Learning from Gandhi's mistakes

[undergroundpanther]

Mahatma Gandhi is often praised as the man who defeated British imperialism with non-violent agitation. It is still a delicate and unfashionable thing to discuss his mistakes and failures, a criticism hitherto mostly confined to Communist and Hindutva publications. But at this distance in time, we shouldn't be inhibited by a taboo on criticizing official India's patron saint.

read more..
http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/fascism/gandhimistake.html

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Even sending letters to hitler ,were for peace

Dr Koenraad EIst seems like a smart guy, but he didn't graduate Oxford at 17 and Gandhi didn't have an axe to grind with anyone ,just Peace and Equality. http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/ http://www.mkgandhi.org/

[cheapdate]

2. Gandhi stood up for the best ideals of humankind.

too bad his ideals weren't good enough for Koenraad Elst.

[greytdemocrat]

3. Going after Martin Luther King next??? n/t

[obliviously]

4. I have never understood the desire of some to dimminish the accompishments of great men.

Why don't they try to achieve more themselves rather than drag someone down to their level.

[riderinthestorm]

5. Like Mother Theresa, JFK, MLK, we learn our "heroes and saints" have clay feet.

Interesting article but true believers will never acknowledge their particular saint has some troubled history.

Thanks for posting this.

[cheapdate]

6. "Troubled history"?

That's not how I would put it at all. Koenraad calls them "political failures". He characterizes Gandhi's participation in mobilizing soldiers to fight alongside the Allies in WW1, without later "extract(ing) any tangible gains for India" as a "glaring failure of political skill". He criticizes Gandhi for "the mistake of hubris" for believing he could make peace with Ottoman Muslims. From the perspective of perfect hindsight, he criticizes Gandhi's "judgment" for negotiating in good faith with British Viceroy Lord Irwin.

I'm perfectly capable of looking at Gandhi's actions in a factual and unromantic way. Koenraad's tone and attitude are simply petty and shitty, in my opinion.

[ZombieHorde]

7. 7) Not wearing a bullet proof vest. nt

[joshcryer]

8. Check out "Pacifism as Pathology."

Pacifism as Pathology