Passive Resistance as a Powerful Tool for Social and Political Change

Passive Resistance as a Powerful Tool for Social and Political Change

Passive resistance, simply defined as “peaceful resistance by fasting or refusing to cooperate,” (hyper-dictionary) is a complex issue, and potent tool to attain a means through absolutely zero violence. As Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, have argued, passive resistance is a noble means to a peaceful end, in which only the followers of a movement risk themselves and bring no harm to those whom they oppose. “Passive resistance,” according to Mahatma Gandhi, “is an all sided sword; it can be used anyhow; it blesses him who uses it and him against whom it is used. Without drawing a drop of blood it produces far-reaching results. It never rusts and cannot be stolen.” Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi both knew that police forces could not stifle those who would not fight against them. Likewise, no matter how powerful a government, the hearts of those fighting for a just cause could not be quelled. Others are also moved by those who fight passionately for their cause without using violence, and that independence from those who oppress is a key to developing a change in social and political structure.

While soldiers are easily rallied to fight an enemy who will kill one of their own, they cannot be so easily pressured to kill innocents who merely oppose them without ever resorting to violence. It is a basic human instinct to react to a physical threat, (usually by eliminating it) but if no physical threat exists, it is impossible to justify the elimination of a life. Police forces are faced with this dilemma when encountering passive resisters. Although passive resisters may be in the way of a regime, government, or society, it is hardly justifiable to us...

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...fully. Martin Luther King Jr. helped bring peace and equal right to the most powerful nation in the world. Mahatma Gandhi helped India gain independence from Great Britain and thus helped in the molding of the largest democracy in the world. Mahatma Gandhi held no truth to be stronger than the fact that passive resistance, is the only just battle to be fought. Because people feel for others, “Self sacrifice of one innocent man is a million times more potent than the sacrifice of a million men who die in the act of killing others. The willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful retort to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God or man.”

Works Cited

- Mahatma Gandhi, “The gospel of Satyagraha”

- Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve been to the Mountaintop”

- Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”

- Hyper dictionary, www.dictionary.com