Peaceful And Nonviolent Resistance

All through history governments and empires have been overthrown or defeated primarily by the violence of those who oppose them. This violence was usually successful however, there have been several situations, when violence failed, that protesters have had to turn to other methods. Non-violent protesting never seemed to be the right course of action until the ideology of Mohandas Gandhi spread and influenced successful protests across the world. Non-violent methods were successfully used, most notably, by Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela.

If someone were to slap you across your face what would you do? Would you turn your other cheek or would you return the slap back to them? The vast majority of people would not hesitate and quickly as possible slap the person back right before the person leaves. The point here is that there is more than one way we can react towards many situations. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Greenwalt and readings about the Trump protest talk about the two possible ways people can act towards a political cause, violence or nonviolence. We, with the help of these readings, would look into both perspectives of each technique, their drawbacks & benefits, and the circumstances in which they may or may not be justified.

unjust” (Banks 1). “Principle four – accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause to achieve the goal – this characterizes that nonviolent resistance is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back; accept the violence, if necessary; but to never inflict violence on another” (Banks 2). “Principle five – avoid internal violence of the spirit, as well as, external physical violence – a nonviolent resister not only refuses to fight or shoot his opponent, but he also refuses to hate him; at the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love for one another” (Banks 2). “Principle six – the universe is on the side of justice – this basic fact pertaining to nonviolent resistance is that it is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice which is positive peace, consequently, the believer in nonviolence has a deep faith in the future and therefore, can accept suffering without retaliation. There is a creative force in this universe, that by whatever name we decide to call it, it works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole; a universal wholeness for each of us to share with one another and that nonviolence is both the means and the end” (Banks 3). Dr. King also had a couple of

In today's society, the foundation of civil uprisings have been constructed on the principles of both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.. Even though we are in the 21st century and have overcome numerous events, today we are still fighting the obstacles that both these men had fought during their lifetime. Unfortunately, equality for everyone is still not a concept that has been reached in America, but due to innumerous protests many great outcomes have risen. Both Gandhi and King fabricated a method of non-violent protesting that only benefits the protestors because they give authority no reason to intervene. If authority was interfere against the protest, then the cause would rise in popularity and aggrandize. Although this type of

Harassed, beaten, jailed. Three great leaders fought for their rights through thick and thin, without physically hurting the opposition; these men were Gandhi, Mandela, and King. Here they each faced the problem of inequality and achieved their goal peacefully moreover without harm to their oppressors. They drew attention to their respective plights and converted others to help their cause. Nonviolence implies that the participants will protest without the use of harm to their opponents notwithstanding of what harm falls upon them; they will not even raise a hand to protect themselves from said harm. Nonviolence works because King, Gandhi, and Mandela applied economic pressure, performed civil disobedience, and appealed to conscience; which

It has been debated though out history whether or not nonviolence “works”. Many societies, and this without question includes the United States, have mostly relied on violent tactics. Many people believe that violence is the only way to stop wars, even though it creates war, and people tend to believe that violence is the one solution to many global and political problems. However, recent literature and research is starting to prove otherwise. Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist, recently published a book, Why Civil Resistance Works in 2011. The research highlights data that shows throughout history, nonviolent tactics are more effective than violent ones in various ways.

Resistance to laws positively impact a free society. The ability to resist and protest is a freedom in itself, and gives the government feedback from the American citizens. Without peaceful resistance, our government would not know what to change and people would get progressively more mad every day.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement and he preached strict nonviolent resistance. This meant that protesters would violate laws and traditions which were racist and discriminatory, but wouldn’t resist any action by the police or government or both. This led to young peaceful African Americans being sprayed with water hoses, and punched and kicked as they simply walked in a peaceful protest. It also led to sit ins at establishments that practiced segregation, or at the college buildings where black Americans were unable to enroll, not because they weren’t intelligent enough, but because they happened to be born with a dark skin pigmentation.

A society is only truly free if the members of the society have the ability to make their own conscious decisions. No successful country operates without disputes and differences of opinion. Therefore, peaceful resistance is not merely positive, but also necessary.

Peaceful resistance has been around for ages and has served for a way for people to achieve goals like social change through the practice of nonviolence. Peaceful resistance has gained much attention in both the past and present, causing others to ponder as to whether such resistance either benefits or harms a free society. There are compelling arguments for both sides, though the argument that peaceful resistance positively impacts society stands to be the most persuasive. Nonviolent resistance benefits a free society because it serves as a method for defeating oppressive regimes and societal norms, it allows powerful leaders to emerge to unite people under one cause, and it facilitates the establishment of lasting democracies. Peaceful resistance has proved to be a way for people to overthrow oppressive regimes and societal norms.

A peaceful resistance is the purpose of achieving a goal through a nonviolent act. For example, some historic events may include, Rosa Parks and her story. In 1955 Parks was sat on a bus awaiting her stop until a white group of people had requested the bus. When the driver had realized that there were no more seats, he told the Parks and the other African American sitting on the bus, to get off. Instead of picking a fight and forcefully fighting to get her way which was to stay on the bus; she simply just didn't move. She kept to herself and refused to get off the bus until she was physically forced by a police officer. Because of her act of refusal, she caused other people in the area to receive the same idea until eventually the African

Once the resistance of the non-violent act came to an end soon followed the violent resistance. It had become of the biggest bloodletting acts in 1960. Here the resistance overthrew the government with the intention to support and shelter the civilians (Engler, 2013). With Mandela trying to support and shelter the civilians this became an act of violence with the justification of bringing in peace to civilians. Power is an influence which can lead to many outcomes. Having the ability to have a quarrel where civilians are not being injured can be an extraordinary outcome but with power one must always have an approach.

Peaceful resistance is crucial to maintaining a free society because without it, our nation would never have had or will have the chance to evolve and adapt to the changing times. As they wrote the Constitution, our founding fathers were wise enough to make peaceful organization and protests an inalienable right. Without resistance, America would not even be a nation, nor would it be one of the most powerful. In many cases when individuals break the social construct it negatively affects the rest of society, however it also occurs that there are laws in place that are not helping all citizens’ pursuit of our nation’s three most important rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As a nation, we can not recognize that laws are not

There are many ways can nonviolent resistance be more powerful than violent retaliation. First, there are many techniques about nonviolent resistance that are sit-ins, which means the patience to harm, protest, that means to disagree about something and walk in the street in peaceful way, boycotts, which means to stop buy something from someone or company, marches, that means to walk with a group of people for a long way, or speeches, which means to talk in front the people. For example, black students wanted to sit in a lunch counter and tried to ordered food, but they were refused, so they left and came back the next day, but they were threated and they got national attention. In addition, company of bus refused to sit black beside white,

Does peaceful resistance to laws positively or negatively impact a free society? I believe positively impact the society because if you look at the last peace rally the police didn't know how to control without force. They weren’t harming anyone. So they couldn't use the water hose, pepper spray, or even the dogs. It’s a great thing to see people of all color. To stand up something in common. The world hasn't seen that a lot because we always fight each other when there a bigger picture. God gave us this world to live in harmony, and be united. If we protest negatively we will all get put in jail, and that a loop hole. Most of the time one you go to jail you will return. That why I feel like positively is better than negatively. We stand as one. So