🇿🇦 The South African Phase (1894–1914)
🏛️ 1894 – Natal Indian Congress (NIC)
- Founded: By Gandhi to provide a structured fight against discrimination of Indian traders and laborers.
- First President: Dada Abdulla (Gandhi’s client).
- Role: Gandhi served as its first Honorary Secretary.
- Significance: Marked the birth of the first permanent political organization for Indians abroad.
📜 1894–1906: The Moderate Phase
Strategy: “Prayer and Petition.” Gandhi believed in the British sense of “fair play.”
- 1896 – The Green Pamphlet: Published by Gandhi in Rajkot (India) to highlight South African issues; led to the SS Courtland incident where he was nearly lynched upon returning to Durban.
- 1899–1902 – Second Boer War: Gandhi organized the Indian Ambulance Corps (1,100 workers) to show loyalty to the Empire.
- Award: He received the War Medal and later the ‘Kaisar-i-Hind’ gold medal by hardinge (1915), which he returned in 1920 to protest the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
- 1903 – Indian Opinion: A weekly newspaper (English, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil) edited by Mansukhlal Nazar. It was the mouthpiece of the movement.
- 1904 – Phoenix Settlement: * Inspiration:John Ruskin’s Unto This Last.
- Concept: “Bread Labor” and communal living. It was the precursor to the ashram lifestyle.
🔥 1906–1914: The Satyagraha Phase
Strategy: “Passive Resistance” evolves into Satyagraha (Truth/Soul Force).
- 1906 –Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act (popularly known as the “Black Act”).:
- Context: Ordinance forced Indians to carry certificates with fingerprints at all times.
- Action: Gandhi formed the Passive Resistance Association.in 1906
- Key Event: In 1908, Gandhi was jailed for the first time (Johannesburg). Thousands publicly burned their registration certificates.
- 1910 – Tolstoy Farm: * Collaborator:Hermann Kallenbach (German architect).
- Purpose: To house and train families of jailed Satyagrahis.
- Significance: A laboratory for Gandhi’s educational and vocational experiments.
- 1913 – The Great March & Final Struggle:
- Issues: A £3 Poll Tax on ex-indentured laborers and the invalidation of non-Christian marriages.
- The March: Gandhi led 2,000 workers (including women like Kasturba) from Natal to Transvaal, defying border restrictions.
🤝 The Final Victory & Diplomatic Support
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale (Political Guru): Traveled to SA in 1912 to negotiate; later sent C.F. Andrews (Deenbandhu) to assist Gandhi in 1914.
- The “Deenbandhu” Nickname: Gandhi gave C.F. Andrews this title (Friend of the Poor) and referred to his initials (C.F.A.) as “Christ’s Faithful Apostle.”
- Lord Hardinge (Viceroy): Publicly criticized the South African government, putting imperial pressure on the British.
- Result – 1914 Indian Relief Act: Compromise with General Smuts.
- ✅ Poll Tax abolished.
- ✅ Indian/Non-Christian marriages recognized.
- ✅ Satyagraha proven as a successful tool of resistance.