Editing Mahatma Gandhi (section)

=== Followers and international influence ===
Gandhi influenced important leaders and political movements.<ref name="Stein20102"/> Leaders of the [[civil rights movement]] in the United States, including [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[James Lawson (American activist)|James Lawson]], and [[James Bevel]], drew from the writings of Gandhi in the development of their own theories about nonviolence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/kingpapers/article/kings_trip_to_india/ |title=King's Trip to India |publisher=Mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu |access-date=24 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321002316/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/kingpapers/article/kings_trip_to_india/|archive-date=21 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Sidner, Sara |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/17/king.anniversaryvisit/index.html |title=King moved, as father was, on trip to Gandhi's memorial |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=17 February 2009 |access-date=24 January 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414101902/http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/17/king.anniversaryvisit/index.html |archive-date=14 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=D'Souza, Placido P. |url=http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/COMMEMORATING-MARTIN-LUTHER-KING-JR-Gandhi-s-2640319.php |title=Commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.: Gandhi's influence on King |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=20 January 2003 |access-date=24 January 2012 |archive-date=18 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118040508/http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/COMMEMORATING-MARTIN-LUTHER-KING-JR-Gandhi-s-2640319.php |url-status=live}}</ref> King said, "Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics."<ref name="Tougas2011">{{cite book |last=Tougas |first=Shelley |title=Birmingham 1963: How a Photograph Rallied Civil Rights Support |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zzWQKHKcrOMC&pg=PT12 |access-date=24 January 2012 |year=2011 |publisher=Capstone Press |isbn=978-0-7565-4398-3 |page=12 |archive-date=29 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134209/https://books.google.com/books?id=zzWQKHKcrOMC&pg=PT12#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> King sometimes referred to Gandhi as "the little brown saint."<ref>{{cite book |last=Cone |first=James |title=Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream Or a Nightmare |year=1992 |publisher=Orbis Books |isbn=0-88344-824-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/martinmalcolmame00jame}}</ref> Anti-[[History of South Africa in the Apartheid Era|apartheid]] activist and former President of South Africa, [[Nelson Mandela]], was inspired by Gandhi.<ref name="Mandela-2000">{{Cite magazine|last=Mandela|first=Nelson|date=31 December 1999|title=The Sacred Warrior|language=en-US|magazine=Time|url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993025,00.html|access-date=20 February 2023|issn=0040-781X|archive-date=7 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307161503/https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993025,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Others include [[Steve Biko]], [[Václav Havel]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mzv.cz/newdelhi/en/pr/commemorative_soiree_relevance_of_vaclav.html|title=Commemorative Soirée: Relevance of Václav Havel Today|publisher=Embassy of the Czech Republic in Delhi|access-date=4 February 2022|archive-date=4 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204160106/https://www.mzv.cz/newdelhi/en/pr/commemorative_soiree_relevance_of_vaclav.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Aung San Suu Kyi]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Rubina|last=Sethi|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040222/spectrum/book1.htm |title=An alternative Gandhi |work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|location=India |date=22 February 2004 |access-date=12 March 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514084050/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040222/spectrum/book1.htm |archive-date=14 May 2009 }}</ref>
{| style="margin:auto"
| [[File:Mahatmagandhi.jpg|thumb|[[Bust (sculpture)|Bust]] of Gandhi at [[York University]], [[Toronto]], Canada]]
| [[File:Madrid - Plaza Joan Miró, Monumento a Mohandas K. Gandhi 2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Statue]] of Gandhi in [[Madrid]], Spain]]
| [[File:Gandhi Commons.jpg|thumb|Gandhi at Praça Túlio Fontoura, [[São Paulo]], Brazil]]
|}
In his early years, the former [[President of South Africa]] Nelson Mandela was a follower of the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi.<ref name="Mandela-2000" /> Bhana and Vahed commented on these events as "Gandhi inspired succeeding generations of South African activists seeking to end White rule. This legacy connects him to Nelson Mandela...in a sense, Mandela completed what Gandhi started."<ref name="BhanaVahed2005" />

Gandhi's life and teachings inspired many who specifically referred to Gandhi as their mentor or who dedicated their lives to spreading his ideas. In Europe, [[Romain Rolland]] was the first to discuss Gandhi in his 1924 book ''Mahatma Gandhi'', and Brazilian anarchist and feminist [[Maria Lacerda de Moura]] wrote about Gandhi in her work on pacifism. In 1931, physicist [[Albert Einstein]] exchanged letters with Gandhi and called him "a role model for the generations to come" in a letter writing about him.<ref name="Albano-Müller">{{cite web |url=http://www.gandhiserve.org/streams/einstein.html |title=Einstein on Gandhi (Einstein's letter to Gandhi – Courtesy:Saraswati Albano-Müller & Notes by Einstein on Gandhi – Source: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) |publisher=Gandhiserve.org |date=18 October 1931 |access-date=24 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117104005/http://www.gandhiserve.org/streams/einstein.html |archive-date=17 January 2012 }}</ref> Einstein said of Gandhi:

<blockquote>Mahatma Gandhi's life achievement stands unique in political history. He has invented a completely new and humane means for the liberation war of an oppressed country, and practised it with greatest energy and devotion. The moral influence he had on the consciously thinking human being of the entire civilised world will probably be much more lasting than it seems in our time with its overestimation of brutal violent forces. Because lasting will only be the work of such statesmen who wake up and strengthen the moral power of their people through their example and educational works. We may all be happy and grateful that destiny gifted us with such an enlightened contemporary, a role model for the generations to come.

Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.</blockquote>

[[Farah Omar]], a political activist from [[Somaliland]], visited India in 1930, where he met Gandhi and was influenced by Gandhi's non-violent philosophy, which he adopted in his campaign in [[British Somaliland]].<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Uwechue|first=Raph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zTlyAAAAMAAJ|title=Makers of Modern Africa: Profiles in History|date=1981|publisher=Published by Africa Journal Ltd. for Africa Books Ltd.|isbn=978-0-903274-14-2|access-date=5 September 2021|archive-date=29 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134139/https://books.google.com/books?id=zTlyAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Lanza del Vasto]] went to India in 1936 intending to live with Gandhi; he later returned to Europe to spread Gandhi's philosophy and founded the [[Community of the Ark]] in 1948 (modelled after Gandhi's ashrams). [[Madeleine Slade]] (known as "Mirabehn") was the daughter of a British admiral who spent much of her adult life in India as a devotee of Gandhi.<ref name="Dhupelia-Mesthrie2005">{{cite book|last=Dhupelia-Mesthrie|first=Uma|title=Gandhi's prisoner?: the life of Gandhi's son Manilal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCR0AJx-9pwC&pg=PA293|access-date=26 January 2012|year=2005|publisher=Permanent Black|isbn=978-81-7824-116-6|page=293|archive-date=29 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134332/https://books.google.com/books?id=hCR0AJx-9pwC&pg=PA293|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=In the company of Bapu|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041003/asp/look/story_3824566.asp|date=3 October 2004|work=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]]|access-date=26 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208170605/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041003/asp/look/story_3824566.asp|archive-date=8 February 2012}}</ref>

In addition, the British musician [[John Lennon]] referred to Gandhi when discussing his views on nonviolence.<ref name="Rolling Stone">{{cite magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070528225215/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/8898300/lennon_lives_forever|url= https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/8898300/lennon_lives_forever|archive-date=28 May 2007|title=Lennon Lives Forever |author=Gilmore, Mikal |date=5 December 2005 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=24 January 2012}}</ref> In 2007, former US Vice-President and environmentalist [[Al Gore]] drew upon Gandhi's idea of ''satyagraha'' in a speech on climate change.<ref name="Al Gore">{{cite news |last1=Applebome |first1=Peter |title=Applying Gandhi's Ideas to Climate Change |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/nyregion/30towns.html |access-date=2 December 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=30 March 2008 |quote=Al Gore cited both Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln in a speech on climate change in 2007. He noted Gandhi's sense of satyagraha ... |archive-date=2 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202130853/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/nyregion/30towns.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 44th President of the United States [[Barack Obama]] said in September 2009 that his biggest inspiration came from Gandhi. His reply was in response to the question: "Who was the one person, dead or live, that you would choose to dine with?" Obama added, "He's somebody I find a lot of inspiration in. He inspired Dr. King with his message of nonviolence. He ended up doing so much and changed the world just by the power of his ethics."<ref name="Wakefield">{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32723625 |title=Obama steers clear of politics in school pep talk |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=8 September 2009 |publisher=[[MSNBC]] |access-date=24 January 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004223415/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32723625/ns/politics-white_house/t/obama-steers-clear-politics-school-pep-talk/ |archive-date=4 October 2013 }}</ref>

''Time'' magazine named [[14th Dalai Lama|The 14th Dalai Lama]], [[Lech Wałęsa]], [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Cesar Chavez]], [[Aung San Suu Kyi]], [[Benigno Aquino Jr.]], [[Desmond Tutu]], and [[Nelson Mandela]] as ''Children of Gandhi'' and his spiritual heirs to nonviolence.<ref name="TimeTCOG">{{cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993026,00.html|title=The Children of Gandhi|date=31 December 1999|magazine=Time|format=excerpt|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005013134/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C993026%2C00.html|archive-date=5 October 2013}}</ref> The [[Mahatma Gandhi District]] in [[Houston]], Texas, United States, an ethnic Indian enclave, is officially named after Gandhi.<ref name="MorenoCelebrates">{{cite web |url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-community-celebrates-district-named-for-1613050.php |title=Houston community celebrates district named for Gandhi |author=Moreno, Jenalia |date=16 January 2010 |work=[[Houston Chronicle]] |access-date=24 January 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411062824/http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-community-celebrates-district-named-for-1613050.php |archive-date=11 April 2015 }}</ref>

Gandhi's ideas had a significant influence on [[20th-century philosophy]]. It began with his engagement with [[Romain Rolland]] and [[Martin Buber]]. [[Jean-Luc Nancy]] said that the French philosopher [[Maurice Blanchot]] engaged critically with Gandhi from the point of view of "European spirituality."<ref name="Bloomsbury Publishing">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MB2DwAAQBAJ&q=blanchot |title=Gandhi and Philosophy: On Theological Anti-Politics |first1=Shaj |last1=Mohan |first2=Divya |last2=Dwivedi |first3=Jean-Luc |last3=Nancy |year=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4742-2173-3 |access-date=29 March 2024 |archive-date=29 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134142/https://books.google.com/books?id=4MB2DwAAQBAJ&q=blanchot#v=snippet&q=blanchot&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> Since then philosophers including [[Hannah Arendt]], [[Etienne Balibar]] and [[Slavoj Žižek]] found that Gandhi was a necessary reference to discuss morality in politics. American political scientist [[Gene Sharp]] wrote an analytical text, [[Gandhi as a Political Strategist|Gandhi as a political strategist]], on the significance of Gandhi's ideas, for creating nonviolent social change. Recently, in the light of climate change, Gandhi's views on technology are gaining importance in the fields of [[environmental philosophy]] and [[philosophy of technology]].<ref name="Bloomsbury Publishing" />