DBQ

How does non-violence work? Do you think it is the best solution?

Non-violence is the best solution to solving problems. If someone is being violent towards you, it is best to stay away from violence. Violence always leads to more violence, you can't stop it by using weapons or any other physical thing. Non-violence will make the other person/country or whatever look bad, and sometimes also make them feel like there is no reason for fighting in the first place. Well, what's the point of fighting someone who isn't going to fight back?

From the movie:
a) In the scene where the Indians walked towards the British they didn't fight back and they let the British give them blows to their heads without raising a hand back or dodging the blows. This shows that the Indians are using non-violence to their advantage. The fact that the British are beating and even killing the Indians for no apparent reason is making them look really bad. It makes the British look like they just attack people for no reason, when the Indians did nothing to hurt the British they still attacked the Indians. It proves my point about making the other person look bad.

b) In the scene were Ghandi is fasting because there is so much violence. The Indians are fighting back against the British and many people are getting killed. Ghandi fast because he wants the violence to stop. He doesn't eat or drink until the violence ends. It goes on for a while. But this shows that violence isn't the best answer to anything because there will always be someone willing to go against the violence and willing to sacrifice anything just to stop the violence. So in a way violence is harming that person even though they are not involved in the fight.

Documents Read in Class:

Document A- This document was written by Gandhi. He had an idea to call the country to a general hartal. Hartal is a day of fasting and prayer. During these days no one can work. The British didn't like the idea of no Indians working but they couldn't do anything about it. Gandhi fought back against the British without having to raise one hand. He didn't physical fight back, he just used his mind. If you want your way violence is not a good way at all. It's natural for everyone to think they're right in a violent situation.

Document B- Martin Luther King wrote this document. He had a similar idea to what Gandhi had done. But instead it was about buses. Martin Luther King and Nixon decided that they did not need the treatment of being at the back of the bus or being told where and when to go somewhere. This all started after Rose Parks was arrested for not moving to the back of the bus. Rose Parks was not violent she just said she was not going to move for anyone no matter what skin color they are because no race deserves to be treated better than another race. That's where the idea of a bus boycott came in. No blacks took the bus after that night. Meaning the bus drivers were not making much money because money of the people who took the bus were african-american and since they decided not to take the bus they didn't get much out of their business. They did all of this without violent actions.

Document D- Gandhi wrote a letter to Lord Edwin who was and English Governor in India. He wrote that he would not harm any Englishman but he feels as if the Salt Tax Law was a curse. He felt that the taxing was wrong because not all people can afford to pay the tax law, and people need salt to survive. He also felt as if it wasn't the right for British to tax the Indians because it was not their salt, the salt did not belong to anyone. So the Indians marched to the sea and broke the tax law.

Document G- This document relates to what I wrote earlier about what happened in the movie. This document is before the march when Mme. Naidu called for a prayer. She told them that they must not resist the blows from the British because they would get beaten, no matter what they must keep going no matter what happens without fighting back. This made the British look as if they were just beating the Indians for no reason, because the Indians did nothing to hurt the British. The Indians were just trying to get their salt. They did nothing wrong to the British.

Document H- This document as well is written by Martin Luther King. This document is about making a non-violent army. Martin Luther King asked all the people to give up their weapons. He said that they did not need those weapons because the worst weapon of all was that they were right. No matter how much people deny it they were right and there was nothing anyone could do about it. No one was hurting any body.

New Documents:

Document K- This document written by Martin Luther King shows how non-violence can make a person feel. People were happy that they were involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. People rushed down to the Sheriffs office and didn't resist to be arrested. Negroes were proud that they were doing something for their freedom. They didn't feel as if they did anything wrong. They felt as if they did the right thing. They got arrested feeling like it they had accomplished something in their life, and helping the future become a better place for other races.

Document L- This document is related to document K. Written by Nelson Mandela. Nelson, Walter and Govan did not appeal to anything even if it was a death sentence. They felt that even if there was a death sentence they would be dying with the knowledge that it was an inspirationg for the cause. He said that he death would not be in vain, that being dead would serve a better cause than it ever could in life.