Gandhi

Tolstoy left a profound influence and imprint on Gandhi as did the teachings of Jesus Christ and the nineteenth century writer Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" was one Gandhi took to heart. But civil disobedience and passive resistance were believed by Gandhi to be inadequate for his purpose. For that reason Gandhi coined the term Satyagraha, a Sanskrit word meaning truth and firmness. This word defined what Gandhi was working towards. In 1910 Gandhi founded Tolstoy Farms, in Johannesburg, which was a cooperative colony for Indians to go to. .
             The first of Gandhi's nonviolent protests was the sit-in. He was arrested dozens of time for doing a sit-in. When the Indian people were being oppressed or unfairly taxed, Gandhi would go to an important area. Important as in, in front of a government building of those doing the taxing or oppressing. He would peacefully sit until arrested. The meetings or gatherings could not continue while Gandhi was there and others would join him, usually Indians, so to prevent the evil ways from continuing. After twenty years of sit-ins Gandhi decided he needed something bigger. The sit-ins always ended with the gathering continuing afterward and Gandhi in jail. That is only so effective, surely not effective enough. Gandhi instigated hunger strikes to stop Indian oppression. Gandhi would go for extremely long periods of time without eating. The South African government did know of these hunger strikes and were forced to give in. If they did not they would be responsible for the death of this man. It's perfectly understandable why they gave in, of course. But the government wouldn't just give Gandhi anything for not eating, so Gandhi's progression towards his goals was still quite slow. When he did eat Gandhi was a vegetarian and still ate very little. Because of his diet Gandhi became awfully frail and skinny; his breath had an incurable odor.