Refusal to obey a law on the grounds that it is immoral or unjust in itself
Appeals to the majority’s sense of justice, in order to get them to reconsider and change public policy.
Goal: to put the issue on the public’s agenda, to call attention to an unjust law. Disobedience must be open and public.
Roots of the Idea
Henry David Thoreau
Jailed in the 1840s for refusing to pay a poll tax. The tax supported the war with Mexico and the extension of slavery, which he strongly opposed. Thoreau did pay his other taxes.
Coined the term “civil disobedience” in the title of his essay arguing in favor of non-violent opposition to slavery.
Thoreau’s civil disobedience
Key Arguments:
Unjust laws require our action in order to work. He advocated resistance: "I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."
Normal legal channels to overturn those laws either do not exist or take too long.
Civil disobedience effective: if abolitionists withdrew their support of government, then slavery would end in a peaceful revolution.
Examples
In 1955, a black woman named Rosa Parks was arrested for the crime of refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. This incident sparked the civil rights movement.
MartinLuther King led numerous civil rights marches and activities involving nonviolent direct action.
Mahatma Ghandi. Led India’s independence fight from British in 1915
Nonviolent Resistance
Strategies
Sit-ins at segregated businesses (esp. restaurants)
Activists were fired from jobs; expelled from schools.
Law enforcement used dogs, fire hoses, tear gas against
them. Hate groups employed beatings, bombs, house
& church fires, and even murder.
Civil disobedience
Public in two ways:
Not done in secret but in the open
Intended to serve broad public interest, not individual self interest.
Current examples of civil disobedience
Protestors at the World Trade Organization meetings who march inside areas that are restricted.
Anti-abortion protestors who block access to clinics that provide abortions.
Lawful protests vs. civil disobedience
Only unlawful non-violent protest is civil disobedience. Actions that do not break the law are not civil disobedience.
Examples:
Boycotts of certain agricultural products led by the United Farm Workers in the 1960s & 70s (Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta).
Anti-war protestors outside Las Cruces City Hall every Wednesday afternoon.
Violent protests vs. civil disobedience
Only non-violent unlawful protest is civil disobedience. Violent actions are not civil disobedience, even when fighting against unjust or immoral laws.
