Nationalists :: essays papers

Nationalists The extent to which Nationalists should pursue their goals is a complex issue. The possible changes as well as the losses must be weighed. There is a myriad of complex issues surrounding the situation. Without Nationalists making changes, Italy would not be unified, Apartheid would still exist in South Africa, and many other changes would not have occurred on this planet. I believe that Nationalists should try to solve their problems and get what they want without using violence as a tool. Guseppe Mazzini was a major factor in the unification of Italy. He started his fight for unity with non-violent means. He tried wearing black clothing to mourn the persecuted, and he attempted to educate the people about the dangers of foreign rule in Italy. Gradually however he escalated to more violent means of getting his way. He stirred feelings of Nationalism, brotherhood and religion. In 1848 he started a revolution in Rome. The Pope was forced to flee the city, and Mazzini established a Roman Republic. The entire republic was built upon the one-time rage of the masses. Mazzini simply stirred the emotions of the people, but they didn't really feel that strongly about it. The population of Rome didn't care enough to fight for the retention of the city. The French were easily able to re-take the city, and return it to the Pope. Mahatma Gandhi represents the other side of the spectrum, throughout his life he used only non-violent means to get what he wanted. His main goal was to get Moslems and Hindus to live peacefully together. He was quoted as saying "All religions are almost as dear to me as my Hinduism". One instance of his attempts to use non-violent means to accomplish his goal was his two hundred and thirty-kilometer march to the ocean in order to extract salt illegally. This was in protest of Britain's salt monopoly in India. Other non-violent acts that he used as tools to persuade the government to listen to his goals were his six to twenty-one day fasts. At one time Gandhi used a fast to force his release from prison. The prison would have been held responsible for his death and would have major pressure put on it to close down. Gandhi had become such a hero to the population that, if the government allowed