Passive Resistance In The Civil Rights Movement

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The vast majority of uprisings by the oppressed against their persecutor end in blood shed and great human suffering. If we lived in a utopia everyone would adopt passive resistance to escape persecution, but we do not live in a utopia and everyone cannot adopt passive resistance. Mahatma Gandhi popularized and defined the concept as an alternative to brute-force as a means of resistance. During the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. utilized passive resistance in order to fight back against discrimination against African Americans. Viktor Frankl, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, writes about the effectiveness of passive resistance, while George Orwell, in his essay Reflections on Gandhi, condemns it. Although, in theory the …show more content…

It can though be effective when the oppressed group is unable to change their situation through conventional means. Viktor Frankl’s experience in Auschwitz taught him that: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves” (Frankl). The conventional means of resistance throughout history have been brute-force, that is until Gandhi introduced to the world passive resistance. Instead of attempting a violent revolt, the people of India looked inward and successfully challenged themselves to live by the ways of self control. Frankl’s statement is even more abundantly clear during the civil rights movement. Civil rights leaders attempted to petition to the government through conventional means, but as King writes, “The [city fathers] consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiations” (King 2). When the legal system did nothing to change the unjust laws affecting African Americans, King started a movement of passive resistance and required his followers to emulate pacifism. Another situation in which passive resistance makes a useful tool to escape oppression, is one in which the society has a free press and right to assembly. For example, in the United States of America, the first amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (Amend. I). While it is not a constitutional right to break laws, it is a right to publicize the tensions created from non-violent protest. So while passive resistance is not adoptable by everyone, there are cases in which it can be an effective means of

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