Civil Disobedience; one of the most fundamental aspects of a democratic society. It allows the petitioning group to present their case nonviolently and encourage negotiation. Many have taken to using this form of dissent in order to attract attention to an injustice. Throughout history, this technique has been tested time and time again. Without it, how would we show extreme support or frustration over particular issues? Famous leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., have employed the use of passive resistance and gained admirable results. This form of petitioning also requires a level of respect for the laws set in place. As Gandhi once stated, the goal of challenging a mandate is not “to defeat or humiliate your opponents, …show more content…
Citizens are obliged to not only reflect the laws they are told to abide by, but to aid in changing them if necessary. Abraham Lincoln expressed this concept in the Gettysburg Address when he spoke of our nation as a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” To blindly follow a decree is to not fulfill the duties of one’s citizenship. The rule in question must also be regarded courteously because the objective of protesting is to ask people to consider the ideas being fought over. To act aggressively would only make others more reluctant to consider different views. Lastly, any punishment given for disobeying should be taken without argument. To use the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” “One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.” This compliance sends a powerful statement displaying the need for …show more content…
After a 140 mile march to Washington D.C., protesters sat on the steps of the Capitol building. Over 400 individuals were arrested, but during this time, they calmly adhered to the police officers’ demands. This behavior is a proper example of what the general public is capable of. Alejandra Pablos, one of the organizers of the protest, stated, “I think anyone who really cares about democracy should be involved…There’s so much corruption that we can’t have a democracy that works for us” (Huffington Post, 2016). These concerned individuals did what they thought was the best course of action to bring attention to financially-dependent
As more people are exposed to the arguments of these protesters, pressure mounds onto the government to see the problem and respond to it. In fact, in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “not … a single gain in civil rights [was made] without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.” Additionally, these individuals are not negatively affecting society because they express the utmost respect for the law and advocate for change peacefully while fully accepting the consequences of their actions. They risk enduring denunciation by the media and being labeled as radicals by others. King describes the process of a nonviolent campaign in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.” The self-purification aspect of the nonviolent campaign emphasized an acceptance of the consequences that come with breaking the law such as “[accepting] blows without retaliating” and “[enduring] the ordeals of jail.” The right to peaceful protest respectfully allows these individuals to express their concerns and influence other people with their ideas.
Throughout history, the citizens of America have led protests and movements against unjust actions by those in power, laws that seemed to violate one’s rights or laws that seemed to hurt or discriminate against others. These protests have been crucial to shaping the nation into what it is today.
On April 29, 1992, the City of Los Angeles was surrounded in a riot in response to the "not guilty" verdicts in the trial of four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers accused of unlawfully beating Rodney King. Six days later, when the fires were finally extinguished and the smoke had cleared, "estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion, 54 people had been killed, more than 2000 injured, in excess of 800 structures were burned, and about 10,000 people were arrested."(Khalifah 89) The 1992 riots in the City of Los Angeles were arguably the most devastating civil disturbance in the history of the United States.
In the pieces Henry David Thoreau “Civil Disobedience” and Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter From Birmingham Jail” both analyze civil disobedience through their own experiences on the way that were runned. They both not only analyze but seem to question whether to trust who can run the government with the governments true intentions being questionable. In Thoreau “Civil Disobedience” he questions the morals of how the government sees its people, to them only having us being seen as machines they can just control which is crossing between ruling and being unjust. In MLK’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” he also explores and questions on not how the city or ‘government’ is ran, but rather the men who run it, using the experiences that he himself along with his fellow community have gone through from the segregation of the clergyman and the states. Civil disobedience is seen as a way to go against the government, a way to voice out the people’s opinion for a call of change. An idea that is still used today which has developed the nation into what we are now, a nation that states their beliefs for the whole world to see and know.
The idea of creating protest based on one's belief has been around for thousands of years and has continued to be spread throughout the world ever since Henry Thoreau published his essay “Civil Disobedience” back in 1849. Civil right leaders including Martin Luther King and Gandhi were inspired to revolt against the government based on their evaluation of the well known essay written by Thoreau. The interpretation of “Civil Disobedience” was acted out through peaceful protest towards the government. Although the objective was to create peaceful protests towards the government, occasionally the move would initiate violent acts. Thoreau did not believe in these violent acts because he thought that if he was going to be punished for something that he believed in, then he would rather just be thrown in jail considering his home life was worse than what prison life would be. Non violent acts were also encouraged by Gandhi and King, a trend that they all followed along with by accepting any penalties towards them while protesting. This trend has followed over to our present day movements around the world including protest towards military funerals, as people are going to continue to protest these funerals even though new restrictions have been put into place in order to try and stop the rioters. Civil disobedience has led to many modern protest including the protest against military funerals, which is a great example of the power of civil disobedience.
