ABSTRACT
In the early years of the twentieth century, the political experiments of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi helped to refine a new form of political activism. Gandhi called it satyagraha, a neologism that combined the Sanskrit words for 'truth' and 'firmness'. This chapter seeks to provide answers, explaining how Gandhi created satyagraha, and how the media helped to develop, amplify, diffuse and transform it. The attention of the mass media was central to both the efficacy of nonviolent protest and the diffusion of Gandhian nonviolence to new polities and new causes. But if the media aided nonviolence, then it was not simply a means of transmission: it transformed as much as it spread nonviolent activism. Inspired by Gandhi and drawing strength from the genuine success of other nonviolent campaigns since the 1960s, many activists around the world retain a faith in nonviolent protest.
