According to a well-known informational database, “Britain’s Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet” (Staff Writers). This also placed a moderately large tax on the purchase of salt sold by the British. While a seemingly insignificant law, the origins of a more cohesive Indian unified front unfolded with the occurrence of Gandhi’s mass civil disobedience stemming from his fixation on said law. He took his followers on a two hundred mile march to the sea and “Three and a half weeks later, on April 5, surrounded by a crowd of thousands, Gandhi waded into the edge of the ocean, approached an area on the mud flats where evaporating water left a thick layer of sediment, and scooped up a handful of salt” (Engler and Engler). While a handful of salt does not seem impressive or rousing, the meaning behind it was vast. The once silent and long-suffering population of India grew weary with the incessant foreign assailants, eventually striking back with the Salt March. The now-famous march became a major demonstration that caused the previously unmanned crusade for the nonviolent liberation from the chains of British oppression, to turn into a plethora of powerfully encouraging voices. Thus, the campaign for freedom, formerly slighted due to its untraditional peaceable methods, gained …show more content…
While “The meeting was a disappointment… British leaders had acknowledged him as a force they could not suppress or ignore” (Staff Writer). This acknowledgement empowered the citizens of India, and fueled the wholly nonviolent movement all the way to its end. Through the many pitfalls that came alongside the dissidence, the acknowledgement of the nonviolent independent movement caused partially by Mahatma Gandhi helped win the Indian people their own autonomy. That was the pebble that was thrown into a lake, causing a ripple effect. One of many beginnings to a single end, “India’s independence was finally granted in August 1947”. It is easy to see the end of British reign as a group effort, but one must consider Mahatma Gandhi’s diligent work. Using a widespread hate of the British, he united the Indian people; a feat that had never been imagined, let alone done before. Gandhi brought together a passionate and tenacious rebellion through the workings of nonviolence against simple-minded, callous brutality. The fight for Indian political freedoms may be over, but the injustices of the world are far from it. As the Engler brothers put it, “Social movements today continue to fight struggles against racism, discrimination, economic exploitation and imperial aggression. But, if they choose, they can do so aided by the powerful example of forebearers who converted moral