Civil Disobedience

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with annotated text
Thoreau's 1849 essay on the right and obligation to follow your conscience ... More information: Other "Civil Disobedience" sites " ...
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in 1955. She became famous for refusing to obey racist regulations. Her individual action of civil disobedience started the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which is one of the largest movements against racial segregation. In addition, this launched Martin Luther King, Jr., who was involved with the boycott, to prominence in the civil rights movement.Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government or of an occupying power (international) without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary tactics of nonviolent resistance. In its most nonviolent form (known as ahimsa or satyagraha) it could be said that it is compassion in the form of respectful disagreement.

Civil disobedience has been used in nonviolent resistance movements in India (Mahatma Gandhi's social welfare campaigns and campaigns to speed up independence from the British Empire), in South Africa in the fight against apartheid, in the American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) and in peace movements worldwide.

The United States author Henry David Thoreau pioneered the modern theory behind this practice in his 1849 essay Civil Disobedience (Thoreau), originally titled "Resistance to Civil Government". The driving idea behind the essay was that of self-reliance, and how one is in morally good standing as long as one can "get off another man's back"; so one doesn't have to physically fight the government, but one must not support it or have it support one (if one is against it). This essay has had a wide influence on many later practitioners of civil disobedience. In the essay, Thoreau explained his reasons for having tax resistance as an act of protest against slavery and against the Mexican-American War.

Theories and techniques of civil disobedience is arrested for civil disobedience on the steps of the Supreme Court of the United States on 9 February 2005In seeking an active form of civil disobedience, one may choose to deliberately break certain laws, such as by forming a peaceful blockade or occupying a facility illegally. Protesters practice this non-violent form of civil disorder with the expectation that they will be arrested, or even attacked or beaten by the authorities. Protesters often undergo training in advance on how to react to arrest or to attack, so that they will do so in a manner that quietly or limply resists without threatening the authorities.

For example, Mahatma Gandhi outlined the following rules:

A civil resister (or Satyagraha) will harbour no anger.

He will suffer the anger of the opponent.

In so doing he will put up with assaults from the opponent, never retaliate; but he will not submit, out of fear of punishment or the like, to any order given in anger.

When any person in authority seeks to arrest a civil resister, he will voluntarily submit to the arrest, and he will not resist the attachment or removal of his own property, if any, when it is sought to be confiscated by authorities.

If a civil resister has any property in his possession as a trustee, he will refuse to surrender it, even though in defending it he might lose his life. He will, however, never retaliate.

Retaliation includes swearing and cursing.

Therefore a civil resister will never insult his opponent, and therefore also not take part in many of the newly coined cries which are contrary to the spirit of ahimsa.

A civil resister will not salute the Union Flag, nor will he insult it or officials, English or Indian.

In the course of the struggle if anyone insults an official or commits an assault upon him, a civil resister will protect such official or officials from the insult or attack even at the risk of his life.

Gandhi distinguished between his idea of satyagraha and the passive resistance of the west.

Examples of civil disobedience India (indios) Civil disobedience has served as a major tactic of nationalism movements in former colony in Africa and Asia prior to their gaining independence.Most notably Mahatma Gandhi developed civil disobedience as an anti-colonialist tool. Gandhi said "Civil disobedience is the inherent right of a citizen to be civil, implies discipline, thought, care, attention and sacrifice". Gandhi learned of Civil Disobedience from Thoreau's classic essay, which caused Gandhi to adopt a non-violent approach.

South Africa (Africans of Color) Both Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Steve Biko advocated civil disobedience. The result can be seen in such notable events as the 1989 Purple Rain Protest, and the Cape Town Peace March which defied apartheid.

Civil disobedience in the United States Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader of the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s also adopted civil disobedience techniques, and pacifism activists both during and after the Vietnam War have done likewise. Since the 1970s, pro-life or anti-abortion groups have practiced civil disobedience against the U.S. government over the issue of legalized abortion. From the 1970s onward, various groups and organizations such as the Puerto Rican Independence Party, have successfully performed civil disobedience campaigns to stop military war games staged in areas close to civilian populations living in the islands of Culebra and Vieques, Puerto Rico. See, for example, the Navy-Vieques protests.

Civil disobedience and religion Many who practice civil disobedience do so out of religious faith, and clergy often participate in or lead actions of civil disobedience. A notable example is Philip Berrigan, a Roman Catholic priest who was arrested dozens of times in acts of civil disobedience in antiwar protests. Also, groups like Soulforce, who favor non-discrimination and equal rights for gays and lesbians, have engaged in acts of civil disobedience to change church positions and public policy.

See also

Henry David Thoreau

Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)

Mahatma Gandhi

Satyagraha

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Rosa Parks, "mother of the civil rights movement"
Abalone Alliance and Clamshell Alliance, anti-nuclear power groups
Christian anarchism
Conscientious objection
Direct action
Draft resistance
Righteous Among the Nations

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, French town

Insubordination
Hunt saboteur
Nonconformism
Nonviolence
Nonviolent resistance
Sousveillance, passive campaign against surveillance
Tax resistance
Tree sitting
Trident Ploughshares, anti-nuclear weapons group

External links

Pensions for Peace ~ ACT for the Earth
Civil Disobedience, by Peter Suber. From Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia, edited by Christopher Berry Gray, Garland Pub. Co., 1999, vol. I, pp. 110-113
On Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreau
Manifesto against conscription and the military system, with an updated list of all signatories from 1993 to 2005
ReclaimingQuarterly.org features photo-coverage of contemporary civil disobedience actions
DirectAction.org offers online organizing resources for civil disobedience
a project of the Traprock Peace Center

Civil disobedience - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence.

Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Civil Disobedience is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. It argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences ...

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Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - 1
I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto, — "That government is best which governs least"; (1) and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with annotated text
Online annotated hypertext of Thoreau's classic work.

Civil Disobedience — Pioneers of Change
by Henry David Thoreau. How interesting to read this potent article at this very point of a seeming insane escalation to a possible third world war.

Armed and Dangerous » Blog Archive » Civil Disobedience
Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry. N.B.: Circumstances can force your hand, so think ahead! —Lazarus Long «

Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (DL SunSITE)
Text of Thoreau's essay in HTML format.

BBC - Religion and Ethics - Beyond Belief
Ernie Rea in conversation with guests about the place of faith in today's complex world. ... Beyond Belief. In each episode of the Sony Award winning series Beyond Belief, Ernie ...