On Jul 20, 2012 11:25 PM, "Bonobashi" <[email protected]> wrote: > > I wonder what he meant by "the raw kaffir". > > > “A general belief seems to prevail in the colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than the savages or natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kaffir.” > > > > “Ours is one continued struggle against degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the European, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness.”
Being in South Africa, as Gandhi was earlier in his career, I can hazard a guess. Kaffir was the standard (now very derogatory - equivalent of "nigger") term used for native Africans in South Africa. The common conceit was that they were an inherently inferior race, little better than hunter gatherers. Kaffir being a corruption of the Arabic for "non-believer" it was a term often used for slaves and potential slaves. The fact that Gandhi described Africans as having no ambition and as hunter gatherers lends credence to the idea that he also held racist notions. -- Charles
