In 1882, Britain enacted the Salt Act in India, which prohibited citizens from either collecting or selling salt.  Instead, they were forced to buy salt from their British rulers who charged a heavy tax.  When Mohandas Gandhi returned to Indian from South Africa in 1915, he decided the way to fight this unfair and prohibitive Act was to declare satyagraha, better known as nonviolent civil disobedience.  (Satya implies loving truth, and agraha means firmness;  Gandhi coined his term to imply a force that is born of truth and love, to distinguish it from passive resistance.) 

 

On March 12, 1930, Gandhi set out from his ashram with several dozen followers to trek 240 miles to the town of Dandi, on the Arabian Sea.  On the way, Gandhi collected tens of thousands of peaceful protestors who joined his pilgrimage.  Once they arrived, Gandhi and his supporters made salt from seawater.  Gandhi was arrested in May, 1930 and imprisoned for almost a year before he was released.  

The satyagraha gained worldwide attention, which gave impetus to India’s independence movement, and brought awareness to the legitimacy of India’s claim to sovereignty and self-rule. 

 

Please join me in declaring our own satyagraha against the Canadian Government to protest its tyrannical behaviour, and to bring awareness around the globe of the Charter violations that have been inflicted on all Canadians for over two years.  We will claim our sovereignty back by becoming independent, strong and self-sufficient, and by educating our friends and family who may still not understand that our leaders have waged war upon us.