CLIL History

THE LONG POSTWAR (1944-1973) Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. He was born in Gujarat, India in 1869 and went to England where he studied to become a lawyer. In 1893 he travelled to South Africa for work, and there he witnessed the humiliating and degrading conditions the Indian immigrants were forced to work and live in. He began to fight for basic human rights for them and achieved important concessions from the British rule in South Africa. This experience was decisive for the development of his thought. He studied the sacred texts of Hinduism along with the Koran, the Gospels, and western writers such as Tolstoy and Thoreau. He and his family returned to India in 1915 and there he became a dominant figure in Indian politics as the leader of the Indian National Congress. His actions were based on satyagraha, that was a policy of passive resistance, peaceful non-cooperation, civil disobedience and boycotted British goods. In the period between the two World Wars he launched several campaigns and led demonstrations that generated national and international attention. In 1930 he organized the Salt March , as a protest against a tax on salt that hit the poorest classes in particular. Thousands of Indians reached the Arabian Sea to make their own salt from seawater. In the same way he encouraged Indian peasants to spin their own cloth at home instead of buying clothes produced in British factories. Gandhi was arrested many times by the British authorities and spent many years in jail. After India gained its independence he witnessed the rapid deterioration of Muslim-Hindu relations and tried to stop the violence by multiSalt March, 1930: Gandhi graps a plying his fastings and days of prayer. On 30 January 1948 he was assassinathandful of salt on the beach at Dandi as a protest against British tax on salt. ed by a Hindu fanatic. ACTIVITY 4.C After reading the text Gandhi, complete the sentences. . . . . 1. In South Africa Gandhi witnessed 2. Gandhi developed his thought by studying 3. Satyagraha was 4. The Salt March was 5. 6. instead of buying clothes produced in British factories. by a Hindu fanatic. ACTIVITY 4.D Besides Mohandas Gandhi there were other influential figures in the process of the decolonization of India. These figures were Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Lord Louis Mountbatten. Research these three people and complete the chart with the information you find. Nehru Nationality/Origin Occupation Role in Indian history Political ideas Relationship with Gandhi 36 Jinnah Mountbatten