The Atlantic article: The Debt MLK (Martin Luther King) Owed to India's Anti-Colonial Fight

The Debt MLK Owed to India's Anti-Colonial Fight, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/mlk-postcolonial-struggles/557150/, by Kanishk Tharoor, 4th April 2018

Very interesting article.

A small extract from it:

"The 20th century may be defined in the West by the World Wars and the Cold War, but for much of the rest of the planet it was the age of decolonization, when old structures of (often racial) domination and power gave way to new states, new nations, and new politics. Developments in one corner of the Global South reverberated continents away, forging bonds of sympathy and engagement. When India won independence from the British in 1947, it inspired people across Asia, Africa, and the Americas."

Ravi: Actually, it was only in the past few years as I was doing a lot of reading up, that I got a better understanding of how India's independence using Gandhi led non-violence, inspired Civil Rights movement in the USA to take up non-violence as the way to achieve their goals.

While I think I knew the link between MLK and Gandhi, I did not really know much about how brutally the African-Americans were being suppressed in the USA at a time when India had just attained independence! In school in Bombay, I recollect learning about Lincoln standing up for principles and fighting a big civil war over abolition of slavery, and his Gettysburg speech. The impression I had got then was that the civil war victory largely solved the African-American issue!

Of course, as I became an adult and started reading the Indian newspapers seriously I got to know of racism in the USA against African-Americans but still the coverage of such matters were pretty limited in Indian newspapers.

Till about 5 to 10 years back, I did not know much about Black Panthers in the USA and Malcolm X and all that. They had a violent approach to fight for their rights. They seem to have failed. MLK and his people took the non-violence approach, faced beatings and humiliation, MLK himself got assassinated, but they achieved great victories that gave more power to African-Americans.

I don't think this aspect of American African-American civil rights movement was highlighted in India in the 80s and 90s (my young adult days). Perhaps there were other topics of more interest to India like South African apartheid, China etc. So it escaped my notice till I began reading up on such matters.

[I thank theatlantic.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above short extract from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]