![]() Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilised-the convicts even more so.During his time in South Africa from The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Government of India (CWMG), Vol I, p.Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir. A general belief seems to prevail in the colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than the savages or natives of Africa.Comments on a court case in The Indian Opinion (2 June 1906).Thanks to the Court's decision, only clean Indians or coloured people other than Kaffirs, can now travel in the trams. And according to tram regulations, those in an unclean dress or in a drunken state are prohibited from boarding a tram. The Court declared that the Kaffirs have no legal right to travel by tram. But the magistrate's decision is quite different. You say that the magistrate's decision is unsatisfactory because it would enable a person, however unclean, to travel by a tram, and that even the Kaffirs would be able to do so.Comments on a court case in The Indian Opinion (25 March 1905).Is there a slightest vestige of justification for so preventing the British Indian? The prominent race can remain so by preventing the native from arming himself. The British Indian does not need any such restrictions as are imposed by the Bill on the natives regarding the carrying of fire-arms. In this instance of the fire-arms, the Asiatic has been most improperly bracketed with the native.Porter, Medical Officer of Health for Johannesburg (15 February 1905) later published in The Indian Opinion. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population, and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians I must confess I feel most strongly. Of course, under my suggestion, the Town Council must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. Why, of all places in Johannesburg, the Indian location should be chosen for dumping down all kaffirs of the town, passes my comprehension.Facts we would always place before our readers, whether they are palatable or not, and it is by placing them constantly before the public in their nakedness that the misunderstanding between the two communities in South Africa can be removed. That being so, we should fail in our duty if we wrote anything with a view to hurt. We have an abiding faith in the mercy of the Almighty God, and we have firm faith in the British Constitution. We believe in the righteousness of the cause, which it is our privilege to espouse. We want to serve the community, and in our own humble way to serve the Empire. One thing we have endeavoured to observe most scrupulously, namely, never to depart from the strictest facts and, in dealing with the difficult questions that have arisen during the year, we hope that we have used the utmost moderation possible under the circumstances.410 (Electronic Book), New Delhi, Publications Division Government of India, 1999, 98 volumes. Address given in Bombay (26 September 1896), Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.Ours is one continual struggle against a degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the Europeans, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir whose occupation is hunting, and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness.An unjust law is itself a species of violence. ![]()
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