Mohandas K. Gandhi was was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial activist and political ethicist who, in leading India's campaign for independence from British rule, employed the concept...voir plusMohandas K. Gandhi was was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial activist and political ethicist who, in leading India's campaign for independence from British rule, employed the concept of nonviolent resistance, the success of which inspired similar nonviolent civil rights and political movements around the world.
Born and raised in Gujarat, India, Gandhi studied law in London and practiced in South Africa for 21 years before returning to India with his wife and family in 1915 and beginning his work as an anti-colonialist.
Gandhi had been asked to speak on the occasion of the opening of the Banaras Hindu University. Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy, had come to lay the foundation-stone at the ceremony and his police guard was so pervasive that Banaras itself appeared to be in a state of siege, which upset Gandhi greatly.
Gandhi was preceded to the stage by human rights activist Annie Besant, a supporter of the Indian independence movement. Rising to address the audience of students, Gandhi said that he wanted to "think audibly," or, in other words, to speak without reserve. The crowd grew increasingly agitated during the speech and did not allow him to finish.voir moins