Ghandi was truly revolutionary and loved his country and its people greatly.
Hind swaraj means sef-governance. Ghandi greatly urged the Indian people to free themselves from British rule through acts of daily resistance. Acts like not wearing British made clothing, or consuming British products, and abstaining from machine manufactured and produced goods. Through the discontinuation of material consumption and becoming more self sufficient, India will be freed from Britain's grasp.
His way of revolting and resisting is peaceful, passive. And, honestly, impractical and ineffective. If we were to use the same methods now, the people from which we are fighting to be freed from could care less because to them we may just be pawns, we're dispensable. In the world we live in now, the use of machinery is inevitable. All products are made by machines, or parts of it has passed through a machine somewhere along its line of production. I also think - not that I think this little of humans, seeing how far we've come - that we are not capable of reverting back to such primitive ways of life successfully.
The battle against colonization. I came from a country that was colonized not only once, but twice by two major world players in their times - Spain and the U.S.. The effects of colonization, I can still feel them, see them, hear them today in the Philippines and in America. This reminds me of Gramsci's philosophy of history and its prevailing effects and connections to today. Colonization is especially present in the Filipino language and the loss of our written language. Tagalog is not purely native now; it is heavily Spanish-influenced. Our native written language was, not necessarily replaced, but Latinized.
Beyond a Boundary
This excerpt follows the author's journey through life and his encounters and battles with racism, prejudice, and discrimination. More specifically in the sport, cricket. In addition to this, is his battle with his father through acts of rebellion.
Having strict parents is one of the top Asian American stereotypes. My parents were not as strict compared to my other Filipino and Asian friends, but they were more strict than my non-Asian friends. I found also that my hispanic friends also had strict parents. Making further connections, I found that parents tended to be more strict depending on their situation - whether they were immigrants (although we all were), generation differences, their financial situation, etc.. More specifically, the stricter parents were usually first or second generation immigrants. Our parents want only the best for their children and most, if not all parents, would give up everything they have for us. That is the case for many immigrant families. Parents are strict because they want to protect what they worked so hard for, they want for their children to work hard too so that they do not have to face the same struggles and obstacles that they had.
As the children of these strict parents, we often don't realize - some sooner than later - the struggles that our parents had undergone to get to where we are. We rebel against their teachings because we want to conform to our society's box. We rebel because we are trying to survive as well. We rebel because we don't understand. Our parents implement harsh tactics and methods of discipline because that's how they grew up. But we all don't live in this cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all world!
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