Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā, first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used throughout the world.
Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava, also known as JP and Lok Nayak, was an Indian politician, theorist and independence activist. He is mainly remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and calling for her overthrow in a "total revolution". In 1999, Narayan was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. His other awards include the Magsaysay award for public service in 1965.
Fatima Meer was a South African writer, academic, screenwriter, and prominent anti-apartheid activist.
The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of the Communist Party of India towards the Congress. Influenced by Fabianism as well as Marxism-Leninism, the CSP included advocates of armed struggle or sabotage (such as Yusuf Meherally, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Basawon Singh as well as those who insisted upon Ahimsa or Nonviolent resistance. The CSP advocated decentralized socialism in which co-operatives, trade unions, independent farmers, and local authorities would hold a substantial share of the economic power.
Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance.
Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo OMSG was a South African Communist and an anti-apartheid activist. During his life, he was chair of both the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist Party, as well as being a major proponent of co-operation between those organisations and the African National Congress. He was a leader of the Defiance Campaign and a defendant at the Treason Trial in 1956. His last days were spent in exile in London, where he is buried at Highgate Cemetery; a few metres away from the Tomb of Karl Marx.
Aruna Asaf Ali was an Indian educator, political activist, and publisher. An active participant in the Indian independence movement, she is widely remembered for hoisting the Indian National flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan, Bombay during the Quit India Movement in 1942. Post-independence, she remained active in politics, becoming Delhi's first Mayor.
Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was an Indian nationalist and political leader, and former president of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League during the Indian Independence Movement. He was one of the founders of Jamia Millia Islamia University. He remained it's chancellor from 1928 to 1936.
The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was a political organisation established in 1894 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Natal Colony, and later the Natal Province, of South Africa. Founded by Mahatma Gandhi, it later served an important role in opposing apartheid. It was the oldest affiliate of the South African Indian Congress.
Ela Gandhi, is a South African peace activist and former politician. She served as a Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994 to 2004, where she aligned with the African National Congress (ANC) party representing the Phoenix area of Inanda in the KwaZulu-Natal province. Her parliamentary committee assignments included the Welfare, and Public Enterprises committees as well as the ad hoc committee on Surrogate Motherhood. She was an alternate member of the Justice Committee and served on Theme Committee 5 on Judiciary and Legal Systems. She is the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi.
The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) was an umbrella body founded in 1921 to coordinate between political organisations representing Indians in the various provinces of South Africa. Its members were the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), and, initially, the Cape British Indian Council. It advocated non-violent resistance to discriminatory laws and in its formative years was strongly influenced by the NIC's founder, Mahatma Gandhi.
Anugrah Narayan Sinha, known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian nationalist politician, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian & one of the architects of modern Bihar, who was the first Deputy Chief Minister and the Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–1957). He was also a Member of the Constituent Assembly of India, which was elected to write the Constitution of India and served in its first Parliament as an independent nation. He also held a range of portfolios including Labour, Local Self Government, Public Works, Supply & Price Control, Health and Agriculture. A.N. Sinha, affectionately called Anugrah Babu, was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom movement and worked with Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha to lead the Gandhian movement in Bihar. One of the leading nationalists in the Indian independence movement from Bihar after Dr Rajendra Prasad, he was elected as the Congress Party deputy leader in the state assembly to assume office as the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of independent Bihar, and re-elected when the Congress Party won Bihar's first general election with a massive mandate in 1952.
Madanjeet Singh was an Indian diplomat, painter, photographer, and writer.
Shraddhanand, born Munshi Ram, was an Indian independence activist and Arya Samaj sannyasi who propagated the teachings of Dayananda Saraswati. This included the establishment of educational institutions, like the Gurukul Kangri University, and played a key role on the Sangathan and the Shuddhi (purification), a Hindu reform movement in the 1920s.
Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid, which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.
The African National Congress (ANC) has been the governing party of the Republic of South Africa since 1994. The ANC was founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein and is the oldest liberation movement in Africa.
Guru Radha Kishan (1925-1996) was an Indian Independence activist and Communist politician.
Enuga Sreenivasulu Reddy, also known as E. S. Reddy, was an Indian-born diplomat at the United Nations who led the anti-apartheid efforts at the UN's Special Committee Against Apartheid and its Centre Against Apartheid. He also served as director of the UN Trust Fund for South Africa and the Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa. During his time in these roles, he campaigned for economic boycott of the then Government of South Africa, advancing anti-apartheid actions including a combination of economic and social measures. He also lobbied for the release of the imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.
S. P. Varma is a social worker and peace activist from Jammu and Kashmir. He has been actively involved in peace-building efforts in conflict-ridden areas of the Kashmir valley.
Ismail Ahmed Cachalia (1908-2003), popularly known as Moulvi, was a South African political activist and a leader of Transvaal Indian Congress and the African National Congress. He was one of the leaders of the Indian Passive Resistance Campaign of 1946 and the Defiance Campaign in 1952. The Government of India awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1977.
