WEBVTT

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Our history is no more than a serious

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of incredible events.

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Every one of us can influence it's course.

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The most infinitely small of our decisions

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can influence the future of humanity.

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To know the past, is to foresee the future.

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1968, New Delhi.

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While the British army besieges the city,

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various rebel factions wage a fight to the death

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for control of the neighborhoods.

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India, the last Jewel of the British Empire

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is bathed in fire and blood.

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In the previous century, Gandhi, a young lawyer

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fighting for civil rights was assassinated,

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lynched by an angry mob.

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Without him, India never gained it's independence.

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The religious communities became more isolated than ever.

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Today the situation is out of control.

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Hindus and Muslims are engaged in a ruthless fight

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while the impotent British army watches.

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But none of this ever happened.

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In 1896, a small grain of sand saved Gandhi

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and allowed him to share his message of non violence.

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May 26th 1893, Gandhi, a young lawyer

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registered with the London Barr Association

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is brutally kicked off a South African Train.

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January 13th 1897.

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A group of angry protestors attacked Gandhi and his family

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and threatened to hang him from a tree.

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March 1930.

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Gandhi begins a march across India.

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He is followed by ten's of thousands of Indians.

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These three inextricably linked events are key

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moments in the life of Gandhi, and the emancipation

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of the former British colony, India.

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(crying)

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India, 1858.

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Just one year ago,

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Indian soldiers from the

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British East India Company mutinied.

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The bloody rebellion spread quickly.

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The english response was ruthless.

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The last islands of resistance are now falling.

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To serve as an example the leaders are executed by

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being shot out of a cannon.

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India is one of the oldest settlements in the world.

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From the west the passage through the mountains

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has allowed many invaders to penetrate the Valley of Indus.

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The river that India is named after.

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The history of the region, includes a succession of empires,

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like Ashoka's as vast as the Roman Empire at it's peak,

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or Guptas, the true golden age of India.

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Still up until the 17th century none of these Empires

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seemed able to completely control this immense and

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highly complex land.

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From the north to the south there is not just one

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but multiple Indias.

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It has an infinite variety of believes

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and religious practices, simultaneously

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Indian society has developed an unbalanced social system

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of the centuries that is based on Castes.

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A strict separation of individuals into distinct groups

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that are ranked in hierarchal order.

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At the bottom of the social pyramid in the lowest

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category for humans are the untouchables

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who are shunned by the rest of society.

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In the 16th century when the Portuguese are already

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actively trading with the Indian sub continent

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the region is being run by the Mughal Empire.

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At the beginning of the following century,

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the British are competing with the Portuguese.

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December 31st, 1600 in the city of London

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entrepreneurs create the British East India Company.

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Not long afterwards the Mugahls weakened by war

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collapsed and allow the companies influence to spread.

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In exchange for British protection several Indian

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princes grant vast privileges.

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Trading intensifies, a steady stream of wealth

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flows between England and it's Indian markets.

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Huge plantations produces large quantities of cotton

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all of which is shipped to England by boat

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and then woven in vast factories.

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Soon Indian's can only find English clothing

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in their markets.

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Gradually all trace of the

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traditional Indian economy disappears.

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Two centuries later the trading company is fully established

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imposing heavy taxes and equipped with it's own army.

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The company reigns over an immense merchant empire.

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But, after the 1858 revolt, it is dissolved

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and India passes under the rule of the Crown.

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Victoria, Queen of England, becomes Empress of India.

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This is the birth of the British Raj.

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Welcome to the memory of humanity.

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Every historical event regardless of how small

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is recorded and connected

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you only need to change one to upset all the others.

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Here we are able to control time

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analyze and compare billions of events

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in order to rewrite history in infinite ways.

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For example, let's go back to the middle of the 19th Century

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to the heart of the Victorian era.

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At the height of it's empire, the United Kingdom

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is the worlds leading power, the Union Jack

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waves it colors on every continent.

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However, not all the inhabitants of the empire

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are citizens or share equal status.

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The English are convinced that their society

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is superior to others.

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In India they are perfectly comfortable with the caste

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system, the English simply place themselves above

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the others.

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In other colonies like in South Africa,

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the condition black people is particularly humiliating

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and degrading and Asian people are practically slaves.

