Gandhi: a philosophical anarchist

[rahul]

Nehru quotes gandhi as a "philosophical-anarchist"

why do you think so?

[Scottish_Militant]

I think he was a cretin.

[rahul]

once gandhi told---

"....i'd advice jews to kill themselves rather than being killed by nazis......"
:)

[Red Heretic]

Gandhi is popularized by the oppressors because his ideology benefits the oppressors...

He is an "anarchist" in that he refuses to use violence because violence is a form of authority.

[bolshevik butcher]

I think that ghandi was a great man, but taht he didn't liberate india single handidly, just like malcolm x or marein luther king didn't exclusivley liberate the american blacks, it was a colective effore from thousands is not millions of people.

[Scottish_Militant]

See here... (http://freedom-is-slavery.blogspot.com/2005/06/gandhi-anti-working-class-cretin.html)

[RedAnarchist]

Gandhi supported the caste system and was rascist towards darker-skinned people.

[Free Palestine]

I don't know if the bulk of evidence supports the belief that he support the caste system since he started campaigns to improve the lives of the "untouchables" and coined the name Harijans, the children of God, rather than the pejorative "untouchables."

[LSD]

Ghandi was a capitalist, a racist, and a friend to imperialism.

He did contribute to the independence of India, but he did it at the cost of genuine revolution. He left India open to continued British, and later American, economic imperialism.

He was as much a product of his times and upbringing as anyone, perhaps more so. His iconization does a grave disservice to the workers of the world ...and the bouregoisie knows it!

[bolshevik butcher]

Well thats cleared something up then. Its just struck me now, why would the ruling class evey glorify a socialist or even jsut a leftie.

[Clarksist]

Originally posted by Clenched [email protected] 2 2005, 02:55 PM
Well thats cleared something up then. Its just struck me now, why would the ruling class evey glorify a socialist or even jsut a leftie.
Its like what they've done with Che.

If they wave his face and desensitize us to the face of a revolutionary, and seperate his face from the cause... they've ruined the chance of his face being a meaningful symbol.

With Gandhi they wave him around as the "true" liberator as he used no violence.

The problem is, all the misquotations have blurred his image.

He is often quoted as saying that the Jews should have just killed themselves. But what he was saying was that they should not give the Nazi's the ability to control them.

He also told Europeans to invite Mussolini and Hitler over for dinner, to let them take what they want, and to let them control what land they want, but to never give them their allegience.

Very idealist. But perhaps a bit to "hopeful".

[viva le revolution]

I advise you all to read "partition" by lal khan.
He puts together an interesting account of partition by pointing out the red activity in india just before partition and the actions taken against the british by marxists. He shows how nationalist leaders such as Gandhi, Jinnah and Nehru actually played into the hands of the british. It is his contention that with the scope of red activity in India, it would have probably been communist if it was whole after the british had left. It documents red activity in India that has been shadowed by both India and Pakistan and ignored by historians on both sides.

[bolshevik butcher]

Thtas an insne thought, i never understood this extreme non-violence. I mean sure i dont support jumping straight to violence but when the enemy's rolling tanks voer your borders and you have the weapons to resist then why aren't you! It seems irresponsible not to.

[Mujer Libre]

I remember my grandfather telling me that Gandhi pissed him off because, when he was in South Africa, he was all about liberating Indians but didn't give a shit about black South Africans. Really admirable there...

I must have been about 6 at the time too. :lol:

Edit: And Clenched Fist I agree, pacifism is ridiculous when your life is being threatened. Objections to self-defence are just stupid and impractical.

[bolshevik butcher]

yeh, i dont object to paifism as a strategy in the right situation but when the enemy's killing you isn't one of them. Thousands of indians got killed during the liberation, people seem to forget that.

[Clarksist]

I remember my grandfather telling me that Gandhi pissed him off because, when he was in South Africa, he was all about liberating Indians but didn't give a shit about black South Africans. Really admirable there...


