Civil Disobedience: A Tool for Cultural Preservation

Bulldozers ahead, desecrating sacred ground, people clamoring over offenses in desperation to stop the destruction of culture, security manhandling all those who dare oppose the construction, “And then the dogs came”(Manning). The world is composed of a collection of different countries, continents, and nations all made up by people, in some instances the nations that reside above its people enforce an injustice into its system, that is when the people’s tool of civil disobedience must be utilized. The impromptu occupation of sacred land facing imminent demolishment by the Meskwaki and Sioux tribes is a demonstration of how civil disobedience can be successful in the short term but may not carry enough momentum to cause wide scale change.
In

In brief, King’s viewpoint takes the ideas of Plato and Thoreau into a whole new territory of wholehearted peaceful protest that stems from a lack of change in the systems after the above tactics of civil disobedience are brushed off. Thirdly, the three authors mentioned above emphasize the astronomical importance of civil disobedience. As an illustration, Plato emphasizes the gravity of sticking to one's individual values and thus support honor and virtue. Plato’s claim of importance is the backbone of individual through when protest is involved, all protest is rooted in a collection of people who are protesting based on one's personal beliefs. Thoreau holds the position that civil disobedience is a way to keep the government in check as to avoid its abuse to the people it watches over. Through Thoreau’s viewpoint, it aims to keep the individual and the minority in control over the

The destruction of the sacred land that was occupied was conducted in complete secrecy, and was only brought to the attention of the protesters through noticing this construction when a small group of protesters were “walking up to the flags on the highway to sing and pray”(Ursula Young Bear, Manning). The mere act of performing construction on property still being cleared for construction is an unjust action. The occupation of land about to be bulldozed in peaceful display of civil disobedience by a minority against a majority relates to both king and thoreau in how people are taking direct action against an unjust law or business practice, This is further reinforced by the fact that the protesters took the retaliation wholeheartedly, without striking back