Toyohiko Kagawa: Gandhi of Japan?

Toyohiko Kagawa (1888-1960) was a Japanese social reformer, labor activist and Christian evangelist known as “Japan’s Gandhi.” As a social activist, pacifist and public figure, Kagawa was well-known during his lifetime – both in his home country of Japan as well as in the United States. He was nominated for the Nobel Prizes in literature and peace on numerous occasions.

 The Chipko Movement: Treehuggers of India

Resistance in India has been commonly characterized by nonviolent tactics for centuries. Mahatma Gandhi popularized this nonviolence globally and coined the term, “satyagraha,” a form of nonviolence resistance in place of using force as a political weapon. The Chipko Movement comes from the word, “chipko,” which means to hug or to cling to. During the 1970s rural villagers held on to trees as a way to protest tree felling in regions, notably in Uttar Pradesh.

The Salt Satyagraha

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, famously known as Mahatma (great-souled) Gandhi, is often credited as the leader of India’s independence movement and the father of nonviolence. The Salt Satyagraha, led by Gandhi, is subsequently recognized as the turning point in the Indian independence movement and the moment at which Gandhi’s practice of civil disobedience gained popularity.

A Pinch of Salt and the One of the Largest Nonviolence Movements in India: The Salt March of 1930

The Salt March was one of the most famous early acts of civil disobedience, led by nonviolence leader Mahatma Gandhi as part of India’s protest to gain freedom from the British. In 1882, the British government implemented the Salt Act which prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, forcing them to buy salt from the British instead.

Practicing What He Preaches – Pietro Ameglio’s Nonviolent Pursuit of “Peace with Justice”

Since his death in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi’s employment of civil disobedience has famously inspired some of history’s most prominent freedom fighters, including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi’s name has even become the root of an adjective used for the principles by which he lived.