Civil Disobedience: Freedom Fighters or Criminals?

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“No radical change on the plane of history is possible without crime,” This quote from Hermann Keyserling is just one of many statements that help describe the meaning and true raw power of Civil Disobedience. Civil disobedience as defined by Merriam Webster is the “refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government”. The most promising and understandable of the definitions of Civil Disobedience would be that given to us by Gandhi from India “Compassion in the form of respectful disagreement”. Even the Veterans Fast for Life from here in the United States must agree when saying, “when leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders.” To understand why civil disobedience is so important in our lives you must first look into your heart and realize that the integrity of mankind has no need of rules. “As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever,” Clarence Darrow a young lawyer who has fought on the affirmative and opposing sides of some of the most controversial issues of civil disobedience. Even though Darrow defended those that were arrested during anti-war movements he also supported allied involvement in WWI. Another example of civil disobedience in which Darrow supported was the American Underground Railroad, but Darrow is not the only important figure within the vastly growing act of civil disobedience. Harriet Tubman, one of the largest heard names in the underground railway helped lead toward the abolition of slavery here in the United States. Civil disobedience is even one of the reasons that we have the freedoms this country was f... ... middle of paper ... ...n.htm>. "I like Your Christ, I Do... at BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. . Meo, Nick. "Libya Protests: 140 'massacred' as Gaddafi Sends in Snipers to Crush Dissent - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. . "The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy." Civil Liberties Monitoring Project. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. . "Selections from Gandhi : Complete Book Online." WELCOME TO MAHATMA GANDHI ONE SPOT COMPLETE INFORMATION WEBSITE. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. .

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