1. INTRODUCTION<br />It is easy to recognize that the Man can’t live alone but living in a multicultural community was never easy. There are many aspects that keep people closer like language, race, culture, religion or myths. However, these same aspects can be sources of conflict when extremism, antagonism, or even beliefs are at stake. What brings people together may also lead to extreme situations of conflict, war or hate.<br />We must come to the point where we realise the concept of race is a false one. There is only one race … the Human race.<br />Since the beginning of times we have assisted to several acts of brutality against Human kind. A long way has already been crossed in terms of slavery, children rights and the role of women in society. From the international concern of the preservation of human rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed by The United Nations in 1948. There it’s written that “All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”<br />People like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Gandhi, Fidel Castro, etc. gave their own lives to prevent and fight against different cases of Racism, ethnocentrism, apartheid, inequality and exploitation. Thanks to them we are able to live in a multicultural society where everyone has the same rights.<br />Within the topic of Human Rights, we chose to investigate the live of Gandhi and Fidel Castro, two of the most outstanding personalities of their time, as well as the goals they achieved. Using different approaches, both fought for their beliefs, which made them known and loved all over the world.<br />MOHANDAS GANDHI<br />Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2nd October in Porbandar, a small seatown in the west of India. The Gandhi family was large, and a lot of people lived in the family house. His father worked for the Maharajah, and he was a very important man in that part of the country (was a member of the Hindu Bania (trading) caste and for a time diwan (prime minister) of a small Indian state). Gandhi’s mother, Putlibai, was a kind, simple woman.<br />When Gandhi was seven years old, his family moved to Rajkot, a big city where he could go to school. But he had problems with English, and he was not good at games like other boys of his age.<br />At the age of thirteen, Gandhi got married with the beautiful young girl Kasturba. Recalling the day of their marriage he once said that “As we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives.quot;
Gandhi liked her very much, so he tried to teach her to read and write. Nevertheless, due to her simplicity, she did not want to learn.<br />1928882818617555571237214886297110073<br />In 1885, when Gandhi was 15, the couple's first child was born, but survived only a few days. Gandhi's father, had also died earlier that year. Mohandas and Kasturba had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888; Manilal, born in 1892; Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900.<br />4607560200660In 1888, the Indian nationalist leader known as Mahatma Gandhi started to study law at the University College London, became a barrister, and returned to India.<br />In 1893 he moved to South Africa where he fought for the rights of the Indian immigrant workers. He organized demonstrations and was put to prison several times. His protests were always peaceful however, and when Boer War broke out he formed an ambulance unit. <br />He returned to India in 1914 and embarked on intense political activity within the Indian National Congress party, maintaining that India was ready for self-government. Strongly opposed to violence, he had a deeply religious attitude to life. He always sustained that even the most inflexible adversary could be overcome by persuasion and “non-violence”.<br />It was along these lines that he organized groups of supporters to fight against political and social injustices. But when the British severely repressed his followers, they forgot his teaching and reacted with open and violent rebellion. Gandhi then declared that he had made “a mistake as large as the Himalayas” in believing that the people had understood his teachings and would carry them out.<br />He made strong efforts to unite the Indian Hindus, Muslims and Christians and struggled for the emancipation of the quot;
untouchablesquot;
in Hindu society.<br />They were untouchable because they were not clean. Good Hindus believe that they must not touch these people, or let them touch their food. It was against their religion. Sometimes, of course, they did touch them. But then they had to clean themselves and say some prayers.<br />479218416914414317241759680In the meantime he sought to establish an understanding between Hindus, Moslems and Christians and began the second all-India satyagraha in 1920. Soon he urged a boycott of British cloth by encouraging Indians to weave their own cloth on hand looms. In 1922 he was arrested for sedition, tried, and sentenced to six years in prison. In 1924, Gandhi was released and became president of the Indian National Congress. After that he went on a three-week fast in the cause of religious peace between Indians. After the fast he retained from active political life and toured India, village by village, in order to convince everyone of the need for abolishing the caste system and accepting untouchables into the community.