That always pisses me off that no one mentions that.

You always hear how he worked to free the peoples from the oppressive South African systems, but only for "his people".

[LSD]

Read back-issues of Ghandi's South African magazine "Indian Opinion". Some of the most racist stuff you will find, not to mention imperialist and colonialist.

Ghandi was no friend to the worker and certainly no Anarchist!

[Bannockburn]

Gandhi supported the caste system and was rascist towards darker-skinned people.


Actually, that is not true whatsoever. Its clearly false, distorted, and you're wrong. By the statements I've seen on this board, none of you have actually read Gandhi, but only picked up a few things here or there. Concerning the caste system, he hated the caste system. He was actually excommunicated, and was an outcaste for leaving India to go to Britain. He also hated the caste system because of its laws to marry so young. He says this in his autobiography.



See here...
I've read this, and I'm sure the statements are taken completely out of context. You can find quotes of Gandhi supporting violence. However, as we all know, he supported ahimsa

Concerning his anarchist views. Yes Gandhi was an anarchist. Yet, he called it “enlightened anarchy” Here is a letter:


Political power, in my opinion, cannot be our ultimate aim. It is one of the means used my men for their all round advancement. The power to control national life through national representatives is called political power. Representatives will become unnecessary if the national life becomes to perfect as to be self-controlled. It will be a state of enlightened anarchy in which each person will become his own ruler. He will conduct himself in such a way that his behavior will not hamper the well-being of his neighbors. In an ideal State there will be no political institution and therefore no political power. That is why Thoreau has said in his classic statement that that government is the best which governs least.

Enlightened Anarchy – A Political Ideal
Sarvodaya, Jan, 1939

Found in: Iyer, R (2004) The essential writings of Mahatma Gandhi
Oxford University Press

There are other writings where Gandhi writes on Anarchy. So, in concerns with your question, yes Gandhi was an anarchist. Also, if anybody has read Thoreau, would know that the end of the quotation Gandhi quoted by Thoreau states something on the lines when men become read the there will be no government at all.

[rahul]

i dunno how these myths reached you!

you know what Gandhi did while the people celeberated indian-midnight independence---" he was in calcutta feeling sad!"

Gandhi was never an anti-communist.....he believed in equality of wealth!

he 've been an anti-racist!

Ofcource , he was a thiest ................

he opposed everything thats violent!^^, thats the reason why the extrimist comrades(not all) of india did not like him.....

Bhagathsingh was highly influenced by mahatma gandhis civil disobedience!

the conemporary marxist-leninst comrades considel gandi as a role model in many aspects---
"he did what he said"

[Xiao Banfa]

Gandhi, despite pressure from mme Blavatsky said in a speech; "I am an a anarchist". He had a vision for a indian federation of non-capitalist communes operating on the basis of participatory democracy. Sounds like anarchism to me, or true communism.

[LSD]

Gandhi was never an anti-communist.....he believed in equality of wealth!

He believed in private property, he believed in private ownership.

He advocated "equality of wealth" in a loose, fuzzy, rhetorical sense. He talked alot about "enlightened" and "ideal" societies, but when it came to practical changes in the real society, he invariable sided with property.


he 've been an anti-racist!

No, he was a virulent racist.

Again, read his articles in "indian opinion" when he was in South Africa. He truly hated the Africans, truly. He had a concerted racial hatred of "kafirs" and was appalled that the British could possible mistake the "higher" Indians for the "lower" Africans.

[Commie Rat]

an anarchist that would not use violence ?
he was glorifed by teh capilatist because he did not use voilence, making him weak opposition- thye are not going to support a man who fights them

[red_orchestra]

Originally posted by [email protected] 2 2005, 02:07 PM
Nehru quotes gandhi as a "philosophical-anarchist"

why do you think so?
No, not in the slightest. He was interesting, I'll give you that... but by no means was he a good example of an enlightened man. He was a racist and a class divider....he was pro Indian, anti-African and pro-Imperialist.