The Muslim 500 – Man & Woman Of The Year
November 16, 2022GANDHI SALT MARCH
7 MAY 2023, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
The Gandhi Salt March was arranged by the Gandhi Development Trust headed by Hon. Dr Ela Gandhi from the Gandhi Settlement in Inanda to the Gandhi Park in Phoenix, a distance of about 6-7 km.
The event began with prayers from various religious leaders followed by short speeches from various religious and political leaders.
Sheigh Rafeek Hassen offering a prayer at the event
Hon. Dr. Ela Gandhi giving a message on the relevance of the Gandhi Salt March
The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 5 April 1930 as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly.
Another reason for this march was that the Civil Disobedience Movement needed a strong inauguration that would inspire more people to follow Gandhi's example. Gandhi started this march with 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march spanned 387 kilometres.
American Consulate General addressing the people
Sheigh Rafeek Hassen walking with the crowd from Inanda to Gandhi Park in Phoenix
In early 1920 the Indian National Congress chose satyagraha as their main tactic for winning Indian sovereignty and self-rule from British rule and appointed Gandhi to organise the campaign. Gandhi chose the 1882 British Salt Act as the first target of satyagraha.
The Salt March to Dandi, and the beating by the colonial police of hundreds of nonviolent protesters in Dharasana, which received worldwide news coverage, demonstrated the effective use of civil disobedience as a technique for fighting social and political injustice.
The satyagraha teachings of Gandhi and the March to Dandi had a significant influence on American activists Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, and others during the Civil Rights Movement for civil rights for African Americans and other minority groups in the 1960s.
