From the 1900’s through present day, equality and how to handle injustice situations have been hard. People all over the world struggle with being looked down upon or having rights that have been taken away because of racism, which can cause violence anywhere. In order for non-violence to be successful, the movement needs to have discipline, courage, and leadership because how you handle a situation is how you eliminate the problem. Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr have proven all of these steps to be true. When it comes to non-violence discipline is usually the first gadget to learn. Throughout the 20th century, numerous people were taught how to handle being kicked out of a white person's seat or getting arrested …show more content…
Nelson Mandela states that “no matter what the authorities did, the volunteers could not retaliate otherwise they would undermine the value of the entire enterprise” (Doc. I). The people of the opposite skin color we're going to be rude and disrespectful and persuade the African-Americans to want to quit before they could start protesting or making a difference. This shows that whatever the people do, you need to stay strong and be strict with yourself and keep fighting for your beliefs just like Gandhi did also. In 1930 Gandhi was arrested and told, “you must not use violence under any circumstances. You will be beaten, but you must not resist” (Doc. G). Gandhi had to use discipline to not resist or fought back. This shows that under the toughest situations you must be brave and show that you aren’t weak. Just like Gandhi is being strong Martin Luther King Jr was put in these settings as well. Luther grew up in America during the time where everyone was racist. He was judged by his skin color and he …show more content…
After getting arrested and maybe a death sentence Nelson would still not let his people down. He tells the judge that he “was prepared to die secure in the knowledge that [his] death would be an inspiration to the cause for which [he] was giving [his] life” (Doc. L). He was going to lead the people as an inspiration dead or alive for freedom. Mandela wasn’t the only person who knew how to make their name heard the world around for being a decent leader Gandhi was too. Gandhi wanted to fast and make the world equal again. He has protested, but occasionally you couldn’t actually tell if it was a protest. He would lead people on to fast and pray for him to mock the opposing side. Gandhi says “this idea came to [him] last night in a dream that we should call on the country to observe a general hartal” (Doc. A). Gandhi is always coming up with respectable ideas for the people and ways to obtain free rights. MLK also had a say in this just halfway around the world. King was all for giving a person a voice and leading them to ways to end segregation. After getting arrested for boycotting, one hundred African-Americans went to jail; some of the people were transformed. After this he started to walk “with this feeling of solitude around me, I walked with firm steps towards the rear end of the jail” (Doc. K).
In the years following the War of 1812, the “Era of Good Feelings” evolved between the years 1815 and 1825. In the first half of this period, there was a strong sense of nationalism throughout the United States. However, political changes and economic differences between the states warped this nationalism into the sectionalism that divided the country into north, south and west regions. Celebrations of unity within the United States soon turned into disagreements concerning representation within the government and the differences within the national government caused by the emergence of different Republican factions. States distanced themselves from working collectively in a united economy. They were largely concerned with
Non-violence is a peaceful strategy people used in the 1900’s to revolt against the government. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Mohandas Gandhi had the most success in changing the way we live today. How did they get nonviolence to work? Well they were very disobedient, disciplined, and determined to make a change in society.
Martin Luther King Jr. is looked up as a hero and a role model because of his use of nonviolence. Around the world, many people were using violence to solve their problems, but King, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, decided that the problem around segregation in the United States would not be solved with guns but with words of harmony. This article, published by Cesar Chavez conveys the powerful effect nonviolence has in resolving conflicts by using comparisons, historical evidence, and powerful vocabulary.
In the pursuit of social justice and civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael, sought to amend a flawed system. To accomplish this task, these men entered the armory and chose to wield nonviolence as their weapon. Their goal: to combat violence with nonviolence, to fight hate with love, and to spread equality through peace. In the end they succeeded. Violence breeds violence, hate breeds hate, it is an ineffective approach and an archaic mean to resolving societies issues. Malcolm X and Carmichael were both extreme individuals but that does not make them violent. They attacked social justice and civil rights passionately and assertively, not violently. The methods used
“Don’t even use fists to counter attack,” Gandhi said, all of these three men said to some degree along these lines multiple times. If you are going to be trampled to a pulp, still do not raise a fist, do not defend yourself, take in the agony. In Mandela’s case, he saw that nonresistance was the only way to bring equality to every person in South Africa since the government was much more influential than the movement against the apartheid altogether (Document C). If Mandela had used fierceness, his supporters could have been demolished by the government and would still oppressed and being treated in horrifying awful ways. Martin Luther King on the other hand, influenced all volunteers to turn over all imaginable weapons before going to protest (Document E). Martin Luther King Jr. did this so the law enforcement agencies and other residents do not have a reason to harm his followers and other individuals who believed in this
Non-violent resistance is the best resistance. “This was always a cry that we had to set before people that our aim is not to defeat the white community, but to win the friendship of all persons who had perpetrated this system in the past.” (Teaching). Don’t humiliate the enemy when you can get them on your side. Some of the most powerful movements where MLK’s peaceful protest. “Nonviolent protest is the most effective weapon against a racist and unjust society” (Andrew March). The Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the March on Washington are two peaceful protests that fist come two mind from MLK, and both where very effective. With peaceful protest the step in the revolution for equality had a
The success of the fight for racial equality, also known as the Civil Rights Movement, in the United States was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between the 1950s and the 1960s, civil rights activists practiced non violence in hopes to end racial segregation and discrimination across the country and worldwide. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Jim Lawson, and John Lewis believed strongly in this philosophy of nonviolence as the key of success for the Civil Rights Movement.
