Curated Quote: Mohandas Gandhi [Leader of India’s Independence 1869-1948]

“The World has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed”

A great quote from a great man. Regular readers know I have dropped this quote into my wealth inequality columns. Global wealth inequality is matching the 1920s, which was the all-time high, and we know how that decade ended.

Planet Earth can support all living humans, but not if there is rampant greed by some or many. When there are more billionaires today than ever before, the minimum needs of many people go unsupplied. According to Perplexity, the number of billionaires has more than doubled in the past 15 years. Currently, there are some 3,030 billionaires as of this month and they hold a combined wealth of over $16 trillion – the highest in history. This represents a total that exceeds the GDP over every country except the U.S. and China.

This quote can also be used when looking through the climate crisis lens. 1970 was the last year that humanity consumed within the limit of the planet. Every year since then we have consumed more than the planet could regenerate in a year. Currently, the U.S. is consuming at the equivalent level of five earths. Humanity is consuming at a 1.7 earths per year. In 1970 there was 3.6 billion people. Today there are 8.2 billion.

Finally, Gandhi is known at the foremost practitioner of non-violent protest. He first won equal rights for some Indians living in what is now South Africa. He had a thriving law practice that gave him the funds to buy land to set up egalitarian settlements. Then he returned to India in 1915 and began his masterwork, the Independence of India, which occurred in 1947. It must be remembered that the British Empire had ruled the world for four centuries and during that time it had become the greatest global spanning empire in history. The saying was that “the sun never set on the British Empire”. When the independence movement was launched in 1942, Gandhi was chosen to lead it. Massive non-violent protests occurred with Gandhi at the front of the masses, demanding independence. A skinny man, wearing a dhoti [loincloth of the poor classes] who sat at a spinning wheel every night, brought the mightiest empire in history to its knees with simple non-violence. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was so impressed with Gandhi that he based the entire strategy of the civil right movement of the mid-20^thcentury on non-violence. The recent “No Kings” demonstration of 7+ million people in the U.S. has people making comparisons to the civil rights movement. 7+ million demonstrated peacefully as there was not a single arrest in the country. The brightest example is of Gandhi using non-violence against a great empire to win independence for hundreds of millions of people. The wisdom and actions of Mohandas Gandhi will always be wisdom for use by humanity into the future.

Below are some videos that will highlight the life and work of this great man. Please take the time to view one or more of them to learn more about one of the greatest figures of the 20^th century.

[Thank you to all the new people who hit the like button for the past two columns. I do appreciate it if you like a particular column that you leave a like, as it seems to help with the Substack algorithm. Please like this column and if, a paid subscriber, please leave a comment if you have one. Thank you!]