POLICY OF NONVIOLENCE 

GANDHI

I want to welcome you all.

Every one of you.  We have no secrets.

Let us begin by being clear about General Smuts' new law: All Indians must now be fingerprinted, like criminals, men and women. And no marriage, other than a Christian marriage, is considered valid. Under this Act, our wives and mothers are whores, and every man here is a bastard.

And our policemen, passing an Indian dwelling – I will not call them homes – may enter and demand the card of any Indian woman whose dwelling it is.

Understand, he does not have to stand at the door.

He may enter.                                                                  

I prepared to die. But, my friend, there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill. Whatever they do to us, we will attack no one, kill no one, but we will not give them our fingerprints – not one of us.  They will imprison us; they will fine us; they will seize our possessions, but they cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.

I am asking you to fight! To fight against their anger, not to provoke it.

We will not strike a blow, but we will receive them. And it will hurt – as all fighting hurts.                      

But we cannot lose. 

We cannot. 

They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me, but then they will have my dead body and not my obedience.

We are Hindu and Muslim, children of God, each one of us.

Let us take a solemn oath, in His name, that come what may we will not submit to this law.