BE PART OF AN INTERNATIONAL WALK FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM
In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi and his band of 78 marchers undertook one of the
most inspiring events in the history of the Indian freedom movement. To help
free Indian from British control, Gandhi proposed a nonviolent march
protesting the British Salt Tax. The Salt Tax made it illegal to sell or
produce salt, allowing a complete British monopoly. Since salt is necessary
is everyone's diet, all people in India were affected. The Salt Tax made it
illegal for workers to freely collect their own salt from the coasts of
India, making them buy salt they couldn't afford.
On April 5, 1930 Gandhi and his faithful "sartyagrahis" (name given by
Gandhi to nonviolent resisters) reached the coast of the Indian Ocean.
Prayers were offered and Gandhi picked up a tiny lump of salt, breaking the
law. The Salt March started a series of protests. Within a month, Gandhi was
arrested and thrown in a prison already full of fellow protestors. The world
embraced the sartyagrahis and their civil disobedience, eventually enabling
India to gain their freedom from Britain.
 Their Salt March - 241 miles in 24 days - continues to inspire people and
movements around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was deeply
fascinated by the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, wrote, " I came to
see that the Christian doctrine of love, operating through the Gandhian
method of nonviolence, is one of the most potent weapons available to an
oppressed people in their struggle for freedom."
To commemorate this historic event on an international scale, the Mahatma
Gandhi Foundation of India is re-enacting the Salt March in honor of the
75th anniversary.
In March, I'm traveling to India with my friend, Linda Ketley, to
participate in this celebratory walk, which will take place from March 12th
to April 7th. It will begin at Gandhi's Sabermati Ashram in Abmedabad and
end at the hamlet of Dandi on the Indian Ocean. (For more information see
http://www.saltmarch.org.in).
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