Acknowledgement
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my Liberal Studies teacher, Miss LPS, who has given me useful and constructive advice during the enquiry study. I would also like to give special thanks to my interviewees: Dr. MARTINEZ LOPEZ, Miguel Angel, Dr. JOHNSON, Thomas, Dr. James GLEDHILL, Mr. Tam Yiu-chung and Ms. Emily LAU Wai-hing, for giving your precious experience and knowledge. Lastly, I am grateful to all the survey respondents for providing valuable opinions.
Table of Contents
Introduction P. 4
Research Objectives and Focus Questions P. 5
Methodology P. 6 - 7
Literature Review P. 8
Findings and Analysis P. 9 - 21
Conclusion P. 22
Reflections P. 23
Bibliography and References P. 24 - 26
Appendix P. 27 - 32
Introduction
I am interested in the topic “civil disobedience” because it has aroused public attention recently by “Occupy Central” proposed by Dr. Benny TAI Yiu-ting.
To understand the topic, a definition of “civil disobedience” is required. The most widely accepted one is defined by John Rawls in 1971. Civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of the law undertaken to bring about a change in laws or government policies. Furthermore, the person who practises civil disobedience is willing to accept his legal consequences, showing fidelity to the rule of law.
Besides Occupy Central, class boycotts in Universities against National Education and the establishment of Citizen’s Radio are civil disobedience in Hong Kong.
On the other hand, the first important concept in the study is “socio-political participation”, including civil disobedience. However, secondary school students are not encouraged to participate due to its nature of violating the law.
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...cupy-central-hong-kong-protesters-enter-their-second-day.html. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
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14. 李彭廣(2011年11月30日)。《通識攻略：怒火升級，公民抗命！》。太陽報。
15. 龍子明(2013年5月28日)。《龍聲飛揚：警惕「佔中」毀壞青少年學生前途》。文匯報。
16. 龍子明(2013年7月24日)。《龍聲飛揚：「佔中」是個禍，貽害年輕人》。文匯報。
17. 練乙錚(2013年9月2日)。《法治精神，你選哪一層？》。信報通識。
18. 梁文道。《吸納不了的激進》。香港獨立媒體網，http://www.inmediahk.net/node/179554，下載於2013年11月10日。
19. 《具體的行動是甚麼？為何是「佔領」？》。和平佔中，http://oclp.hk/index.php?route=occupy/faq_detail&faq_id=6，下載於2014年4月8日。
20. 王耀宗教授。《何謂公民抗命？》香港電台「通識網」，http://www.liberalstudies.tv/blog/ls_blog.php?mode=showThread&id=1749&mother_id=862，下載於2014年4月8日。
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In the great era of foundational philosophers, two stand out, Plato and Thoreau. Each had their own opinion on various topics, especially on civil disobedience. Plato’s life span was approximately 428-348 BC. Plato wrote numerous works throughout his lifetime, however we will be focusing on one, the Crito. Thoreau’s life span was 1817-1862. To help us determine what civil disobedience means to both of these philosophers we will first look at a general definition. According to Merriam-Webster civil disobedience is defined as “refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government.” This definition will act as a springboard to compare and contrast both of their thoughts on the topic. We will determine, according to Plato and Thoreau, when we are called to engage in civil disobedience and when the moral parameters of civil disobedience are pushed too far.
"The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy." Civil Liberties Monitoring Project. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. .
Civil Disobedience, as stated in the prompt, is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Many people believe this has a negative impact on the free society because they believe civil disobedience can be dangerous or harmful. Civil disobedience does not negatively affect the free society in a dangerous manner because it is peaceful and once it becomes harmful to the free society then it is not civil disobedience. Thoreau believed civil disobedience is an effective way of changing laws that are unjust or changing things that as a society and to the people does not seem correct. This peaceful act of resistance positively impacts a free society. Some examples are Muhammad Ali peacefully denying the draft and getting arrested. These men believed that what they saw was wrong and they did something about it but they did it peacefully.
Civil disobedience has its roots in one of this country’s most fundamental principles: popular sovereignty. The people hold the power, and those entrusted to govern by the people must wield
In Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," he uses a hyperbole to support his belief that "one person can make a change," an idea still relevant today. Thoreau uses many forms of literary techniques such as multiple hyperbole, emotional appeals, and paradoxes. Thoreau uses these to sustain his ideas on civil disobedience. He believes if you believe in something, and support something you should do whatever it takes to help the cause. Many people in today's society believe to just go with the flow, rather than living like Thoreau has, and supporting his own beliefs no matter what the consequence. Henry David Thoreau had a lot of personal authority, he was all about his own independence. Many different people believed in being a non-conformist, and Thoreau was one of them, and he very well showed how much he supported it. Thoreau was not the only nonconformist, they're many people who followed his beliefs and they refused to be bound by anybody, or anything they did not support. Other non-conformists were Gandhi, Galileo, Malcom X and many more.
