Gandhi in the West

Abstract

The non-violent protests of civil rights activists and anti-nuclear campaigners during the 1960s helped to redefine Western politics. But where did they come from? Sean Scalmer uncovers their history in an earlier generation's intense struggles to understand and emulate the activities of Mahatma Gandhi. He shows how Gandhi's non-violent protests were the subject of widespread discussion and debate in the USA and UK for several decades. Though at first misrepresented by Western newspapers, they were patiently described and clarified by a devoted group of cosmopolitan advocates. Small groups of Westerners experimented with Gandhian techniques in virtual anonymity and then, on the cusp of the 1960s, brought these methods to a wider audience. The swelling protests of later years increasingly abandoned the spirit of non-violence, and the central significance of Gandhi and his supporters has therefore been forgotten. This book recovers this tradition, charts its transformation, and ponders its abiding significance.

The pacifist and the hypophysical: A cosmological reading of Gandhi

“…There also emerged a sizeable presence of Gandhians in the largest pacifist organisations of the UK and USA -the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR) and the Peace Pledge Union (PPU). 72 On a close analysis, Gandhism could carve its niche when it was secularised and stripped of its religious and mythical underpinnings by the likes of Gregg and Shridharani. 73 Sridharani dismissed 'the traditional "mysticism of the Orient"' as a basis for understanding Gandhism.…”

Acting Local, Thinking Global in Post-War British Anarchism

“…Gandhi was important here, exemplifying, as he did, the non-violent 'warrior' par excellent. 45 His tactical deployment of the satyagraha principle ('insistence on truth') had allowed him to mobilise thousands into carefully choreographed clashes with authorities in which coming under attack was not failure but success:…”