Gandhi South Africa May 2014 Tour Announces Additional Guest Stops Including Ahmed Kathrada

February 21, 2014 - Gandhi Legacy Tours announced today that it has confirmed additional special guests to its upcoming first-ever Gandhi-Mandela 'Satyagraha' tour of South Africa, led by Arun and Tushar Gandhi, grandson and great grandson of the Mahatma Gandhi.

"The real practice of nonviolence is pivotal if we are to save this world and ourselves from destruction," Dr. Gandhi said, "and South Africa, as the birthplace of Satyagraha, is a unique resource, and example of the role of nonviolence in bringing about change and peace," adding that the May 2014 South Africa tour will include meetings with leading South Africans who embody Gandhian principles. The full current itinerary and optional excursions are found here: Gandhi Satyagraha South Africa Tour May 2014.

Deadline for reservation signup is Feb 28th.

Among the featured-guest talks scheduled, tour participants will hear and have a chance to interact with –

Nkosinathi Biko, founder of the Steve Biko Centre and son of legendary black-consciousness activist Steve Biko (confirmed)

Ahmed Kathrada, former anti-apartheid activist and Robben Island political prisoner with Nelson Mandela (confirmed)

Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, social rights activist and former Anglican Bishop (invited)

Ela Gandhi, peace and anti-apartheid activist, former South Africa parliamentarian and Gandhi granddaughter. (confirmed)

Participants will also tour the site of the proposed Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, courtesy of former first lady Graca Machel.

There is also an optional pre-tour excursion to the World Heritage Cradle of Humankind site.

South Africa is a first for the Gandhi Legacy Tours enterprise, which Dr. Gandhi, a noted peace and human rights activist, began with his late wife, Sunanda Gandhi, over 15 years ago as an annual Gandhian pilgrimage to key places in India where Gandhi developed and enacted his philosophy and practice of nonviolent activism that changed the course of world history.

Dr. Gandhi, president of Gandhi Legacy Tours, announced the additional educational tour through South Africa, to understand the philosophy of nonviolence and its application in the 21st century, with its extraordinary challenges, from weapons of mass destruction to climate change. "Satyagraha is not merely a passive-resistance tactic, it is the invocation of a real soul-force, based on our common humanity, that is necessary to achieve the peace and justice we all long for."

South Africa was critical to the evolution of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of social change through nonviolent activism. "India sent us a man and we sent back a Mahatma," Gandhian follower Nelson Mandela famously noted.

Dr. Gandhi, noted peace and human rights activist, not only personally leads the group every year but also participates in dialogues and discussions throughout the tour, providing tour participants with a once in a lifetime opportunity for on-going travel intimacy with a living piece of history.

2014 Gandhi Tour Dates:
Gandhi Satyagraha (South Africa): May 31- June 14
Gandhi Lifescapes (India): Dec 1 – Dec 15
Gandhi Legacy (India): Dec 29 – Jan 14

For registration, tour pricing and further details, please see the Gandhi tours video and travel pages.

About Gandhi Legacy Tours
The Gandhi Legacy Tours are unusual in that they do not focus on places of tourist interest but places of human interest. The tours are designed to educate participants in the essence of Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence, and how individuals can apply it in their own lives to bring about socio-economic change. For the past 15 years Dr. Gandhi has brought his grandfather's philosophy of nonviolence to westerners.

The focus of the tours is on studying institutions that apply the philosophy of nonviolence in their attempt to transform communities, in both urban and rural areas. Gandhi believed in creating a "Sarvodaya" society - a society where everyone would enjoy a reasonable standard of living with attendant rights and privileges, and the Tours demonstrate that humble "change-makers" are "being the change", and making it a reality.

About Arun Gandhi (Leader of Tour)
Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by "white" South Africans for being too black, and "black" South Africans for being too white. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering. Having spent nearly two years with his Grandfather Arun learned to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. "If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there are so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world today," the Mahatma told Arun. For the past decade, Arun has participated in the Renaissance Weekend deliberations with President Clinton and other well-respected Rhodes Scholars. Arun shares the lessons he learned from the Mahatma with audiences all over the world.

About Tushar Gandhi (Co-leader of the tours)
Tushar was born on January 17, 1960. In 1996 Tushar was appointed President of the Lok Seva Trust, a voluntary organization working for the economically weaker sections of Mumbai. He established the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation to make Gandhi's message available globally on the Internet. Tushar was also invited to join the Advisory Committee on Cyber Crime. He was appointed by the Prime Minister of India to the subcommittee of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (Gandhi National Museum). Tushar is involved with the US based peace organization 'Seeds for Peace' which works with children from troubled areas of the world. In 2005, to mark the 75th Anniversary of the 1930 Salt March, Tushar organized a 241-mile walk for Peace, Justice and Freedom along with 600 marchers from India, Pakistan, the US, UK and other parts of the world. The Mahatma Gandhi Foundation was awarded the 1st 'Mahatma Mahaveer Award' for promoting the ideals of Gandhi. Tushar is the author of Let's Kill Gandhi: A definitive study of the Hindu Fundamentalist plot to assassinate Gandhi.

To sign-up for a Gandhi Tour Goto: Sign-Up

For interviews with Dr. Arun Gandhi or Tushar Gandhi, press inquiries and interested travelers, please contact Gandhi Legacy Tour Managing Director Lynnea Bylund lbylund@gandhitour.info