Nonviolent resistance (also called passive resistance) is a method of protest developed in the 1920s by an Indian leader named Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi to fight against British colonial rule in India.
Gandhi believed that people should not obey unfair laws, and should be willing to go to jail for disobeying those laws. While Gandhi believed that people should protest unfair treatment, he felt that they must never use violence.
He called this method of protest “nonviolent resistance.” By practicing these beliefs, Gandhi led his people in a successful revolution without resorting to violence.
In 1947, using Gandhi’s methods, the people of India, who had been ruled by England for many years, were able to become an independent
country.
Gandhi’s methods were studied by Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders, and used in the civil rights movement in the United States.
