This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/related attachment --Boundary_(ID_k9fttcl4/P4l0iEf0krXgw) Last night, CNN spent a long time with various experts talking about = American jobs being sent to India from the USA and named many = corporations. Interestingly, Hungry and Poland were also mentioned as = major job export areas. Made the comment that the people answering the = phones are trained to say that they are in Houston, texas. This morning, CNN's advice was to stop telecommuting as a working style = because a telecommuter was the easiest person to replace because there = is no personal relationship, etc. CNN's expert's advice was to get back = into the company's premises and don't be a complainer. Also suggested that it was up to "you", the employee to tell the = management what files you had brought into the company, what personal = contacts you had made, etc., Their conclusion was that the corporations would be lucky to have any = Americans left who could aford to buy their products. I would suggest = that the same thing is true of Canada. Many of the members of this list will not know of the Salt Taxes which = were responsible for the French Revolution (although re-imposed by = Napoleon in 1805) and Ghandi's March to Dandi which was the start fo the = emancipation of India. I bring this up because of Foxy 1's post about the farming out of = telecomputing jobs to India. Accountants in Canada are also farming out = their accounting business to Chartered Accountants in Uganda at $1.00 = Cdn per hour - sort of New Cadillac service for used 10 year old = Chevette prices. There is nothing new about using different countries to spread work = around. It is up to us all to arrange our affairs to be able to cope = with the changes. =20 What is significant here is that the forerunners (i.e. telecommuters) = are the easiest to replace. I have a client living in Bella Bella who = works in Boca Raton, Florida every day and I have a client in Richmond = who works in Downtown Philadelphia by telecommuting. Both of those people are replaceable at 1/20th of the cost by hiring = someone to do the same job in India, Bangladesh or Trinidad. The following comes from: http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Dandi.html The Salt March To Dandi =20 The Salt Tax=20 After proclaiming the Declaration of Independence of India on January = 26, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi came to an impasse in his political career = focused on freeing India from British rule. A new anti-government = campaign was imperative for achieving the secularization of India for = its people; it remained unclear, however, to Gandhi what form was most = appropriate for this campaign to take (Sheean 152; 156-7). During the = period that followed in which he could find "no light at the end of the = tunnel,"; it became apparent to Gandhi that non-violent civil = disobedience would form the basis for any ensuing protest (Sheean 152; = 156-7).=20 =20 Beginning in February 1930, Gandhi's thoughts swayed towards the British = salt tax, one of many economic improprieties used to generate revenue to = support British rule, as the focal point of non-violent political = protest (Ashe 301). The British monopoly on the salt tax in India = dictated that the sale or production of salt by anyone but the British = government was a criminal offense punishable by law (Ashe 301). Moreso = than in more temperate climates, salt was invaluable to the people of = India, many of whom were agricultural laborers and required the mineral = for metabolism in an environment of immense heat and humidity where = sweating was profuse. Occurring throughout low-lying coastal zones of = India, salt was readily accessible to laborers who were instead forced = to pay money for a mineral which they could easily collect themselves = for free (Jack 235). Moreover, Ghandi's choice met the important = criterion of appealing across regional, class, and ethnic boundaries. = Everyone needed salt, and the British taxes on it had an impact on all = of India.=20 =20 Led by an "inner voice" during this period of strategical uncertainty, = Gandhi used the British Government's monopoly of the salt tax as a = catalyst for a major "Satyagraha" campaign (Copley 46-8). One of = Gandhi's principal concepts, "satyagraha" goes beyond mere "passive = resistance"; by adding the Sanskrit word "Agraha" (resolution) to = "Satya" (Truth). For him, it was crucial that Satyagrahis found strength = in their non-violent methods:=20 Truth (Satya) implies Love, and Firmness (Agraha) engenders and = therefore serves as a synonym for force ... that is to say, the Force = which is born of Truth and Love or Non-violence.... [If] we are = Satyagrahis and offer Satyagraha, beleveing ourselves to be strong ... = we grow stronger and stronger everyday. With our increase in strngth, = our Stayagraha too becomes more effective, and we would never be casting = about for an opportunity to give it up. (Gandhi 87) Choosing the salt tax as an injustice to the people of India was = considered an ingenious choice by critic Judith Brown (1977) because = every peasant and every aristocrat understood the necessity of salt in = everyday life (Copley 46-8). It was also a good choice because it did = not alienate Congress moderates while simultaneously being an issue of = enough importance to mobilize a mass following (Copley 46-8).