<br />2485712119247<br />In 1927 a department of Congress launched a campaign of nation-wide violence as a reaction to the parliamentary commission set up by the British to investigate whether or not India was ready for Independence. Gandhi decided that this was the right moment to resume political activities. In 1930 he marched to the sea and there made salt in order to boycott British salt tax. This was repeated by thousands of Indians, until it became an overwhelming movement which for the first time aroused the inert and unpolitical masses to engage in the struggle. Civil disobedience became widespread. Under the pressure of events the British government called representatives of the Indian National Congress, including Gandhi, to a Round Table Conference in London in 1931.<br />-21717040640But no agreement was reached. On his return home, Gandhi went on another fast (which nearly proved fatal) for the cause that lay nearest to his heart: the granting of equal rights to untouchables. Hardly was he released from prison in 1933 than he founded the weekly paper Harijan (“children of God”) a term he used to designate the untouchables. The same year saw further arrest and release from prison.<br />38582601134745When the Second World War broke out, some leaders of the Congress party the moment had come to act openly against Britain. , however, proposed to help Britain on condition that it guaranteed India’s independence. Faced with Britain’s refusals, however, he proclaimed the right to oppose the war and initiated a movement of civil disobedience. When Stafford Cripps declared in 1942, on behalf of his government, that he agreed to Indian independence after the war, Gandhi called the offer “a post-dated cheque”, because India wanted the independence immediately. Once more leaders of the congress party were arrested, Gandhi among them. From the end of 1942 until about the middle of 1944 he was in prison; in February 1944 his wife, who had wished to share his captivity, died in prison. <br />When he was freed Gandhi endeavoured to come to an agreement with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, president of the All-India Moslem League, who was demanding the creation of an autonomous state of Pakistan for the 90 million Moslems of the sub-continent. The conflict between the two communities erupted at the end of the war when the problem of Indian was at last drawing near to solution. In vain were Gandhi’s efforts to convince the nation that Hindus and Moslems were both, above all Indians; that the God of both, despite a difference of names, was the same God; that the interests of both communities were identical. Moreover, he brought down upon himself the hate of Hindu extremists, who regarded him as a traitor both because he placed Hindus and Moslems on the same level and because he was preventing India from becoming a great Hindu power. It was one of these extremists who shot and killed Gandhi, to the horror and stupefaction of public opinion throughout the world. The apostle of 4880610947420nonviolence died by violence, but not before blessing his assassin. Gandhi’s death plunged India and the world into sadness.<br />His body was cremated in New Delhi, on the Jumna River, at the Rajghat – which became a national memorial – and his ashes were scattered in the sacred rivers of India.<br />Gandhi’s death by no means ended his influence. Immediately upon his assassination, the tensions between Muslims and Hindus lessened in India and Pakistan. His followers continued his constructive program, especially Vinoba Bhave with land reform. These movements were aided by the Gandhi Memorial Trust, a foundation created from many small gifts given shortly after his death.<br />The literature about Gandhi is immense. His collected works may run into 80 volumes, including his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1927); thousands of editorials from Indian Opinion, Young India, and Harijan; and many personal letters.<br />He dressed in a loin cloth, rode third-class trains, and tried to identify himself with the untouchables. He was affectionately called Mahatma (great soul) or Bapu (father) by the Indian people. He had a rare sense of humor: “Never take anything for gospel truth even if it comes from a Mahatma!” He was afraid of the formation of a cult in his name: “If I were to know, after my death, what I stood for had degenerated into sectarianism, I should be deeply pained.” Yet Albert Einstein was to say, “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”<br />-19050151765<br />Mahatma Gandhi devoted his life to the independence of India, equal rights for the untouchables, and peace between Hindus and Moslems.<br />Thanks to him, only with fasting and non-violence as main weapons, India became independent.<br />Once, a famous man wrote and asked him for a special message. “I have nothing special to say to you,” Gandhi replied. “But you can study my life ... My life is my message.”<br />Mahatma was certainly one of the greatest figures of the century. It was said that he “fought a mighty empire without arms and without hatred”. He was loved by the ordinary Indian people as a saint and the father of his nation.<br />His ideas of brotherhood, non-violence and peaceful protest have had a clear effect on the young people of our time. Many have sought to follow his ways, such as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama that were inspired by Gandhi.<br />quot;
Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics.quot;
