Protesters demand removal of Mahatma Gandhi statue in England

[ansible]

Activists in Britain are demanding the removal of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the city of Leicester. A petition to remove the Indian independence leader, which calls him out for “well-documented anti-black racism,” has nearly 5,000 signatures, the BBC reported.

Though he is most remembered for leading his people in nonviolent resistance against British colonialism, Gandhi also held publicly critical opinions of black Africans during his stint living in South Africa in the late 19th century.

“Gandhi too was an imperfect human being, [but] imperfect Gandhi was more radical and progressive than most contemporary compatriots,” Faisal Devji, a professor of Indian history at Oxford University, told the British news service.

The drive to remove Gandhi comes as Black Lives Matter protests have swept the globe toppling or defacing statues they deem to be racist. Earlier this week, BLM protesters in Bristol toppled a statue of 17th-century merchant and slave trader Edward Colston into the harbor.

“[Gandhi] is a fallible man as all men are, but to lump him in with slave owners, that’s a bit much,” Devji said.

https://nypost.com/2020/06/13/protesters-demand-removal-of-mahatma-gandhi-statue-in-england/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. That's short-sighted. Gandhi was assassinated in his quest to unite Hindus and Muslims.

[Hortensis]

2. Inevitable. Maybe we could halt or at least slow this by

supplying everyone with mirrors, put a mirror finish on store fronts, etc.

[dweller]

9. mirror is already there ..

Thou Art That


✌🏼

[Hortensis]

10. :) These days for too many the rest is, "but THEY aren't!"

[dweller]

11. 'privilege' is pissing away for them .. sad

✌🏼

[Collimator]

3. I have heard that about Gandhi.

And the point that no one is perfect is important. Gandhi's contribution to history is not limited to opinions he expressed about black people.

I don't know enough about the Gandhi to say for certain, but did his ideas evolve and grow with his activism? The man that he was in the late 19th century may not have been the man that he was by the mid-20th century.

And I do know that Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that he took his goals from Jesus, and his methods from Gandhi.

My mother commented that Obama seemed "like a wise man" and that he would be "a good leader" in early 2009, a few months before she died. And this was a woman who used the phrase "half-assed n___er" a great deal in her earlier years.

[JI7]

4. Many Hindus in India don't like Gandhi because he is seen as too pro Muslim

[brush]

5. It's disappointing that he, a person of color himself, looked down...

upon others of color. Very sad that he didn't have the ability to rise above that. He allowed himself to fall for the divide and conquer tactic that he fought against.

[JackintheGreen]

6. Colorism is very common across South Asia

Not just against those of African descent but, for examples, Sindhis is SE Pakistan and Tamils in the far south of India.

[brush]

12. I know. One would hope a person like Ghandi would be above that.

[JackintheGreen]

14. And by all accounts he grew above it

He was decidedly racist when he was young, shaped by his experiences in South Africa. It’s almost certain he was raised with bigoted ideas that deepened there (the colorism noted above). But by the end of his life he appeared to work against prejudice in all its forms. Doesn’t mean he didn’t still have racist ideas, but it seems by all accounts that he tried to overcome them. You know, he grew as a person.

[dweller]

7. this just sounds dumb

5,000 signatures is a squat amount ...


✌🏼

[uponit7771]

8. Letting the perfect and good be the enemy of adequate

[Demovictory9]

13. not going to be many statues left