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” This quote spoken by historical figure Mohandas K. Gandhi tells how civil disobedience works in fifteen words. Gandhi was a man who used civil disobedience to get what he wanted. This quote reflects on how being peaceful while breaking a government’s laws can lead to results. Civil Disobedience is the refusal to obey certain laws and legally protest against the government’s laws by picketing, boycotting and the refusal to pay taxes. Many people have different opinions about civil disobedience. Some people believe that civil disobedience is not effective as a means of social change. For example, some may say that using civil disobedience will take a long
The purpose of our government is to serve its’ people, woe to the United States if they discourage their citizens of speaking up for their convictions. According to Henry David Thoreau their convictions are worth being heard, “The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way”. Ultimately, real change and progression is made at the hands of the common man. It is utterly important to remember where the power should lie and peaceful protest is a tool for providing that
In other words civil disobedience indicates that the main objective of disobedience is to bring changes in the social or political order that would affect the freedom of citizens. Nonviolence is the right answer to moral issues and is crucial in politics for any government on our time the need for human mankind to overcome oppression avoiding violence without resorting to oppression with violence.
When your human rights are being stripped, it is a great way to change society, as we see in Gandhi’s peaceful revolt. However, in many cases it is not necessary. It would do even more damage, especially if there are other, safer and more human ways for addressing concerns. Laws would be threatened as well as American infrastructure and economy. Through this, civil disobedience requires us to examine the situation. It requires intelligent people to sacrifice something for the greater good, and when it is necessary. The people thinking about disobeying must ask the question “is the law I am being pushed under unjust?” before performing the act. As Gandhi once said “An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and
Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. both attempt to argue for the rights to disobey authority if there is social injustice. Thoreau analyzes the duty and responsibility of citizens to protest and take action against corrupt laws of the government. Likewise, King conveys to his audience that the laws of the government against blacks are intolerable and that civil disobedience should be used as an instrument of freedom. They both effectively illustrate their philosophy that civil disobedience is a necessity, and the similarities and differences of these two essays are portrayed through their occasion, audience, purpose, speaker, tone, appeals, and rhetorical strategies.
During his confinement in Birmingham city jail, Martin Luther King Jr., a man of patience and virtue, wrote, “…we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive” (Ali-Dinar). Throughout his life, King led peaceful protests to further equality and justice in the African American community; many were opposed with police brutality and fierce discrimination. Had it not been for the media, which broadcasted to Americans nationwide, the eyes of the public and the President would have remained shut to the continuing unequal treatment of the law and violent oppression that many African Americans faced. Despite attempts to halt their movement, the protesters
However, Martin Luther believed that if a person felt that a law is unjust, then that person has the moral responsibility to defy it. He believed that if a person did not stand up for what he believed in and stood by and did nothing, then he is actually doing an injustice. MLK believed that if a law was out of place with the law of God particularly the Ten Commandments, then that law was unjust. He also believed that civil disobedience was a tool for having a say in negotiation. Evidently, MLK believed that the act of civil disobedience should be introduced by some form of inequity. A democratic society could not claim to be democratic if some of its civilians were being handled differently under the law. According to MLK, segregation was wrong
In Thoreau 's essay Civil Disobedience he makes the point that bystanders are just as bad as criminals and that people should stand against unjust crimes even if it means going against the law. And to some extent I do agree because in the past people have broken unjust laws and have created change. A well-known example would be when Rosa Parks sat on the bus in the "White-only" seating area, which lead to important events that helped push the Civil Rights movement forward. But I think that it depends on which laws they choose to break and how far they choose to go with it.
In order to demand for a change, most people would take action and oppose by resisting. One may peacefully resist while others choose violence over logic. Civil disobedience is defined as “the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences.” Civil disobedience plays a crucial part in peaceful protests. Peaceful resistance to laws mostly cause a negative impact to a free society.
Civil disobedience is the refusal to conform to a society or a set of laws. Civil disobedience has come a long way from its beginning. It has been developing and will continue for generations to come, as it is considered a duty of a person. The opinions and beliefs of civil disobedience cultured in our society by both Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. are still present in our modern-day society; nevertheless, these opinions and beliefs still need to be expanded in order to keep up with the fast-growing population.