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The empire is based on extreme inequalities.

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May 26th 1893, South Africa.

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This man, how was thrown from a train like a piece

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of filth for daring to sit in a first class compartment

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is deeply humiliated.

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What could he have possibly done wrong?

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This man is a gentlemen attorney registered at the Barr

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in London.

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Here, neither his diplomas nor his English education

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can balance the scales.

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In the eyes of the white colonialists he is a Cooley,

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a duragatory term denoting one of the too many

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asian laborers.

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His name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

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And this misadventure will change him forever.

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He will no longer tolerate this type of injustice.

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Arriving in South Africa for work,

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he will soon be confronted by the reality.

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His compatriots have been reduced to the condition

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of slaves, thousands of them are working on huge plantations

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in this English colony thousands of white

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Europeans ruthlessly exploit the tens of thousands of

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Indians and millions of Africans without reservation.

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This brutal reality pushes the young lawyer

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off the side lines.

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In 1893 he begins defending Indian workers

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who have been mistreated by their white employers.

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On march 22nd he discovers that a bill

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designed to suppress Indian voter rights

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is being prepared.

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He immediately launches a huge campaign to protest this.

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For the British, the name Gandhi is becoming synonymous

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with agitator.

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December 19th 1896.

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After a short stay in India,

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Gandhi returns to South Africa with his family

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but when he arrives at the Port of Durban,

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the authorities place the ship in quarantine

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for sanitary reasons.

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Curiously the white Europeans are allowed to disembark.

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Certain rumors in town, go so far as to say

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that Gandhi has deliberately brought a plague

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to South Africa.

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At the dock, a crowd of protestors scream insults

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and death threats at the Indian passengers.

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Gandhi understands that he, not the ship

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is being quarantined.

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He finally obtains authorization to go a shore

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with his family but only at night and with a police escort.

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Once he reaches the dock, the protestors

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come out of hiding and rush toward the little group.

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The situation quickly gets out of control,

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then the police chiefs wife, passing by in a carriage

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on the way back from a dinner in town

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rushes towards the scene and brandishes her umbrella

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using it and her status to protect the poor Indian family.

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Escorted by the lady to screams from the angry crowd

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demanding he be hanged, Gandhi and his family

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flee the scene.

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We have arrived at a point of divergence.

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A point of divergence is a key moment,

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a cross roads in our history where our world can swing

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from on side to the other.

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Gandhi has just miraculously escaped a mob

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that was ready to lynch him.

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If the English lady had not intervened

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the lawyer would have surely ended up

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at the end of a rope.

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At this time his name and his actions

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were already well known in South Africa and in India.

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His violent death would have served as a warning

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to anyone contemplating taking up the torch of protest.

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In India, without Gandhi and his peaceful influence

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it is probable that the tensions between Indians

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and British colonialists would have escalated

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into a spiral of violence.

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During the night, August 5th 1904,

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Gandhi cannot sleep.

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He cannot stop thinking about something that he read

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earlier that day.

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A brilliant book by John Ruskin.

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The British writer explains that the production

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of good and wealth involves human beings,

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and that not everything should be sacrificed

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for financial interests.

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Those ideas are similar to Ahimsa,

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a religious Hindu concept where by life,

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present in all things should be respected.

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Intense reflection, pushes Gandhi to adopt new ideas,

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and to put them into daily practice.

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His life style is profoundly modified.

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Thinking that people often eat too much

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while others do not have enough to eat

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he decides to set an example and begins fasting regularly.

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He cut's his own hair, and cleans his own toilet.

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For him, these are no longer menial tasks

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and every human should take care of their own needs.

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Too often the witness of violence against women

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he associates sexuality with violence

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and takes a vow of chastity.

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Impressed by the British women's fight to obtain

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voting rights, he sets a new doctrine into motion

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based on civil disobedience and non violence.

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Satyagraha.

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Say no to injustice firmly.

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Publicly and often illegally, but never violently.

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And accept the consequences of your actions.

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July 31st 1907.

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When the government decrees that all Indians

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must be registered with the authorities

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and present proof of their identity at all times

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Gandhi has a chance to test his method.

