The Beginnings of Protest, 1860-1923
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CHAPTER I
The Establishment of the Indian Community: The Beginnings of Protest, 1860-1923
1. Introductory Survey
The period 1860-1923 is characterised firstly by the introduction of indentured Indian labourers into Natal and of the "passenger" Indians who came to trade, and secondly by the Gandhi resistance campaign and the formation of the NIC, TBIA, and the SAIC. Whilst the ex-indentured labourers found employment in diverse occupations, the trading elements gradually expanded their business activities, which included as customers the African and European communities.
Owing to the colonial heritage, the anti-Indian attitudes of the Europeans were deeply ingrained and found expression in statutory restrictions placed on the political, social and economic advancement of the Indian people. However, the humiliation and degradation consistently heaped on the Indians did not always go unchallenged. Utilising the judicial process and other methods of resistance the Indian people and organisations sought to stem the tide of anti-Indian prejudice and legislation.
It was Gandhi who transformed the political arena in South Africa. M.K. Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1393 and it was here that he began his experiments with the philosophy and political weapon of Satyagraha. In the cauldron of racialism as practised by the Europeans in South Africa, Gandhi's optimistic view of humanity and the potential strength and bravery of an oppressed community was developed.
The Indians, geographically, economically, culturally and linguistically separated, learnt from bitter experience the necessity for co-ordinated action at the local, provincial and national level, through political organisations which could give concrete expression to their accumulated grievances and to their determination and desire to resist. Gandhi was instrumental in the founding of the NIC in 1894 and the BIA in 1903. But it was only as late as 1919 that the SAIC was founded. After a modest beginning the SAIC was to spearhead the struggle at the national level.
