The Gandhi Foundation is a United Kingdom-based voluntary organisation which seeks to further the work of Mahatma Gandhi through a variety of educational events and activities.
Aims and activities
The principal activities of the foundation are a quarterly newsletter and three annual events: a Multifaith Service, a Summer School, and an Annual Lecture. The newsletter is entitled "The Gandhi Way". The Multifaith Service is usually held in London on 30 January, the anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination. The Service brings together people of different faiths such as Buddhist, Baha’i, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh in remembrance of Gandhi and to share elements from their different traditions. The Summer School is held in July. Around 40 people of all ages and nationalities live together for a week in the countryside, sharing the necessary tasks of cleaning, cooking, and washing-up as well as attending daily workshops which take up different aspects of the chosen theme for the year. A variety of crafts are taught, and conventional lifestyles and attitudes are challenged. The Summer School has a loyal following with many participants returning year after year. In 2008 the Gandhi Foundation helped to organise The Festival of Non-violence. As part of the festival the British Library unveiled a new travelling exhibition "The Life of Gandhi", with six 'panels' focusing on the following aspects of Gandhi's life and work: Non-violence and the influence of Jainism, Gandhi's work in South Africa, Gandhi's Philosophy, the Non-Cooperation and Quit India movements, and the independence of India.
2003: Denis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq. In his acceptance speech, he described Gandhi as one of his formative influences.
2007: Media Lens founders David Edwards and David Cromwell. Media Lens is a British media analysis website established in 2001 which criticises what the editors view as bias and omissions in the British media. In his acceptance speech, Cromwell cited Gandhi's maxim that "non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind".
2013: Jeremy Corbyn, for his "consistent efforts over a 30 year Parliamentary career to uphold the Gandhian values of social justice and non‐violence."
