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Oppinions on civil disobedience
The effects of civil disobedience
The effects of civil disobedience
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Civil disobedience is an act of opposing a law one might consider unfair so it’s peacefully disobeyed while accepting the consequences. If there is a way to protest in a way without causing any violent disturbance to the society then why do people avoid using it? Is it because it takes a long time to get the point across or is it because the government won’t care? Great figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Mohandas Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela have used this tactic and impacted the society greatly. They brought justice and equality for the people that were treated unethically even though it required time. Their point got across effectively without any use violence and has impacted the society for the greater good. Therefore, peaceful resistance to laws can positively impact a free society by allowing it to change the errors of the law, however others might say otherwise. There are …show more content…
During this movement, Martin Luther King Jr. promoted nonviolent actions for desegregation. He believed violent resistance would give the white cops the satisfaction of arresting them so he promoted a passive protest to avoid giving the cops any reason for arresting them. The African American protesters did sit-ins, marches, and speeches to get their point across that they have the right to sit in the front of the bus, drink from a clean water fountain, use the same bathroom as whites, get the same education as whites, and most of all they have the right of US citizenship. As result of this peaceful resistance, the Civil Right Act of 1964 was passed, which any type of discrimination and ending segregation. Therefore this nonviolent act proves that non-violent resistance is necessary because they allow people to change unjust laws which can help to make the society better just as this movement did by allowing everyone, no matter the race/color, to be
The Civil Rights movement was a movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern States that became nationally recognized in the middle of the 1950s. Though American slaves were given basic civil rights through the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments of the Constitution, African Americans still had a hard time trying to get federal protection of their newly found rights. A man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the American Civil rights Leaders who used nonviolence in order to reach a social change. He used nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice against African Americans like segregation laws. He wasn’t just fighting for the equality of all African American but was also fighting for the equality of all men and women. Malcolm X is another great leader who fought for what he believed in. He was a black activist who, unlike King, promoted a little violence. Malcolm X wanted the nation (African Americans) to become more active in the civil rights protests. Both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had different methods for gaining civil rights. I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. method was more effective thanMalcolm X methods. In King “’Letter from Birmingham Jail” King defends himself on writing about why he is using nonviolent resistance to racism. Throughout the letter he shows his reasoning using logic, emotion, and ethics. Throughout his life King used this same method to reach how to hundred of thousands of African Americans.
When a citizen abides by the social contract, they initially agree to enter and be a participant of a civil society. The contract essentially binds people into a community that exists for mutual preservation. When a person wants to be a member of civil society, they sacrifice the physical freedom of being able to do whatever they please, but they gain the civil freedom of being able to think and act rationally and morally. Citizens have what is called prima facie obligation to obey the laws of a relatively just state. A prima facie duty is an obligation that we should try to satisfy but that can be overridden on occasion by another, stronger duty. When it comes to prima facie duty, this duty can be outweighed by a higher order obligation or
Civil Disobedience, as stated in the prompt, is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Many people believe this has a negative impact on the free society because they believe civil disobedience can be dangerous or harmful. Civil disobedience does not negatively affect the free society in a dangerous manner because it is peaceful and once it becomes harmful to the free society then it is not civil disobedience. Thoreau believed civil disobedience is an effective way of changing laws that are unjust or changing things that as a society and to the people does not seem correct. This peaceful act of resistance positively impacts a free society. Some examples are Muhammad Ali peacefully denying the draft and getting arrested. These men believed that what they saw was wrong and they did something about it but they did it peacefully.
It is important to notice that if civil disobedience was not effective, then it would not be continually used to disobey the law. In "The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy” by Kayla Starr, she explains why we have the right to participate in civil disobedience. “The U.S. Bill of Rights asserts that the authority of a government is derived from the consent of the governed, and whenever any form of government becomes destructive, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or abolish it” (Starr 1). There are many examples of how effective this act of defiance could be. During the Boston Tea Party, the citizens of Massachusetts practiced civil disobedience by throwing Britain’s tea into the Boston harbor because they did not want to pay taxes on tea. Now, you can see that the Boston Tea Party played a major role in the United States becoming independent from Britain (Starr 1). Although violating the law has consequences, in this case the reward outweighed the risk. I think that by realizing the power that civil disobedience carries, we can stand up against ...