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Having become an influential leader,

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he suggests that the Indians in South Africa

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refuse to cooperate.

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This is followed by thousands of Indians being imprisoned

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including Gandhi himself.

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August 16th 1908.

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In a public place and under the watchful eyes of the

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police he goes even further and convinces thousands

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to burn their registration papers.

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Severely beaten, he ends up once again behind bars.

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The brutal British response causes Gandhi to write

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that he has discovered the source of evil.

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Western civilization and modernity.

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In 1913 he has part of the law revoked and

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decides to return to India the following year.

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Force or violence?

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Gandhi endures beatings and humiliation without reacting.

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From his point of view this is a show of self control

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and therefor a moral strength.

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When Gandhi goes on a hunger strike,

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Indians see it as proof of his determination.

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From the viewpoint of the English it is a sign

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of weakness and cowardice the British

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after two centuries of occupying Indian soil

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still don't understand how Indian society functions.

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They respond to the protest with demonstrations of strength

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Winston Churchill goes so far as to label Gandhi

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as seditious and unclean Fakir.

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70 years later in 1981 the British will handle

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hunger strikes in the same way.

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During the protests lead by Irish republicans.

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After 66 days without food,

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the activist Bobby Sands will die

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without succeeding in influencing the English government,

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will Gandhi's non violent actions be more successful?

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January 9th 1915.

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Gandhi arrives in Bombay.

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He is welcomed triumphantly by his compatriots.

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They are waiting for him to ascend to the head

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of the Indian congress, the political party

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working towards independence.

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However he has just returned from a 21 year stay in Africa.

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He doesn't really know his native country anymore.

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So he set's out to travel across India and listen

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to it's people.

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He learns that the situation is even worse than he thought.

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Misery is everywhere.

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The British have overtaken off the countries resources,

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famines are frequent and the population

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is crowded in swamps.

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India, miserable, has lost it's dignity.

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Gandhi decides to take action.

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He establishes and Ashram, a sort of monastery

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where he trains his disciples in non violence.

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Followers call him Baku, the father.

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Then Mahatma, or great soul.

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In the beginning he doesn't know exactly how to proceed.

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March 30th 1919, he obtains the first results

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by organizing a national strike.

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All of India responds to his call for a general strike.

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The country is completely paralyzed.

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This demonstration of strength lands him

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once again in prison.

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Protests in support of him begin soon after.

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April 13th 1919.

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British general Dyer, decides to teach the Indians

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in his own words, "a proper lesson."

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He orders his men to shoot straight into a peaceful

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and unarmed crowd, without warning.

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Modern rapid fire rifles, against innocent men

00:17:30.790 --> 00:17:32.403
women and children.

00:17:35.570 --> 00:17:37.493
The carnage is horrifying.

00:17:39.210 --> 00:17:40.520
Gandhi,

00:17:40.520 --> 00:17:43.580
astounded, loses his last illusions about the

00:17:43.580 --> 00:17:45.653
legitimacy of the British government.

00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:49.290
His goal, which until that moment,

00:17:49.290 --> 00:17:51.780
was to gain additional rights for Indians

00:17:51.780 --> 00:17:53.703
becomes total independence.

00:17:55.670 --> 00:17:59.040
He rises to the head of congress and quickly presents

00:17:59.040 --> 00:18:00.400
his program.

00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:04.470
Boycott British schools, courts and English products.

00:18:04.470 --> 00:18:08.240
Then stop paying taxes and desert all police

00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:09.653
and army posts.

00:18:10.870 --> 00:18:14.203
Gandhi can count on over 300 million Indians.

00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:18.320
The British are less than 100,000.

00:18:18.320 --> 00:18:21.920
The only answer they are able to give is violence.

00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.383
The systematic repression, is brutal.

00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:28.510
March 1930.

00:18:28.510 --> 00:18:30.640
The British authorities, learned that Gandhi

00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.523
has launched a 250 mile march across the country.

00:18:36.850 --> 00:18:39.130
His objective is to circumvent the law

00:18:39.130 --> 00:18:41.530
requiring Indians to buy British salt

00:18:41.530 --> 00:18:44.573
by going to the beach and collecting it himself.