Nelson Mandela was a great leader during a time of oppression towards nonwhites in South Africa. He led a peaceful resistance to end apartheid in his country, which led to his first arrest and time doing hard labor (Pechey, 2008). This strategy was not working and Mandela approved of tactics involving violence against the government in order to end apartheid and to create a democracy that would grant rights to all people regardless of their race. His shift from a peaceful resistance to a violent one was justified and modern ethical thinkers would have approved of the shift as well.
While when discussing the history of the world’s power forces, violence makes for stimulating discussion, other tactics were put to good use, one of these alternatives being non-violence. With the guidance of three worldwide heroes - Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela - with contagious optimism and high spirits, it became apparent just how much of a difference could be made carried out through non-violent terms. Mankind was introduced to another way to resolve major problems just as effectively, if not more, than violence could.
Non-violent protest is one approach to addressing small or global acts of inhumane conditions of people experiencing racial, ethnic, gender, social, and economic disparities. Peaceful demonstrations such as the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi’s Indian independence movement. Estonia’s Singing Revolution, or Invisible Children’s social media uprising, have been successful in making the world aware of the problems people are facing. These movements have inspired change. It does not mean that the non-violent protestors have not suffered violent consequences. Nor does it mean that the perpetrators have ceased from committing in humane acts indefinitely. The hope remains strong to settle differences peacefully. Peaceful protestors will not always escape a demonstration unscathed in the justice process. Violence will always be inevitable where there are men who gain from other people’s suffering or where there are men who seek to gain freedom. It seems as if violence is to peace as yin is to yang.
When we look at people like Martin Luther King Jr. who fought to end segregation we see that his nonviolent and his charismatic way of dealing with problems changed the world. If he was to use violence more problems would have come out of his situation than solutions. The more you fight back violently the more others will do the same and same goes for the opposite. This man had a dream and his dream is todays reality.
In a country where many people have been exploited for personal gain, the only way to resist the patriarchy and be heard is through the act of nonviolence. Nonviolence is practice many used to in order to be heard without the use of hurting others. Nonviolence is an effective way to stay on the offensive that is crucial to make a change in the world.
Oppression and injustice have wrecked havoc on humankind for all of recorded history, and the methods people have used to battle these have varied greatly. Whether it be through world wars or marches through city streets, the attempt to achieve social change has been long and perpetual, persistent and challenging. When people’s lives are threatened, they may feel the need to act violently while others argue that non-violence is the only way to bring about lasting change. Non-violence is the preferable method of achieving social change, but violence is justifiable while it is preceded by nonviolent means, is meant to protect the security or way of life of a group, and has reasonable targets that affect opposers.
To start, Nelson Mandela had courage, a large group that shared the same ideas that he did, and the dedication to his fight that made him sacrifice so much. For instance, “I learned the meaning of courage...showing a strength and resiliency that defies the imagination” (Mandela). This shows how Mandela had courage, which ultimately was his inspiration for freedom to be widespread, for both the oppressed and the oppressors. Additionally, “I saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, but the freedom of everyone who looked like I did. That is when I joined the African National Congress, and that is when the hunger for my own freedom became the greater
In South Africa, he spent 20 years opposing discrimination against Indians. His work in South Africa was necessary because South Africa passed a law requiring all Indians to register and get fingerprinted; this was unjust because only people of color, native Africans, and Indians, were targeted by this law. Gandhi was imprisoned several times because he was fighting the system; he always did so non-violently even if they were using force. One time while he was in jail he read Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience.” This essay gave him the words he needed to describe what he was doing: civil disobedience. As part of his approach to nonviolence, he let himself and those he was with getting beat up without fighting back. This approach is an extremely powerful way to show how much abuse you’ll take to win what you