Gandhi and the Indian Movement

Gandhi and the Indian Movement” by Salama Moussa

Historical Context

Colonial backdrop: Written in 1934 at the height of British imperial rule, the book reflects the shared experience of oppression in both India and Egypt. Salama Moussa saw the Indian struggle as a model for Egypt and the wider Arab world.

Purpose of writing: Moussa sought to analyze Gandhi’s strategy of nonviolent resistance as a path to liberation, emphasizing the parallels between the social and political conditions of both nations.

Mahatma Gandhi

Early life and intellectual formation

Childhood and influences: Gandhi was born into a traditional Hindu setting and deeply shaped by the principle of ahimsa (nonviolence) rooted in Indian religions. Later, while studying law in London, he encountered Enlightenment thought from the West.
Transformative years in South Africa:
Between 1893 and 1914, Gandhi worked as a lawyer for Indian laborers in South Africa, where he personally experienced racial discrimination—most famously when he was expelled from a first-class train compartment despite holding a valid ticket.
He founded the “Tolstoy Farm” (named after the Russian writer) as a hub for spreading ideas of peaceful resistance, and organized civil disobedience campaigns against discriminatory laws, including public burnings of “foreign residence permits.”

Philosophical Foundations of His Movement

Satyagraha (“truth-force”):
A fusion of spirituality and politics, satyagraha was based on the conviction that injustice can be defeated not by violence but through patience, moral suffering, and inner strength. Gandhi drew inspiration from Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience and Leo Tolstoy’s rejection of state violence.
Asceticism as political practice: Gandhi adopted a life of simplicity—wearing homespun cloth, practicing vegetarianism—to embody the values he preached and set an example for the masses.

Strategies of Nonviolent Struggle

Forms of practical resistance

Economic boycott: Gandhi urged Indians to boycott British goods, particularly textiles from Lancashire, and to revive local production through hand-spinning.
The Salt March (1930): Gandhi led a 240-mile march to protest Britain’s monopoly on salt production, an act that galvanized international attention.
Civil disobedience: He encouraged Indians to refuse unjust taxes and challenge discriminatory laws through peaceful protest. Hunger strikes became one of his moral weapons—for instance, his 21-day fast to support the rights of the “untouchables” and to ease Hindu-Muslim tensions.
Cultural resistance through education: Gandhi founded schools that emphasized local languages and national identity over English colonial education.

Pivotal Events

The Amritsar Massacre (1919): British troops under General Dyer killed hundreds of unarmed demonstrators. Shockingly, Dyer was later honored in Britain. Gandhi transformed this atrocity into a unifying symbol of resistance.
Trials as propaganda platforms: British judges treated Gandhi with paradoxical respect, even consulting him about his own sentence—an absurd contradiction that revealed the moral fragility of the colonial system.

Internal Challenges and Achievements

Obstacles to national unity

Religious divisions: The growing rift between Hindus (the majority) and Muslims (the minority) threatened the freedom struggle. Gandhi tried to heal the divide through fasting and joint appeals for reconciliation.
The caste system: Gandhi fought against the oppression of 50 million “Dalits” (untouchables), calling them Harijans (“children of God”) and advocating their social inclusion.

Historic achievements

Indian independence (1947): Secured without full-scale war, though marred by violent partition and communal bloodshed.
Global influence: Gandhi’s movement later inspired figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Salama Moussa as a Bridge Between Civilizations

Moussa’s analytical reading

Parallels with Egypt: He highlighted the similarities in British colonial rule across India and Egypt, urging Egyptians to draw lessons from India’s struggle.
Critique of religious mobilization: Moussa admired Gandhi’s use of spirituality as a political tool but warned against turning him into an untouchable “legend” immune to criticism.

Moussa’s intellectual background

European influences: During his time in France and England, Moussa absorbed Darwinian and Marxist ideas and joined the Fabian Society.
Role as a reformer: As an early advocate of Arab socialism and secularism, he sought to apply critical, rational analysis to historical figures rather than hagiography.

Evaluating the Movement and the Limits of Nonviolence

Unfinished achievements

Failure of unity: Despite Gandhi’s efforts, India was partitioned and Pakistan was created.
Persistent poverty: Political independence did not eliminate India’s deep-rooted economic problems.

Critique of nonviolence as philosophy

The problem of universality: Can nonviolent resistance work everywhere? Moussa noted that Britain was relatively “sensitive to public opinion”—a condition not shared by more authoritarian regimes.
The risk of sanctification: Gandhi’s elevation into an icon could, paradoxically, stifle critical thought.

Lessons Learned

Nonviolence as a flexible strategy: Effective only under certain conditions—when opponents are subject to public opinion and moral accountability.
Moussa’s intellectual legacy: The book stands as an early example of what we now call “Global South comparative studies,” predating postcolonial theory.
The enduring message: True change begins with self-transformation before confronting the oppressor—a principle Gandhi lived out in his personal life.

“In reading Gandhi’s life, one finds in his defeats as much as in his victories the kind of inspiration that sacred texts offer.” – Salama Moussa

Texts from the Book and Reader Reception

Key quotations

“In our struggle against imperial principles… we must take guidance from India’s movement.”
“Gandhi… the ripest fruit of the Indian national movement, and the figure closest to the hearts of Indians.”

Reader reviews

The book was praised as an “early window” into India’s liberation struggle. Some, however, felt it overemphasized Gandhi’s individual heroism at the expense of deeper social analysis.

For the original summary in Arabic