March 12

Maximilian of Tebessa and Gandhi's Salt March

Author

David Barnhart
March 12, 2025

Painting by Rev. Albert Wagner, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore.

On this day in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi began the Salt March to protest the British monopoly on salt in India. 

Today also marks the death, in the year 295, of Maximilian of Tebessa. He is widely regarded as the first recorded conscientious objector. When he told his commanders that as a Christian he could no longer fight for the emperor, he was beheaded. 

On this day in 2011, after being damaged by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant exploded and released radioactive gas and water.

Reflection: 

On the eve of the Salt March, Gandhi said:

But let there be not a semblance of breach of peace even after all of us have been arrested. We have resolved to utilize all our resources in the pursuit of an exclusively nonviolent struggle. Let no one commit a wrong in anger. This is my hope and prayer. I wish these words of mine reached every nook and corner of the land.

I often hear would-be-activists say of protest today that “marching doesn’t achieve anything.” But this is because most “marches” today are one-day affairs with nebulous goals that people can do on their day off. Actions like the Salt March or the Selma March were multi-day acts of civil disobedience that were focused on a particular issue, and worked both as community-building (people were often camping together) and demonstration. “Praying with your feet” was not simply performative: it was an act of prophetic pilgrimage. By contrast, most “marches” today are about raising awareness. Protesters circle a courthouse or government building a few times (with police permission), make a few speeches, and go home.  

The Salt March was an act of civil disobedience against monopolies and labor theft, both of which are highly relevant to this moment in history and this United States administration. The Selma March, likewise, was about voter registration and confronting the violence of Alabama Police with a nonviolent appeal to the Governor. Neither of these marches had permission from the authorities, and both were undertaken at great risk to the participants. 

I usually include a personal photo of nature or something inspirational that may or may not bear on the theme of these devotionals, but today I felt I needed to share the above painting of the Exodus; because all “marches” for liberation hearken back to this one. Marching in a circle (unless it’s around Jericho) is indeed performative. The Exodus is THE march that we are all on.

Prayer: Liberating God, save us from the cynicism of performative protest. We are too aware that social healing often comes at the risk of physical safety. May we move our bodies physically closer to those who are in danger. Amen.