Importance of Civil Disobedience

1612 Words4 Pages

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?
Civil Disobedience, the term formulated by Henry David Thoreau, in his essay in 1848, to describe his refusal to pay the state poll tax, to fund the U.S. Government’s war with Mexico, prioritized one's conscience over the dictates of law. Nowadays the word is defined as a „the refusal to comply with certain laws considered unjust, as a peaceful form of political protest“ (Oxford Dictionary).
Day by day the Human Web expands, the World is becoming more interconnected. News, Ideas and theories that used to take month to travel from one place to another, are now almost instantly available. As a consequence global civil society is getting bigger and bigger, national issues receive global attention and so do injustices and oppression. How do people bring attention to these issues and force change? In the following I will show the the justifications, functions of Civil Disobedience and why it is crucial to achieving stable governance.

Before examining Civil Disobedience the the definition itself demands further clarification. The ambiguity of the term leads to certain contradictions that question the definition of what is considered a law.
To illustrate the ambiguity of the term “law” one needs to imagine this: a marching group of people protesting against financial inequality in the United States intend to walk past the New York Stock Exchange and are stop...

... middle of paper ...

...stitute of Peace, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
"About Us."Avaaz. N.p., 2007. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
"Definition of Civil Disobedience in English."Civil Disobedience: Definition of Civil Disobedience in Oxford Dictionary (British & World English). Oxford Dictionaries, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
Friedman, Milton. "The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice."The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
Spilius, Alex, Robert Winnett, and Gordon Rayner. "Wikileaks Afghanistan: 'War Crime' Evidence to Be Published."The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 26 July 2010. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
Tedla, Aden. "Estonians Campaign for Independence."Global Nonviolent Action Database. Ed. Max Rennebohm. N.p., 14 July 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
"WikiLeaks Publishes More Spy Files."Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 06 Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.

Open Document