Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Hind Swaraj
I think Hind Swaraj was interesting to read, but reading all those footnotes started getting to me since it interrupted the flow of my reading. As others have stated earlier, I liked his idea of passive resistance, because even something as subtle as that can have a huge impact. But I disagree that passive resistance is the only solution because sometimes it can be ineffective. Sometimes one would need to resort to some sort of action, whether violent or nonviolent to make their voice heard. And I am unclear on whether or not he despises modern civilization in general, or just in India. This book is like a combination of all three themes this year; Ghandi puts a lot of thought into his writings and continues writing to explore and question others who oppose him with hopes that is writing will make a difference.
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3 comments:
I agree with you that Gandhi's writings are controversial but interesting. To answer to your confusion about his views on modern civilization, I'm pretty sure he hated any kind of modernization that resulted from the industrial revolution. Gandhi even stated the British were suffering from the evils of modernization.
The footnotes got to me too! Sometimes they confused me even more, instead of clarifying the text! The most interesting part of your blog was when you said, "The book is like a combination of all three themes this year." Gandhi's view on modern civilisation confused me too, but in a slightly different sense...does it mean he doesn't like all technology and all industrialization (which can help make people's lives and work easier), or was he merely referring to the style of government adopted by imperialist countries?
is passive resistance NOT a form of action?
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