00:18:46.350 --> 00:18:48.140
It wouldn't have been so notable

00:18:48.140 --> 00:18:49.760
if he had been all alone.

00:18:49.760 --> 00:18:54.060
But Gandhi is accompanied by tens of thousands of Indians.

00:18:54.060 --> 00:18:57.840
A human wave submerges the British prohibitions.

00:18:57.840 --> 00:19:01.060
More than 60,000 people are arrested and thrown

00:19:01.060 --> 00:19:03.390
in over crowded prisons.

00:19:03.390 --> 00:19:05.280
But that changes nothing.

00:19:05.280 --> 00:19:08.010
For Gandhi this is only the beginning of a long

00:19:08.010 --> 00:19:10.390
period of resistance that will see him cross

00:19:10.390 --> 00:19:12.660
from one side of the country to the other

00:19:12.660 --> 00:19:15.900
all ways peacefully, yet tirelessly rallying people

00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:17.053
to his cause.

00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:23.060
In 1942, in the middle of World War II,

00:19:23.060 --> 00:19:26.473
Gandhi reads his Quit India Declaration.

00:19:28.410 --> 00:19:30.380
Prime Minister Winston Churchill

00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:33.920
miraculously crushes what he perceives as a sedition.

00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:36.573
And as all the members of congress arrested.

00:19:38.060 --> 00:19:40.963
More than 1000 protestors are slaughtered.

00:19:42.780 --> 00:19:44.920
But in the aftermath of the war,

00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:46.950
Churchill's defeat in the election,

00:19:46.950 --> 00:19:50.040
allows the working part, long since supporters

00:19:50.040 --> 00:19:53.250
of India's independence to take power.

00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:55.763
It seems that the time has come.

00:19:58.050 --> 00:19:59.350
Living together.

00:20:01.040 --> 00:20:05.000
India is on the verge of obtaining it's independence.

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:08.300
But this emancipation comes with new challenges.

00:20:08.300 --> 00:20:11.660
Indian society is extremely complex.

00:20:11.660 --> 00:20:14.860
For example, the inequality of the caste system

00:20:14.860 --> 00:20:17.720
goes hand and hand with multiple religions.

00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:19.653
Especially Hindu and Islam.

00:20:20.550 --> 00:20:21.550
But at that time,

00:20:21.550 --> 00:20:24.603
the two faiths are considered incompatible.

00:20:25.490 --> 00:20:28.300
Muslims, present mostly in the north

00:20:28.300 --> 00:20:30.980
or unevenly spread out across the land.

00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:35.000
And represent around 16% of the population.

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:37.493
Which is the largest minority in India.

00:20:39.280 --> 00:20:42.603
Tensions between the two communities are very strong.

00:20:43.650 --> 00:20:46.833
Gandhi makes great efforts to end the conflicts

00:20:46.833 --> 00:20:49.203
and keep his country united.

00:20:51.830 --> 00:20:56.690
British powers aware of this script within Indian society

00:20:56.690 --> 00:20:59.653
use it as leverage in the negotiations.

00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:04.660
If India gains it independence.

00:21:04.660 --> 00:21:06.463
It would divide the country.

00:21:08.020 --> 00:21:09.460
Divide,

00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:10.293
and rule.

00:21:11.800 --> 00:21:13.880
With Churchill on the sidelines,

00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:15.883
independence is within reach.

00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:19.833
But the fight is far from being over.

00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:23.980
One of the leaders of the Independence Movement

00:21:23.980 --> 00:21:27.300
the Muslim Muhammad Ali Jinnah, defends the idea

00:21:27.300 --> 00:21:30.060
of separating India into two countries.

00:21:30.060 --> 00:21:33.453
Pakistan for Muslims, the rest for Hindus.

00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:38.740
For Gandhi, this separation would be catastrophic

00:21:38.740 --> 00:21:40.263
and a terrible failure.

00:21:42.360 --> 00:21:46.027
Across the country, more and more riots break out.

00:21:46.027 --> 00:21:48.390
Hindus massacre Muslims.

00:21:48.390 --> 00:21:50.403
Muslims kill off Hindus.

00:21:52.330 --> 00:21:56.160
On each side, people are becoming more erratic.

00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.250
Gandhi is increasingly isolated.