– Martin Luther King Jr, 1955<br />Gandhi’s last day<br />It was January 30th, 1948. Gandhi got up early, at 3.30 am. He had his bath and afterwards he studied Bengali (one of the languages they speak in India).<br />The morning passed. Gandhi had his launch. This was a simple meal: some vegetables, some fruit and some milk. All Gandhi’s meals were simple like this.<br />In the afternoon Gandhi slept for an hour and then he talked to an old friend. They talked about India and It’s problems. Time passed quickly. It was already late, and Gandhi had to go to a prayer meeting.<br />4832985198120It was not far to the prayer meeting. Gandhi was staying at the house of a rich friend, and the prayer meeting was in the garden of the house. But Gandhi was a very old man. He could not walk easily, and he couldn’t walk without help, so his two granddaughters helped him as usually. They walked slowly. Gandhi wanted to hurry.<br />“I’m late!” he told his granddaughters. People were calling his name and he could hear them. “Let’s hurry!” he said. “People are waiting for me.”<br />Gandhi never liked to be late. <br />There were crowds of people in the garden which had come to pray with Gandhi.<br />“Long live Gandhi!” they all shouted when they saw him.<br />Gandhi had been ill and people were glad to see him. Besides, they all loved him very much because he was because he was the “father” of their country. For many of them he was a “mahatma” – a man like God.<br />Suddenly, a young man stepped out of the crowd. He smiled and put his hands together, a way of saying hello, so Gandhi smiled too.<br />Then the young man took a gun from under his clothes and pointed it at Gandhi and fired three times, hitting him every time.<br />“He Rama!” Gandhi cried in a low voice. “Oh God!” Gandhi fell to the ground and a few minutes later he was dead.<br />The nation was warned by radio: quot;
Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek support from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country.quot;
– Jawaharlal Nehru's address to Gandhi.<br />Some of Gandhi’s Quotations<br />“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”<br />5024120287655“There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.”<br />“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”<br />“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”<br />“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.”<br />“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”<br />“Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.”<br />“All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.”<br />“Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.”<br /> “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall – think of it, always.”<br />“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.”<br />Among the history of all mankind exist people whose inner light guide others through darkness of oppression to freedom, equality and justice. Their courage, determination and strong faith make a difference in this world. They are leaders from God who dedicate life fighting for independence, no matter what it costs to them, no matter how thorny are their paths to final goal, no matter how much they will have to suffer.<br />FIDEL CASTRO – Fighter for Freedom<br />Fidel Castro, the illegitimate son of a successful Creole sugar plantation owner, was born in Cuba in 1926. Both his parents were illiterate but they were determined that their children should receive a good education and Fidel was sent to a Jesuit boarding school. Although he disliked the strict discipline of the school, Fidel soon showed that he was extremely intelligent. However, except for history, he preferred sports to academic subjects.<br />After he had finished his education Castro became a lawyer in Havana. As he tended to take the cases of poor people who could not afford to pay him, Castro was constantly short of money. Castro's experience as a lawyer made him extremely critical of the great inequalities in wealth that existed in Cuba. Like many other Cubans, Castro resented the wealth and power of the American businessmen who appeared to control the country.<br />In 1947 he traveled to the Dominican Republic to join an expedition attempting the overthrow of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. The coup failed before it got started, but the incident didn't dampen Castro's passion for reform.<br />Soon after his return to the university in Havana, Castro joined the Partido Ortodoxo, an anticommunist political party founded to reform government corruption in Cuba. Its goals were nationalism, economic independence, and social reforms. Its founder, Cuban presidential candidate Eduardo Chibas, lost the 1948 election. The former president, General Fulgencio Batista, with the support of the armed forces, returned to power.<br />50374551334770Batista set himself up as dictator, solidified his power with the military and Cuba's economic elite, and got his government recognized by the United States. Castro, along with fellow members of the Ortodoxo party who expected to win in the 1952 election, came to the conclusion that revolution was the only way to gain power and organized an insurrection. On July 26, 1953, Castro and approximately 150 supporters attacked the Moncada military barracks in an attempt to overthrow Batista. The attack failed and Castro was captured, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. But the incident fostered an ongoing opposition to the government and made Castro famous throughout Cuba.<br />Castro was released in 1955 under an amnesty deal with the Batista government. He went to Mexico, where he met Ernesto quot;
Chequot;