=20 =20 =20 The March=20 In an effort to amend the salt tax without breaking the law, on March 2, = 1930 Ghandi wrote to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin: If my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on the eleventh day of = this month I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can = take, to disregard the provisions of the Salt Laws. I regard this tax = to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man's standpoint. As the = Independence movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the = beginning will be made with this evil.=20 On March 12, 1930, Gandhi and approximately 78 male satyagrahis set out, = on foot, for the coastal village of Dandi some 240 miles from their = starting point in Sabarmati, a journey which was to last 23 days (Jack = 237). Virtually every resident of each city along this journey watched = the great procession, which picked up new converts as it passed through = the villages and that was at least two miles in length (Jack 237). On = April 6th he picked up a lump of mud and salt (some say just a pinch, = some say just a grain) and boiled it in seawater to make the commodity = which no Indian could legally produce--salt (Jack 240).=20 =20 Upon arriving at the seashore he spoke to a reporter: God be thanked = for what may be termed the happy ending of the first stage in this, for = me at least, the final struggle of freedom. I cannot withhold my = compliments from the government for the policy of complete non = interference adopted by them throughout the march .... I wish I could = believe this non-interference was due to any real change of heart or = policy. The wanton disregard shown by them to popular feeling in the = Legislative Assembly and their high-handed action leave no room for = doubt that the policy of heartless exploitation of India is to be = persisted in at any cost, and so the only interpretation I can put upon = this non-interference is that the British Government, powerful though it = is, is sensitive to world opinion which will not tolerate repression of = extreme political agitation which civil disobedience undoubtedly is, so = long as disobedience remains civil and therefore necessarily non-violent = .... It remains to be seen whether the Government will tolerate as they = have tolerated the march, the actual breach of the salt laws by = countless people from tomorrow. I expect extensive popular response to = the resolution of the Working Committee (of the Indian National = Congress). (qtd in Jack 238-239) He implored his thousands of followers to begin to make salt wherever, = along the seashore, "was most convenient and comfortable" to them. A = "war" on the salt tax was to be continued during the National Week, that = is, up to the thirteenth of April. There was also simultaneous boycotts = of cloth and khaddar. Salt was sold, illegally, all over the seacoast = of India. A pinch of salt from Gandhi himself sold for 1,600 rupees, = perhaps $750 dollars at the time. In reaction to this, the British = government had incarcerated over sixty thousand people at the end of the = month (Jack 240-3; all of last paragraph).=20 On the night of May, 4 Gandhi was sleeping in a cot under a mango tree, = at a village near Dandi. Several ashramites slept near him. Soon after = midnight the District Magistrate of Surat drove up with two Indian = officers and thirty heavily-armed constables. He woke Gandhi by shining = a torch in his face, and arrested him under a regulation of 1827.=20 =20 Aftermath=20 The effects of the salt march were felt across India. Thousands of = people made salt, or bought illegal salt. This period is to be = considered the apex of Gandhi's political appeal, as the march mobilized = many new follwers from all of Indian society and the march came to the = world's attention. After Gandhi's release from prison he continued to = work towards Indian independence, which was achieved in August, 1947, = but Dandi was a key turning point in that struggle.=20 =20 Works Cited=20 Ashe, Geoffrey. Gandhi: A Study In Revolution. London: Heineman Ltd., = 1968.=20 Copley, Anthony. Gandhi: Against the Tide. Oxford: Basil Blackwell = Ltd., 1987.=20 Gandhi, Mohandas K. "Victory in South Africa." in The Essential Gandhi. = Ed. Louis Fischer. New York: Vintage, 1962. 84-111.=20 Jack, Homer A. The Gandhi Reader: A Source Book of His Life and = Writings. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1956.=20 Sheean, Vincent. Mahatma Gandhi: A Great Life In Brief. New York: A. = Knopf, Inc., 1955=20 Image sources:=20 http://www.nuvs.com/ashram/gallery/index.html=20 http://www.nuvs.com/ashram/gallery/02.html=20 =20 Author: Scott Graham, Spring '98.=20 =20 David Ingram's US/Canada Services US / Canada / Mexico tax and working Visa Specialists US / Canada Real Estate Specialists 4466 Prospect Road North Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V7N 3L7 Res (604) 980-3578 Cell (604) 657-8451 (604) 980-0321=20 New email to [email protected] www.centa.com www.david-ingram.com Be ALERT, the world needs more "lerts" =20 --Boundary_(ID_k9fttcl4/P4l0iEf0krXgw) An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.centa.com/CEN-TAPEDE/centapede/attachments/1c6d2bf0/attachment.htm --Boundary_(ID_k9fttcl4/P4l0iEf0krXgw)-- ---------------------- multipart/related attachment A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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