Gandhi Statue

This is a cool statue of Ghandi and serves as a reminder of nonviolence. Controversy or not, the statue is neat and the message and symbol of Ghandi is exhibited.

5 stars for the man and his message. I dknt know anything about the stature controversy or such nonsense but happy to be reminded today that non-​violence is a better way to influence change. The Gaza conflict is ripe in the news today and wish the killing would stop.

Cool statue to reflect upon while waiting in line for the ferry.

Nonviolence isn’t the absence of violence. So the next time someone talks about a «nonviolent» criminal offense, explain to them that the only nonviolent criminal offense is an act of civil disobedience that the perpetrator has committed intentionally and without any intention of resisting arrest – and usually with the express aim of being arrested.
Nonviolence can be powerful. It has changed the world. It has also been commodified, abused, mislabeled, misunderstood, co-​opted, and drained of meaning for and by many people. More than anything else, it involves mindfulness. One can use nonviolence tactically, but if you really believe in what Gandhi stood for, you know that nonviolence is a strategy, not merely a tactic. One of its aims is to resist, obviously, but its ultimate goal is to change the enemy, to show him (it’s usually a he) that you are so willing to maintain your discipline, to allow yourself to be harmed (and this can include being seriously injured or killed) that your enemy has a change of heart.
So if you’ve ever been at a protest where people weren’t doing anything, the police got heavy-​handed (as they almost always do), and people in the crowd started throwing things at the police, even if these things were simply empty plastic water bottles, you weren’t at a nonviolent protest. It may have started out without violence, but like I said, nonviolence is a conscious decision not to meet violence with violence. It’s literally impossible for nonviolent protesters to become violent; if they become violent for any reason, then they weren’t nonviolent in the first place. It’s like celibacy; you’re not celibate between the times you’re having sex. You either have sex or you don’t.
What does all of this have to do with the Gandhi statute at the Ferry Building? Well, everything. Gandhi, like most dead people society looks up to, wasn’t just the blasé things we think we know about him. He wasn’t just about being skinny, saying nice things, and testing himself by sleeping in the same bed with naked women but not doing anything to or with these women. (Yes, you read that right.) As is the case with many visionaries, the great majority of what he thought about, practiced, and preached is lost on most people. Just as we glorify Martin Luther King, Jr., but don’t actually see how ridiculous it is to ignore his life after the March on Washington – as if he never did or said anything important after 1963 – we ignore Gandhi at our own risk.
So nonviolence is hard. It’s not something you can pick up at a weekend training. It definitely was not something practiced at any of the Oakland Occupy events. It requires discipline, and discipline requires selflessness. Not just being other-​directed, but true selflessness. And it requires truly loving your enemy. Because when you love your enemy, you put his needs before yours. That’s why a nonviolent person would never throw something at someone else. Or organize a weekly FTP march. Or basically take advantage of a poor city’s lack of money and preparedness. If you want to practice nonviolence, you need to think long and hard about it beforehand.
So three stars for the Gandhi statue. I love the guy, but he wouldn’t have approved of a statue of himself. And it’s in such a strange place. And it inspires more tourist moments than it does actual nonviolent satyagraha. And people keep stealing his glasses.

Pretty cool to see a statue of Gandhi in San Francisco. Great reminder of the principles of nonviolence, activism, and optimism.

I’ve complained about this statue’s placement for years, but christoph s. explains it far better than I could. Indeed, this likeness of Gandhi was donated by a man noted for his various frauds (for further reading on the subject:
).
Rather than put it in a prominent spot, Gandhi’s centered in a parking lot behind the Ferry Building. He’s very easy to miss. There may be benches around it, facing away from the statue at that, but the middle of a parking lot isn’t exactly the most contemplative spot walking distance from there.
When I went to see the Gandhi statue this weekend, I noticed his staff was broken, giving it the appearance he’s holding a wand and off to cast a spell on the Bay Bridge. Chances are, with the foundation supposedly going inactive a little more than a decade ago, and the city outright ignoring it, the staff will never get repaired.
Anyway, controversy or not regarding who gave the thing, Mohandas Gandhi was a great man who taught the world about triumphing through peaceful protest. The statue, though hidden away still conjures up mental images of his famous Salt March, when he walked toward the sea in protest of the British’s oppressive taxation on salt. Gathering followers along the way, they would make their own salt by evaporating sea water as a form of civil disobedience.
I agree with christoph on this one. Find a way to change the plaque and move it or perhaps put another statue without a sordid past in a better place to be admired.

Gandhi Statue, pretty sweet!
happy J?