The Civil Rights Movement brought many accomplishments to African Americans such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The key issues that African Americans fought for were voting rights, integration and racial equality. They were tired of the discrimination and humiliation they received as a result of the segregation laws imposed on them. “State laws mandated racial separation in schools, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels, public transportation, theaters, restrooms and so on” (Blumberg 40). Lawsuits had been tried to gain rights such as the unsuccessful Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 and the successful Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Although, the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka declared the “separate but equal” clause unconstitutional, de facto segregation continued in the South. During the 1960s, two methods were used: nonviolence and violence. Violence proved to be ineffective since it perpetuated social tensions among Whites and Blacks. Nonviolence was the most effective method in bringing social change in America during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement because it attracted sympathy towards Black people, provoked positive media attention, and promoted unity among African Americans.
are regarded as unjust” (Schlesinger). In order to eliminate injustice, or at least the most unjust law in the system , people may start disobeying that particular law. Thoreau, Gandhi, and King each were closely related on the concept of civil disobedience, they all thought that the government was in need of fundamental transformation. However, they did support the non-violence movements. I would not say that this was very pretentious--their resort to nonviolence did reflect their morality and religious judgements ,but this is not accurate enough to work one hundred percent. Some people think of civil disobedience as something that must be limited, no one knows to what extent or degree, civil disobedience is always in search of limits.
After the war, Black Protests started to happen all over the country (Brown v Topeka, Montgomery Bus Boycott) sparking the real start of the Civil Rights movement. During the 50’s and 60’s one man helped improve the treatment of Black Americans using no violence whatsoever. Martin Luther King believed in non-violence, he said that this was not cowardly but that it was a method that did resist. King set up various sit-ins in and around southern states such as Georgia and Atlanta.
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. The use of nonviolence runs throughout history however the fusion of organized mass struggle and nonviolence is relatively new.
A few years after this the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King, who used non-violent means such as sit-ins, boycotts, and speeches to obtain equal rights for African-Americans.
When nonviolent civil disobedience occurs, the participating citizens are attempting to bring about positive change to the system--change which has not (and may not have) been brought about by words alone. Given that this constitutional republic is intended to be representative of its citizens in accordance with its fundamental laws, citizens are undoubtedly justified in striving for representation for the public will. This is put succinctly by David Thoreau in the poem Civil Disobedience: “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.” The government should enact the will of its people, and where people see a law as being unjust this disposition is voided. A purportedly representative governing body should be brought to consider the will of its people in earnest, and peaceful demonstration is the next step where words alone
The use of civil disobedience is a respectable way of protesting a governments rule. When someone believes that they are being forced into following unjust laws they should stand up for what they believe in no matter the consequences because it is not just one individual they are protesting for they are protesting for the well-being of a nation. Thoreau says ?to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.? People should only let wrong and right be governed by what they believe not the people of the majority. The public should always stand for what is right, stand when they think a government is wrong, and trust in their moral beliefs.
With all of this taken into consideration, including laws such as freedom of speech, it only makes sense that civil disobedience is right and justified. With setbacks from people getting out of hand during protests, it is the best to realize that whilst practicing freedom, denizens of any given place should know the laws and never break them. Lastly, civil disobedience should be allowed and practiced safely, because it has always been around and has often resulted in the improvement of society. As with every law, there will always be setbacks and obstacles that need to be recognized, however, in the end, civil disobedience does more good than bad.
Civil Disobedience is one using their freedom to express how they feel. How could it negatively impact a free society, when society is the thing that gave them the freedom to peacefully resist. It is only when the people’s reaction to peaceful resistance becomes violent does it begin to negatively impact a free society. When the Freedom Riders choose to peacefully protest by riding the buses, they made a statement. They did not want to fight with the hands, but rather with their actions. Even when the were met with cruel violence in Alabama, they continued to remain peaceful, and chose not strike back. This showed the world that peaceful resistance was possible, and it’s impact of society only depended on how people reacted to it.
For as long as there have been rulers, there has been disunity between rulers and ruled. Citizens have always found ways to show their disapproval of governmental decisions and demanded action. Civil Disobedience has existed since the ancient Greek . From Antigone's defiance of Creon over Ghandi's Salt march in India to the Occupy Movement. What does the aforementioned mean?
I think civil disobedience is an effective means to creating change. Civil disobedience gets the message across and it can bring about change. Violence cannot fix any problem, as it leads to more violence and more hatred. On the other hand, civil disobedience is a way to show the enemy that you do not hate them, but you hate what they are doing or claiming. In addition, civil disobedience shows the opponent that you are willing to let them do anything to you, as long as there is a change brought about for the better. Also, another benefit of using civil disobedience is that people who practice it are showing that they are serious about what they want. They are prepared to go to any extremes of listening to the other party, and only for their own beliefs and against what they know is wrong. This can send a very powerful response, and bring about a positive change.