Conflict in South Africa

Gandhi worked in South Africa for twenty years. While he was there the Indian community grew in size and commercial importance and the Europeans began to see them as a threat politically. Soon the British began to encroach on the freedom of the Indians and they began to lose their rights. They lost the right to vote and the government tried to restrict immigration into South Africa.
Mohandas docked at Durban and the merchant of Porbandar was there to greet him. After a day or two they went to the court room to see how things in South Africa were done. Mohandas was wearing a black turban when he entered the room which the magistrate ordered him to remove. Around him the other Indians were also wearing turbans and so he refused to remove it. Mohandas then wrote about this incident and tried to explain his actions to a newspaper. This started a fierce correspondence, bringing him to the attention of the Indians in Durban.
There was not much work for Mohandas in Durban so he was sent to Pretoria to represent his employer in a lawsuit. He was given first class tickets and the company set agents along the route to tend to his needs.
On the way to Pietermaritzburg, a European man entered the train and saw that an Indian man was sitting and went away to complain. A railway official arrived and told Mohandas to go to the third class section. Mohandas showed him his first class tickets and refused to leave. The railway official refused to accept the tickets and called the policeman who then kicked Mohandas out of the moving train. Mohandas sat in the dark and deserted place where he contemplated many things.
He had never had such an experience before in his life. He was very angry and almost left South Africa, but he remembered his duty to his employer and decided to stick it out. He also realized that the ill-treatment was a result of color prejudice, and believed that it was his duty to do everything in his power to stop it.
In his book Satyagraha in South Africa he wrote about his feeling: "I should try if possible to root out the disease of color prejudice and suffer hardships in the process. I experienced further insults and received more beatings on my way to Pretoria but this only confirmed me in my destination." It was here that Mohandas decided that the weapon he should use to fight prejudice was truth and he invented the name Satyagraha. Satya in Sanskrit means ‘Truth Weapon.’ Mohandas described the word as, "The vindication of truth not by inflicting suffering on the opponent but on oneself. The opponent is to be weaned away from error by patience and sympathy." This weapon that Mohandas used in South Africa and then later in India came not only from the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita but also from the Sermon on the Mount. "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you."
When Mohandas arrived in Pertoria he made a public appearance where he told his audience to be honest and truthful. He told them to forget their own rivalries and the divisions that existed within them whether they be Hindus, Muslims, Parsees or Christians. He also told them to learn English. Through the June of 1894 he was busy speaking and organizing meeting. Here he was making powerful friends. One of such friend was the General of Natal and Dada Bai Naoroji, a wealthy Indian in London who was also a member of Parliament. Mohandas helped form the first Natal Congress in August of 1894 ad he became the secretary. Mohandas soon found himself to be the chief political representative of the Indians in South Africa. Everything stopped; his family, the search for God etc. had to wait for the time being.
When in 1907 an Act was passed that made Indians carry registration certificates and residence permits, Mohandas persuaded the Indians not to register. He was called before the magistrate and sentenced two months in jail. This was just the beginning. After this the British declared that only Christian marriages were valid. This made Kasturbai angry. She said in horror, "Then I an not your wife?" This led her and other women to join the Satyagrahis. In the years to come many strikes were organized and many Indians were imprisoned.
Throughout this whole time Mohandas never lost his temper. He used the truth Weapon and made great efforts to spread honesty and gentleness in South Africa.