GHANA
Rejecting Gandhi
The University of Ghana in Accra has taken down a statue of Mohandas K. Gandhi, more commonly known as the Mahatma, or “great soul,” after a petition drew attention to his racist views regarding black Africans.
In India, of course, Gandhi became known for his dogged, nonviolent opposition to British colonialism. But his profile is more problematic in Africa, where he lived and worked as a lawyer in South Africa, the Washington Post noted.
In their petition for the removal of the statue, professors, students and Ghanaians drew attention to Gandhi’s denigration of “savage” black Africans in his advocacy for preferential treatment of Indians in South Africa, as well as his frequent use of the term “Kaffir” – the utterance of which is now a hate crime in that country.
Some Indians also object to what they describe as his patronizingviews toward people from the castes historically viewed as untouchables, whom he called “Harijans” or “the children of God.” But South African supporters, including Gandhi’s granddaughter, objected to the statue’s removal as “a judgmental statement about a person based on one or two statements,” the Press Trust of India reported.
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