IIPT links Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr
Aparna Singh
New Delhi, India: The land of South Africa born the political philosophy of “Political Non-violence” as this is the true mother of two of champions of Non-Violent Resistance: Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.
Forthcoming IIPT World Symposium is being held in South Africa to honor the legacies of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. This event will take place on February 16-19, 2015.
The IIPT World Symposium tilted “Cultivating Sustainable and Peaceful Communities and Nations through Tourism, Culture and Sports” will have world leaders of tourism industry including Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General, UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Martin Craigs, CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association and Hiran Cooray, Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Professor Geoffrey Lipman will moderate the Panel.
The venue of Symposium is Emperors Palace, nearby Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport, in the Metropolitan Municipality of Ekurhuleni (City of Peace), Gauteng Province, South Africa. It will also commemorate the 50th Anniversary of African Union, 20 years of South African Democracy, and 50th Anniversary of Civil Rights Legislation in the United States.
Other keynote speakers will include: Hon. Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism, South Africa (Invited); Hon. Alain St. Ange, Minister of Tourism, Seychelles; Martin Craigs, CEO, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) (Invited); Geoffrey Lipman, President, International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP); Mok Singh, Skal International President (2012 – 2013). Anita Mendiratta, Founder and Managing Director, Cachet Consulting, will be a plenary session Moderator.
Everybody knows that Nelson Mandela was the son of Africa—South Africa but political birth of Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi known as Mahatma Gandhi also took place in South Africa. Born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community’s struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination.
According to Wikipedia and biographies of Mahatama Gandhi, he was 24 when he went to arrived in South Africa to work as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian Traders based in the city of Pretoria He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills. In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at all coloured people. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first-class. He protested and was allowed on first class the next day. Travelling farther on by stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to move to make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from several hotels. In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do.
These events were a turning point in Gandhi’s life and shaped his social activism and awakened him to social injustice. After witnessing racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa, Gandhi began to question his place in society and his people’s standing in the British Empire.
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