN ACTIVISM IN INDIA AFTER INDEPENDENCE
The Bhoodan and Gramdan Movements
The Naxalite Alternative
The JP Movement
JP’s Total Revolution
The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini
Women and Anti-Liquor Movements in India
Vahini and Women’s Rights
Chipko Andolan
Narmada Bachao Andolan
Gandhian Activism Since 1980
GANDHI’S GLOBAL LEGACY
Some Contemporary Western Reactions
Gandhi and the Pacifist Movement
Gandhian Resistance on a World Stage
The African-American Struggle in the USA
The Revolt Against Apartheid in South Africa
Petra Kelly and the German Greens
The Moral Activists Lonely Path to Martyrdom
Bibliography
Index