Guevara. There he devised a new strategy to overthrow the Batista regime based on guerrilla warfare. Guevara believed that the plight of Latin America's poor could be rectified only through violent revolution. He joined Castro's group and became an important confidante, shaping Castro's political beliefs.<br />On December 2, 1956, Castro returned to Cuba with a boatload of 81 insurgents near the eastern city of Manzanillo. In short order, Batista's forces killed or captured most of the attackers. Castro, his brother Raul, and Guevara were able to escape into the Sierra Maestra mountain range along the island's southeastern coast. Over the course of the next two years, Castro's forces waged a guerrilla war against the Batista government, organizing resistance groups in cities and small towns across Cuba. He was also able to organize a parallel government, carry out some agrarian reform, and control provinces with agricultural and manufacturing production.<br />458724080645Beginning in 1958, Castro and his forces mounted a series of successful military campaigns throughout Cuba to capture and hold key areas of the country. Along with the loss of popular support and massive desertions in the military, Batista's government collapsed due to Castro's efforts. In January of 1959, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. Castro and his July 26th Movement successfully concluded a classic guerrilla campaign to take control of Cuba. They assumed power and began public trials and executions of “criminals” of the Batista government.<br />5559425195580A new government was created with Jose Miro Cardona as prime minister, and it quickly gained the recognition of the United States. Fidel Castro arrived in Havana to cheering crowds and assumed the post of commander-in-chief of the military. In February 1959, Miro suddenly resigned, and Castro was sworn in as prime minister.<br />Castro implemented far-reaching reforms by nationalizing factories and plantations in an attempt to end U.S. economic dominance on the island. Major American companies felt the negative effects of the reforms, causing friction between Cuba and the United States.<br />In May, Castro signed the First Agrarian Reform Law, which limited the size of land holdings and forbade foreign property ownership. The intent was to develop a class of independent farmers. In reality, this program led to state land control with the farmers becoming mere government employees. By the end of 1959, Castro's revolution had become radicalized with purges of military leaders and the suppression of any media critical of Castro's policies.<br />Castro's government also began to establish relations with the Soviet Union. In February 1960, Cuba signed a trade agreement to buy oil from the Soviet Union and established diplomatic relations. U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process the oil, so Castro expropriated the refineries. The United States retaliated by cutting Cuba's import quota on sugar. This began a decades-long contentious relationship between the two countries.<br />The year 1961 proved to be pivotal in Castro's relationship with the United States. On January 3, 1961, outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations with the Cuban government. On April 16, Castro formally declared Cuba a socialist state. The following day 1,400 Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow the Castro regime. The incursion ended in disaster; hundreds of the insurgents were killed and nearly 1,000 captured. Though the United States denied any involvement, it was revealed that the Cuban exiles were trained by the Central Intelligence Agency and armed with U.S. weapons. Decades later, the National Security Archive revealed that the United States had begun planning an overthrow of the Castro government as early as October 1959. The invasion was conceived during the Eisenhower administration and inherited by President John F. Kennedy, who reluctantly approved its action but denied the invaders air support in hopes of hiding any U.S. participation.<br />Fidel Castro was able to capitalize on the incident to consolidate his power and further promote his agenda. On May 1, Castro announced an end to democratic elections in Cuba and denounced American imperialism. Then at year's end, Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and announced the Cuban government was adopting communist economic and political policies. On February 7, 1962, the United States imposed a full economic embargo on Cuba, a policy that continues to this day.<br />In 1965, he merged Cuba's Communist Party with his revolutionary organizations, placing himself as head of the party. Within a few years he began a campaign of supporting armed struggle against imperialism in Latin American and African countries. In 1966, Castro founded the Asia-Africa-Latin America People's Solidarity Organization to promote revolution on three continents. In 1967, he formed the Latin America Solidarity Organization to foster revolution in select Latin American countries. In the 1970s, Castro promoted himself as the leading spokesperson for Third World countries by providing military support to pro-Soviet forces in Angola, Ethiopia, and Yemen. Though Cuba was heavily subsidized by the Soviet government, those expeditions ultimately proved unsuccessful and put a strain on the Cuban economy.<br />Castro's regime has been credited with opening 10,000 new schools and increasing literacy to 98 percent. Cubans enjoy a universal health care system, which has decreased infant mortality to 11 deaths in 1,000 (1.1 percent). But civil liberties have been whittled away as labor unions lost the right to strike, independent newspapers shut down, and religious institutions harassed. Castro removed opposition to his rule though executions and imprisonments, as well as through forced emigration.<br />Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have fled Castro's rule, many settling just across the Florida Straits in Miami. The largest of these occurred in 1980 when Castro opened up the port of Mariel to allow exiled Cubans living in Miami to come claim their relatives. Castro also loaded the ships with Cuban prison inmates, mental patients, and other social undesirables. In all, 120,000 Cubans have left their homeland for sanctuary in the United States.