It’s a little hard to find, and there can be a few cars around during peak hours, but your efforts are totally worth it.
Recently started my day here at 8am and the view of the bay bridge with the sunrise behind it was beautiful. Grab a coffee and have a snack at the bench right below the base of the statue facing the bridge, you won’t regret it.

I had to find Gandhi.
The end of my first week at Square started with a bang. I assume it was a bang, I mean what else does «Police activity at West Oakland and we are waiting here on the tracks for your safety» mean?
Police activity or no, i had to find Gandhi and this delay wasn’t helping.
I am hyper-​phobic of arriving late to anything. I was supposed to be at the Gandhi statue by 8 AM and I had purposely taken a BART train that should arrive at least 45 minutes before I needed to be there. I figured 45 minutes was plenty of time to walk from Embarcadero BART to the Ferry Building, grab some coffee and fruit, find the parking lot and then on to find Gandhi.
When I arrived at Embarcadero BART, I was 15 minutes behind schedule (which was still 30 minutes early, but like I said…) I felt like I was a wet rag being rung out. I headed for the Ferry Building in one of those walk sprints you see so many well dressed people use to get from their place of employment to a BART station. I had to find Gandhi.
When I got to the Ferry Buidling, I went into the only entrance I have ever used, the one at the north end of the building, facing the Embarcadero. I walked around, eschewing my urge for a cup of Blue Bottle coffee (though the smell was tantalizing) in my haste to find Gandhi. I walked straight through to the back of the building, past the book store, and watched the ferries come in, but I still saw no parking lot with a Gandhi statue and I was getting frantic… I needed to find Gandhi!
I walked back to the front of the building and started walking north… No parking lot, just pristine views that i would love to stare at, but I needed to find Gandhi! I texted my brother and asked «Do you know where the Gandhi statue at the Ferry Building is?» He didn’t… I was starting to freak out a bit, where is Gandhi?
I headed south on Embarcadero, I knew I could at least grab a cup of less than stellar mud at Sinbad’s and ask the hostess where Gandhi might be, and then it happened. As I was jostled about by a just released boatload of commuters, I saw the object of my quest through the open glass doors. Through one set of doors, down a hallway, and through another set of doors the statue sat.
I ran for that sucker… Only to get there and realize I had 20 minutes to spare… I decided to sit and stare at the Bay rather than get coffee. I had found Gandhi.
I could see the AT-AT’s, across the bridge and through a delightful sunrise, stoically hulking at the Port of Oakland. I could hear the squawk of the various birds circling the parking lot as they enjoyed the same breeze i was enjoying. I could smell the salt, not quite sea and not quite river, of nature’s grand air conditioner: the San Francisco Bay. It was a great place to clear my mind and think of nothing. I had really found Gandhi.

This statue and it’s controversy was recently brought to my attention by my Spanish teacher. He was part of a group that was protesting it’s horrible location in San Francisco as an insult to the memory of Gandhi.
Said location is: the parking lot behind the Ferry Building — surrounded by the Ferry loading dock (so the commuters can enjoy/​ignore it daily), the really really ugly brown wood building next to that, and Sinbad’s! (that tourist trap restaurant on the Embarcadero that gets all of 2 stars from Unilocalers!)
I was like, «Damn! I’ve taken the ferry, I’ve been to the ferry building to eat and to the farmers market (even last week!), and I’ve never even seen this statue.» I guess I took an interest because I just made my first trip to India, including his house. I’m far from Mr. Political Activist. The only things I ever protest are withholding of sex or dessert. But snooper that I am, I thought «I’m going to look into it.»
I went and checked it out. The statue looks nice in person, but he’s right, it’s pretty embarrassing. On farmers market days you could walk right through there and not even see the statue because it’s surrounded by tents. And check out the photo I uploaded, Cort furniture truck and all!
But it gets worse!
The statue was given to the city in 1988 by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation, «a controversial non-​profit organization run by Yogesh K. Gandhi,» who Gandhi family members claim was a «scam artist» and the White House called «clearly disreputable» when he asked to visit. Then in the 1990’s Yogesh then was the subject of an investigation, and the US Dept of Justice charged him with tax evasion, mail and wire fraud and perjury. The Foundation continued for a few years but then ran into more legal troubles as they found out Yogesh still had his hands in things.
So sadly, this statue that is supposed to remind us of a great man and his message of resistance through non-​violence, is tainted by the greed of individuals, and our gullible city government that accepted this in the first place.
Wow, what a dilemma.
What would be best is we get a legitimate Gandhi statue (or even the existing one and just replace the plaque) moved to a nicer spot in the city where it can be enjoyed.