1/ On @MSNBC Michael Beschloss just told the story of Gandhi sending the Queen a wedding present—a piece of cloth that he spun himself. Gift was downplayed at the time. Beschloss said gift was sign of how Queen made everyone feel special. 😧 #Queen #funeral
2/ I usually love Michael B’s take on everything on @MSNBC. But this is a GROSS oversimplification of that moment. #QueenElizabethII
3/ When the British colonized India they outlawed the spinning of Indian tapestries. Britain’s Indian “subjects” (non-citizens) were only allowed to grow the raw cotton. Then it was exported to Europe, spun in similar style and sold back to Indians at a profit. #queensfuneral
4/ Gandhi’s first act of collective non-violent civil disobedience was to call on Indians to SPIN THEIR OWN TAPESTRIES. After generations of subjugation to the lie of western supremacy—after generations of crushed agency and compromised humanity, they spun! #queensfuneral
5/ As the Indian people broke British colonial law and exercised agency; deciding the patterns they would make, they remembered that they, too, were children of God.
They won their freedom.
And it started by spinning their own cloths again. #QueenElizabethII
They won their freedom.
And it started by spinning their own cloths again. #QueenElizabethII
6/6 So, Gandhi’s wedding gift to the Queen had layered meaning. His personally spun cloth was as much a reminder of Indian sovereignty at another period of transition, as it was an acknowledgement of the reality that the two nations were no longer enemies. #QueenElizabethII
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