[Quinny]

I have just watched the 1982 Gandhi film and finding it as inspirational as I did then. I believe that support for the Anti-apartheid movement that helped to lead to the release of Mandela was strengthened by this film.

I fail to see how anyone who has watched the film and afterwords studied what happened in India can be supportive of Imperialism.

When you look at what was achieved using non-violent activism against vastly superior military forces it makes me think that non co-operation and active resistance is a potential way to change.

I believe we have a lot to learn from his actions.

[GHung]

"I believe we have a lot to learn from his actions."

I'm not sure what that would be, at least in terms of creating a sustainable society. While casting off the burden of the imperial wealth pump, those resources ended up being exploited more locally, at an increasing rate, though perhaps slightly more equitably, resulting in an exploding population. I'm not sure the process has become any less corrupt, and it was always about who controls the territory and resources.

Sorry to be such a cynic, but Jesus tried to put forward a similar message. Look how that turned out. Seems the human collective has an innate ability to fuck up anyone's wet dream.

[diemos]

Yup. Very important lessons.

If you try to save people from themselves they'll turn on you and kill you.

[Newfie]

I'm not sure he was as pure as folks believe.

I suspect he was a much different person than what we have been taught to believe.

One of the less controversial items was his recruitment of Indians as combatants in south africa against the Zulus.

He knew how to broker power.

It's a hoot that some Englishmen introduced him to vegetarianism.

[Whitefang]

I am no fan of this person, murdered Saint.
Man is judged by his actions, not intentions or words.....
This retard were in bed with Nazi Germany, an elite with friendly face.
Speaking about sleeping, he had a thing for sleeping naked with his nieces...
No reason to follow his example.
Check it out yourself and make up your mind.
He writes about these issue's in his own wonderfull me, me, me autobiography.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 37411.html

With religious chastity under scrutiny, a new book throws light on Gandhi's practice of sleeping next to naked girls. In fact, he was sex-mad, writes biographer Jad Adams

http://torahcodes-mn.blogspot.nl/2012/0 ... d-neo.html

As he grew older (and following Kasturba's death) he was to have more women around him and would oblige women to sleep with him whom – according to his segregated ashram rules – were forbidden to sleep with their own husbands.

Gandhi would have women in his bed, engaging in his "experiments" which seem to have been, from a reading of his letters, an exercise in strip-tease or other non-contact sexual activity. Much explicit material has been destroyed but tantalising remarks in Gandhi's letters remain such as: "Vina's sleeping with me might be called an accident. All that can be said is that she slept close to me." One might assume, then, that getting into the spirit of the Gandhian experiment meant something more than just sleeping close to him.It can't, one imagines, can have helped with the "involuntary discharges" which Gandhi complained of experiencing more frequently since his return to India. He had an almost magical belief in the power of semen: "One who conserves his vital fluid acquires unfailing power," he said.

With religious chastity under scrutiny, a new book throws light on Gandhi's practice of sleeping next to naked girls.

[Whitefang]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Friend_Hitler

British newspaper, The Guardian, declared the film to be profoundly misguided and to show a shocking ignorance of history. Noah Massil, president of the Central Organization of Indian Jews in Israel (COIJI) stated that "he would write to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in order to prevent bringing disrepute to Indian entertainment industry", but the filmmakers claimed that the film does not glorify Hitler, but rather juxtaposes him against Gandhi's ideology of peace.[13][14]

“ We clarified that the movie is not about Hitler's ideology, but how his ideology of violence conflicts with Gandhi's ideology of peace. There is no glorification of Hitler's character. ”

— Anil Kumar Sharma, The Times of India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AMah ... s_'Racist'

Gandhi comments on hitler and jews: why no mention??[edit]

This article appears to be mere hagiography; why are there no mentions of such Gandhi stances as "I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed." and "The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs."? --Chris Martin 01:01, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I hope that some context is offered if those quotations are added. There is a similarly embarrassing quotation about Hitler from Winston Churchhill, of all people. Before he invaded Poland, Hiler was mostly known for rescuing Germany from depression. Without context, the quotation regarding the Jews is more difficult to interpret charitably. --Goethean 02:43, 19 Feb 2005 (

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Jew ... 2821D56032

[dorlomin]

One of the less controversial items was his recruitment of Indians as combatants in south africa against the Zulus.

Source please.

[SeaGypsy]

Of many conversations I have had with Indians about Gandhi, I have heard 2 things often. The first is that among politicians Gandhi was a saint but among saints he was a politician. The second that his removal of British rule came 100 years too early.

[Newfie]

One of the less controversial items was his recruitment of Indians as combatants in south africa against the Zulus.

Source please.

Wiki article oh Ghandi

"
In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi.[53] Perhaps to show his support for the Empire and help his case for India's independence,[54] Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the war effort.[55] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote "To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them...If we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army."[56] He did, however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he "personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe."[57]"

[Newfie]

Oops, just reread that, I mixed up his ambulance corps support in the war against the Zulus with his later recruitment of Indian combatants in in WWI.

[Keith_McClary]

I fail to see how anyone who has watched the film and afterwords studied what happened in India can be supportive of Imperialism.

When you look at what was achieved using non-violent activism against vastly superior military forces it makes me think that non co-operation and active resistance is a potential way to change.

Which empire do you have in mind?

[Newfie]

Same wiki article.

In 1888, Gandhi travelled to London, England, where he studied law and jurisprudence and enrolled at the Inner Temple with the intention of becoming a barrister. His time in London was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother upon leaving India, in the presence of a Jain monk, to observe the precepts of sexual abstinence as well as abstinence from meat and alcohol.[28] Gandhi tried to adopt "English" customs, including taking dancing lessons. However, he could not appreciate the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and was frequently hungry until he found one of few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced by Henry Salt's writing, he joined the Vegetarian Society, was elected to its executive committee,[29] and started a local Bayswater chapter.[16] Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study of Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original.[29] Not having shown interest in religion before, he became interested in religious thought.