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印度人民在寻找出路 Appeal to America

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莫罕达斯·卡拉姆昌德·甘地/Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

莫罕达斯·卡拉姆昌德·甘地(1869—1948),现代印度民族独立运动的领袖,印度独立前国民大会党的领袖,印度共和国的开国元勋,毕业于英国伦敦大学。1893年在南非领导反种族歧视斗争。倡导对英国殖民政府“不合作运动”,曾两度出任国民大会党主席。

In my opinion, the Indian struggle for freedom bears in its consequences not only upon India and England but upon the whole world. It contains one-fifth of the human race. It represents one of the most ancient civilizations. It has traditions handed down from tens of thousands of years, some of which, to the astonishment of the world, remain intact. No doubt the ravages of time have affected the purity of that civilization as they have that of many other cultures and many institutions.

If India is to revive the glory of her ancient past, she can only do so when she attains her freedom. The reason for the struggle having drawn the attention of the world I know does not lie in the fact that we Indians are fighting for our liberty, but in the fact the means adopted by us for attaining that liberty are unique and, as far as history shows us, have not been adopted by any other people of whom we have any record.

The means adopted are not violence, not bloodshed, not diplomacy as one understands it nowadays, but they are purely and simply truth and non-violence. No wonder that the attention of the world is directed toward this attempt to lead a successful bloodless revolution. Hitherto, nations have fought in the manner of the brute. They have wreaked vengeance upon those whom they have considered to be their enemies.

We find in searching national anthems adopted by great nations that they contain imprecations upon the so-called enemy. They have vowed destruction and have not hesitated to take the name of God and seek divine assistance for the destruction of the enemy. We in India have endeavored to reverse the process. We feel that the law that governs brute creation is not the law that should guide the human face. That law is inconsistent with human dignity.