“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in peoples minds.” - Samuel Adams Many of us are familiar with the Boston Tea Party. If you are not, here is a very abbreviated version: On the night of December 16th, 1773, before the US was even born, a group of protestors called The Sons of Liberty (including among others, Samuel Adams) illegally boarded a merchant ship of the British East India Company and threw the cargo of tea into the Boston Harbor. Their protest was over the fact that the British Parliament was taxing the tea, but as colonies, they had no voice in parliament. If you have ever heard the phrase No Taxation Without Representation, this is in part where the phrase comes from. Nearly 160 years later, the actions of the Sons of Liberty would be remembered by Mahatma Gandhi at the end of a 24 day March in protest of British Tax policy on salt in India. At the end of the march, it is reported that Gandhi removed a small amount of salt (untaxed and illegal) and added it to his to tea saying to remind us of the famous Boston Tea Party. (From Gandhis Truth: On the Origins of Militant Non-Violence by Erik Erikson, page 448). Below is the story of Gandhi, Salt, Non-violent protest and Self-rule, a story which begins 84 years ago this week, on March 12th, 1930...
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 06:07:48 +0000
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