Speech Analysis: Mohandas K. Gandhi - Non-violence is the first … › vorschau › 32897 ›...
Transcript of Speech Analysis: Mohandas K. Gandhi - Non-violence is the first … › vorschau › 32897 ›...
Unterrichtsmaterialien in digitaler und in gedruckter Form
Auszug aus:
Das komplette Material finden Sie hier:
© Copyright school-scout.de / e-learning-academy AG – UrheberrechtshinweisAlle Inhalte dieser Material-Vorschau sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Das Urheberrecht liegt, soweit nicht ausdrücklich anders gekennzeichnet, bei school-scout.de / e-
learning-academy AG. Wer diese Vorschauseiten unerlaubt kopiert oder verbreitet, macht sich gem. §§ 106 ff UrhG strafbar.
Speech Analysis: Mohandas K. Gandhi - Non-violence is thefirst article of my faith (March 23, 1922)
School-Scout.de
SCHOOL-SCOUT Analyzing Political Speeches: Mahatma Ghandi Seite 3 von 5
systems devised in the world and that India is making steady though slow progress. They do not
know that a subtle but effective system of terrorism and an organized display of force on the one
hand and the deprivation of all powers of retaliation or self-defence on the other have emasculated
the people and induced in them the habit of simulation. This awful habit has added to the ignorance
and the self-deception of the administrators. Section 124-A under which I am happily charged is per-
haps the prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liber-
ty of the citizen. Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a
person or thing one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection so long as he does
not contemplate, promote or incite to violence. But the section under which Mr [Shankarlal] Banker
[a volunteer who worked with Gandhi] and I are charged is one under which mere promotion of dis-
affection is a crime. I have studied some of the cases tried under it, and I know that some of the most
loved of India's patriots have been convicted under it. I consider it a privilege, therefore, to be
charged under it. I have endeavoured to give in their briefest outline the reasons for my disaffection.
I have no personal ill-will against any single administrator, much less can I have any disaffection to-
wards the King's person. But I hold it to be a virtue to be disaffected towards a government which in
its totality has done more harm to India than any previous system. India is less manly under the Brit-
ish rule than she ever was before. Holding such a belief, I consider it to be a sin to have affection for
the system. And it has been a precious privilege for me to be able to write what I have in the various
articles tendered in evidence against me.
In fact I believe that I have rendered a service to India and England by showing in non-cooperation
the way out of the unnatural state in which both are living. In my humble opinion, non-cooperation
with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good. But in the past, non-cooperation has been
deliberately expressed in violence to the evildoer. I am endeavouring to show to my countrymen that
violent non-cooperation only multiplies evil and that as evil can only be sustained by violence, with-
drawal of support of evil requires complete abstention from violence. Non-violence implies voluntary
submission to the penalty for non-cooperation with evil. I am here, therefore, to invite and submit
cheerfully to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is deliberate crime and
what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen. The only course open to you, the Judge and
the Assessors, is either to resign your posts and thus dissociate yourselves from evil if you feel that
the law you are called upon to administer is an evil and that in reality I am innocent, or to inflict on
me the severest penalty if you believe that the system and the law you are assisting to administer are
good for the people of this country and that my activity is therefore injurious to the public weal.
SCHOOL-SCOUT Analyzing Political Speeches: Mahatma Ghandi Seite 5 von 5
exploiter” (l. 25) which leaves them condemned and often imprisoned for the simple act of standing
up for their rights.
Gandhi calls the actions of the British government in India a “crime against humanity which is per-
haps unequalled in history” (ll. 19/20), hereby adding a whole new dimension to the conflict, namely
one of universal importance. This impression is further emphasized by his frequent use of superla-
tives (as in “maddest risk” (l. 12) and “greatest misfortune” (l. 27)) and by the inclusion of God, as the
last instance, where everyone will be forced to face the consequences for his actions.
In the second paragraph Gandhi revisits his notion that most of the Indian and even the British offi-
cials are not fully aware of the above mentioned crime, being completely distracted by the ad-
vantages of the system and the progress it supposedly encourages. Instead of harshly condemning
and blaming those people, he calls it a “misfortune” (l. 27) that is the result of wrong behaviour on
both sides, “ignorance” and “self-deception” (ll. 33/34) on the one and the “habit of simulation” (l.
34) as a result of powerlessness and resignation on the other, the Indian population´s side. Gandhi´s
manner of speech is never hateful, as according to his conviction hate only results in violence. In-
stead, he uses his experience as a former lawyer to appear respectful but still convincing, formally
pointing out the injustices in the legal system he, almost sarcastically, refers to as the “Indian Penal
Code” (l. 35), which among others comprises severe restrictions of the freedom of opinion and
speech. This means that each declaration of dissatisfaction or “disaffection” (l. 40) with the system
can be regarded as a crime, a circumstance which appears ridiculous when Gandhi declares it “a
privilege” (l. 41) to be charged for such a crime.
Transition from Main Body to Conclusion
With the detailed information on the mistakes of the system and its administrators provided in the
two body paragraphs, Gandhi now returns to his idea of non-violent noncooperation in the conclu-
sion, repeating some of the things he already mentioned at the beginning of his statement and thus
creating a kind of framework for his speech.
CONCLUSION (LL. 50 – 62 )
In the last part of his speech, Gandhi very elaborately outlines his idea of non-violent civil disobedi-
ence and noncooperation as offering the only way out of the “unnatural state” (l. 50) that holds India
as well as Britain in its grip. He employs the very general terms “evil” and “good” (l. 51) in order to
further clarify his argumentation that violence only causes more violence, a vicious circle Gandhi
intends to help people to break out of by promoting the renunciation of violence. With undiminished
resolve to set an example by acting according to his words he again “invite[s] and submit[s] cheerful-
ly to the highest penalty (ll.56/57), repeating the opening sentences. Hereby, a framework is created
that conveys a sense of completeness as well as a calm self-assurance that derives from Gandhi´s
willingness to put himself on the line for what he believes is right and his absolute faith in the Indian
people´s ability to peacefully bring about change.
Unterrichtsmaterialien in digitaler und in gedruckter Form
Auszug aus:
Das komplette Material finden Sie hier:
© Copyright school-scout.de / e-learning-academy AG – UrheberrechtshinweisAlle Inhalte dieser Material-Vorschau sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Das Urheberrecht liegt, soweit nicht ausdrücklich anders gekennzeichnet, bei school-scout.de / e-
learning-academy AG. Wer diese Vorschauseiten unerlaubt kopiert oder verbreitet, macht sich gem. §§ 106 ff UrhG strafbar.
Speech Analysis: Mohandas K. Gandhi - Non-violence is thefirst article of my faith (March 23, 1922)
School-Scout.de