Gandhi & James

In the reading Hind Swaraj by M.K. Gandhi, he wants India to be free from its colonizer, or decolonize India.  One of the main goals that Gandi envisions is decolonizing India; he wants India to be free from “English political and economic rule [and] they must also free themselves from British and modern European, culture.” In order for India to free itself from slavery, it has to remove the ‘cause,’ which is the British colonization.  One of the ways for the decolonization to occur is for individuals to discover their “swaraj,” which is an individual learning to rules oneself.  When they realize their swaraj, they can persuade other people to do the same and this will cause a domino effect.  This is one of the example of everyday act of resistance, which was mentioned by James Scott.  Gandhi decides to take the indirect resistance because it would be less damaging than the direct resistance.  So the main goals of everyday act of resistance is to wear down the powers of the powerful.  In this case, if everyone in India spread this message, it would help with the dismantling faster. 

                  In the other article Beyond a Boundary by C.L.R. James, he mentions the two aspect of his life that he was living: cricket field and classroom. James was brought up in an environment that he never questioned while he was growing up.  In the playing field, James felt integrity and honesty because he knew everyone were doing the same thing.  He felt equal to everyone because it was a playing field that consisted of people with various backgrounds.  However, when it came to outside of the playing field, James recognized the society that he didn’t like seeing.  His society was all filled with English morals and influence.  He was looking at the society from an outside angle for the first time.  He was placed in a community that he had no choice but to join because he was placed in it.  This can be connected to Gramsci’s mentions about philosophy: unconscious spontaneous philosophy and conscious and critical philosophy.  James reflects the notion of unconscious spontaneous philosophy because he took everything that was taught to him without questioning or critically thinking about its existence.  He grew up in a country that is heavily influenced by British due to the colonization. 

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