By Michael Bergamasco

Gandhi and Mandela

Mahatma Gandhi

One of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the 1900's, Gandhi helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance. He is honored by Indians as the father of the nation. Called Mahatma, meaning “great soul” he developed a method of action based upon the principles of courage, nonviolence and truth called Satyagraha. He believed that the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. Satyagraha promoted nonviolence and civil disobedience as the most appropriate methods for obtaining political and social goals.

Admirers and Critics

Gandhi was admired as a man of thought and action who offered an alternative vision and operated on a deeper level, making him distinctive. He was a strong proponent of non violence and peace.

Critics of Gandhi believe he was puritanical, conservative, pro bourgeois and levied a sense of guilt on the Indian psyche which hampered its ability to emerge as a powerful state. His alienation of Muslims helped partition India and hamper relations amongst Indians for decades.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela is one of the world's most revered statesmen, who led the struggle to replace the apartheid regime of South Africa with a multi-racial democracy.

He launched a campaign of economic sabotage and was arrested for attempting to overthrow the government.

Jailed for 27 years, he emerged to become the country's first black president and to play a leading role in the drive for peace in other spheres of conflict. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Mandela himself was ripe with contradictions. He was a highly public figure yet was guarded and closed about his private life.

His speeches have been described as awe inspiring and vibrant, yet some view them as stiff, reserved and contrived.

He is a statesman, yet a politician.

He has high ideals for freedom and justice but is often viewed as portraying his views as an “actor”, becoming anything you want him to be.

‘In real life we deal, not with gods, but with ordinary humans like ourselves: men and women who are full of contradictions, who are stable and fickle, strong and weak, famous and infamous.’ —Nelson Mandela