00:21:59.250 --> 00:22:02.890
Nehru, his political ally does everything he can

00:22:02.890 --> 00:22:05.300
to preserve a unified India in spite of the

00:22:05.300 --> 00:22:08.330
two faced Gena, who while officially condemning

00:22:08.330 --> 00:22:10.330
the anti Hindu protests,

00:22:10.330 --> 00:22:12.783
secretly encourages their outbreaks.

00:22:15.140 --> 00:22:17.913
The separation of India seems inevitable.

00:22:19.620 --> 00:22:22.290
August 15th 1947.

00:22:22.290 --> 00:22:26.030
After months of negotiations, independence is proclaimed

00:22:26.030 --> 00:22:29.207
to the cries, "victory to Mahatma Gandhi."

00:22:30.770 --> 00:22:33.410
But the old man is not present.

00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:36.743
Disgusted he could not share this jubilation.

00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:43.350
The day before, he saw his country ripped itself in two.

00:22:43.350 --> 00:22:46.823
India on one side, and Pakistan on the other.

00:22:47.990 --> 00:22:51.073
This results in huge population displacement.

00:22:52.410 --> 00:22:55.130
Leaving their homes, millions of Muslims

00:22:55.130 --> 00:22:58.610
make their way to the distant and all new Pakistan.

00:22:58.610 --> 00:23:01.300
And cross paths with Indian refugees

00:23:01.300 --> 00:23:03.113
heading in the opposite direction.

00:23:04.660 --> 00:23:09.253
Inevitably clashes occur and escalate into massacres.

00:23:10.490 --> 00:23:13.440
Gandhi tirelessly crosses the country side

00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:15.613
desperately promoting non violence.

00:23:17.060 --> 00:23:19.070
He achieves miracles.

00:23:19.070 --> 00:23:21.870
During his trip, the troubles cease,

00:23:21.870 --> 00:23:24.333
but often start back up after he leaves.

00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.680
One year later, while on his way to morning prayers

00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.810
Gandhi is shot three times by a young nationalist

00:23:33.810 --> 00:23:36.743
who believes the Mahatma is a traitor.

00:23:42.180 --> 00:23:47.030
Hindus and Muslims, after centuries of living together,

00:23:47.030 --> 00:23:50.310
are drawn into a spiral of conflicts and will become

00:23:50.310 --> 00:23:52.770
irreconcilable enemies.

00:23:52.770 --> 00:23:55.453
But that, is another story.

00:23:57.060 --> 00:23:59.233
Who truly was Gandhi?

00:24:00.790 --> 00:24:03.970
The Son, he was the liberator of India.

00:24:03.970 --> 00:24:07.010
A hero in the fight against the imperialists.

00:24:07.010 --> 00:24:11.290
For others, he was a spiritual guide, sometimes compared

00:24:11.290 --> 00:24:12.593
to Jesus Christ.

00:24:13.430 --> 00:24:16.420
His fight for women and the untouchables made him

00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:17.473
a humanist.

00:24:18.870 --> 00:24:21.940
It is certain that radical Indian nationalists

00:24:21.940 --> 00:24:23.373
considered him a traitor.

00:24:25.530 --> 00:24:27.920
His indifference for the plight of the black

00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.450
South African population has lead some

00:24:30.450 --> 00:24:32.053
to call him a racist.

00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.540
But one thing is certain, he is one of the people

00:24:36.540 --> 00:24:39.823
who's left a considerable mark on the 20th century.

00:24:43.530 --> 00:24:46.280
Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged being influenced

00:24:46.280 --> 00:24:47.793
by Gandhi's ideas.

00:24:49.580 --> 00:24:53.170
He too was cut down by extremists bullets.

00:24:53.170 --> 00:24:55.563
Just like many other agents of change.

00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:00.520
In the darkest hours of the fight for Indias

00:25:00.520 --> 00:25:03.880
independence when the country was on the brink of Civil War

00:25:04.962 --> 00:25:08.275
this man dressed in simple cloth,

00:25:08.275 --> 00:25:10.750
and standing all alone,

00:25:10.750 --> 00:25:13.131
was stronger than an army.

00:25:13.131 --> 00:25:15.631
(epic music)