<br />After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union sent Cuba's economy into a tailspin, Castro's revolution began to lose momentum. Without cheap oil imports and an eager Soviet market for Cuban sugar and a few other goods, Cuban unemployment and inflation grew. The contraction of the Cuban economy resulted in 85 percent of its markets disappearing.<br />Yet Castro has been very adept at keeping control of the government during these dire economic times. He pressed the United States to lift the economic embargo, but it refused. Castro then adopted a quasi‚Äìfree market economy and encouraged international investment. He legalized the U.S. dollar and encouraged tourism. He visited the United States in 1996 and invited Cuban exiles living in there to return to Cuba to start businesses. <br />In 2001, after the massive damage caused by Hurricane Michelle, Castro declined U.S. humanitarian aid but proposed a one-time cash purchase of food from the United States. The George W. Bush Administration complied, authorizing the shipment of food. With the fuel supply running dangerously low, Castro ordered 118 factories to be closed and sent thousands of Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil imports.<br />In the late 1990s, speculation began to arise over Fidel Castro's age and wellbeing. Numerous health problems have been reported over the years, the most significant occurring in July 2006, when Castro had surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. In a dramatic announcement, Castro designated his brother Raul as the country's temporary leader. Raul served as Fidel's second in command for decades, and was officially selected as Fidel's successor in 1997. Since his surgery, the public has seen Fidel only in photographs and video meetings.<br />On February 19, 2008, 81-year-old Fidel Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency due to his deteriorating physical condition. He handed over power to his 76-year-old brother Raul. The Cuban National Assembly officially elected Raul Castro as president of Cuba the same month, although Fidel remains First Secretary of the Communist Party. The world waits to hear of the next—and possibly final—chapter in the life of Fidel Castro.<br />Some of Fidel Castro’s Quotations<br />“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”<br />5269230194310“I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.”<br />“I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating... because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.<br />“I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened.”<br />“Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.”<br />“The revolution is a dictatorship of the exploited against the exploiters.”<br />CONCLUSION<br />During this work we have talked about two people who fought for the same reasons but used different tools.<br />Gandhi used non-violence to free India from British rule. He said: “it is non-violence only when we love those that hate us. I know how difficult it is to follow this grand law of love, but are not all great and good things difficult to do? Love of the hater is the most difficult of all. But, by the grace of God, even this most difficult thing becomes easy to accomplish if we want to.” One of the basics of his philosophy is that nonviolence does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The non-violent resister must often express his protest through non-cooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that these are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent ... The aftermath of non-violence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.<br />Knowing this, we can streak a clear line between Gandhi and Castro. The fight for India’s freedom had been won without a battle having ever been fought. Contrariwise, a great number of people died before Cuba got independence.<br />For Castro, violence seemed the only way to oppose the military takeover. He followed the rule “an eye for an eye”, carried out public trials and executions. Many of the deaths could be avoided. Even when he became a prime-minister, he imprisoned all the politicians that disagreed with him. Writers who expressed dissenting views and people he considered deviants such as homosexuals were also imprisoned. So, as we can see, despite the improvements that Castro brought to Cuba, he was constantly criticized for human rights abuses. What he did for Cuba was priceless, he gained such long-awaited independence, overthrew the dictator, but who can assure that he did not become one for the homosexuals and those who did share his opinion. Accordingly to the Declaration of the Human Rights, everyone has the right of independent opinion and free expression and tolerance. Seems like Castro forgot about these aspects. But he still remains a national hero and no one will take that from him.<br />The object of our work was to show how different heroes of civil rights movement can be. Some are “peacemakers” such as Gandhi; others are warriors who fight till the end, such as Fidel Castro. In spite of the differences, all of them made this world better and contributed to our peaceful future.<br />BIBLIOGRAPHY<br />Fidel Castro. In Diciopédia 2010 [DVD-ROM]. Porto: Porto Editora, 2009. ISBN: 978-972-0-65265-2<br />Gandhi. In Diciopédia 2010 [DVD-ROM]. Porto: Porto Editora, 2009. ISBN: 978-972-0-65265-2<br />Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi<br />Http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro<br />Http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/brain.html<br />Http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx<br />