Civil Disobedience occurs when an individual or group of people are in violation of the law rather than a refusal of the system as a whole. There is evidence of civil disobedience dating back to the era after Jesus was born. Jesus followers broke the laws that went against their faith. An example of this is in Acts 4:19-20,”God told the church to preach the gospel, so they defied orders to keep quiet about Jesus,” In my opinion civil disobedience will always be needed in the world. The ability to identify with yourself and knowing right from wrong helps to explain my opinion. Often in society when civil
The following essay will attempt to evaluate the approach taken by Dworkin and Habermas on their views of civil disobedience. The two main pieces of literature referred to will be Dworkin?s paper on 'Civil Disobedience and Nuclear Protest?' and Habermas's paper on 'Civil Disobedience: Litmus Test for the Democratic Constitutional State.' An outline of both Dworkin's and Habermas's approach will be given , further discussion will then focus on a reflective evaluation of these approaches. Firstly though, it is worth commenting on civil disobedience in a more general context. Most would agree that civil disobedience is a 'vital and protected form of political communication in modern constitutional democracies' and further the 'civil disobedience has a legitimate if informal place in the political culture of the community.' Civil disobedience can basically be broken down into two methods, either intentionally violating the law and thus incurring arrest (persuasive), or using the power of the masses to make prosecution too costly to pursue (non persuasive).
There are many features of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience according to Rawls must be political in nature; agents engaged in civil disobedience must be appealing to a “common conception of justice”. It is aimed at changing the law, thus, it is a method requiring political engagement. The goal of this is to bring the law into conformity with the theory of justice. In order to make it a particularly clear case of rejecting the ou...
Civil disobedience has been around for a long time. In Bible times Christians would disobey laws that would go against their beliefs, such as the law that they couldn’t preach. (Acts 4) Christians still disobey laws in many countries that do not let them practice their faith, some end up in jail or killed.
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. The use of nonviolence runs throughout history however the fusion of organized mass struggle and nonviolence is relatively new.
The use of civil disobedience is a respectable way of protesting a governments rule. When someone believes that they are being forced into following unjust laws they should stand up for what they believe in no matter the consequences because it is not just one individual they are protesting for they are protesting for the well-being of a nation. Thoreau says ?to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.? People should only let wrong and right be governed by what they believe not the people of the majority. The public should always stand for what is right, stand when they think a government is wrong, and trust in their moral beliefs.
This section seeks to introduce the reader to the issue of Civil Disobedience and Electronic Civil Disobedience in general. The first section provides a brief background on the issue of Civil Disobedience in general and in the Malaysian context, and the question of anarchy that arises with it. The problems regarding Klang Valley youth participation in Civil Disobedience and Electronic Civil Disobedience will be discussed in the problem statement. Key terms and concepts used in the research will also be defined, as will aims, objectives, research questions, as well as the scope and limitations of the research. The research will use phenomenological and positivistic approaches (survey, observation, literature review) to collect the data. Finally, the possible significances and contributions this research might have for the country will be briefly discussed.
applies the principles of civil disobedience in his procedure of a nonviolent campaign. According to him, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action” (King 262). The first step, which is “collection of the facts,” clarify whether the matter requires civil disobedience from the society (King 262). The second step, “negotiation,” is the step where civil disobedience is practiced in a formal way; to change an unjust law, both sides come to an agreement that respects each other’s demand, (King 262). Should the second step fail, comes the “self-purification,” in which the nonconformists question their willingness to endure the consequences without any retaliation that follow enactment of civil disobedience (King 262). The fourth and the last step, “direct action,” is to execute it; coordinated actions such as protests or strikes to pressure no one, but the inexpedient government to conform to them, and advocate their movement, and thus persuade others to promote the same belief (King 262). This procedure along with principles of civil disobedience is one justifiable campaign that systematically attains its objective. King not only presents, but inspires one of the most peaceful ways to void unjust
The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy. " Civil Liberties Monitoring Project. American Civil Liberties Monitoring Project, Summer 1998. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. .
----- "Civil Disobedience" from A World of Ideas - Essential Readings for College Readers, Lee A. Jacobus, Bedford Books, 1998, 1849(123 -146)