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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
...y shocks most of people who hear and see it, encouraging and moving others who also suffer. In instance, Elena screamed at Longoria to show she would not give them any information about resistances and Antonio when Longoria was about to killing her (Tobar 148). Elena sacrificed her life to protect Antonio and her friends who fought against the Guatemalan government without using any violence when she faced Longoria who tried to kill her. She showed it was important not to be daunted by fear and to keep fighting for justice. Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi advocated nonviolent resistance as a means of seeking peace and gaining independence for the Republic of India from Britain. Justice should be served by means in the name of justice. Nonviolent resistance is a powerful way to fight against the cycle of violence and work towards the realization of a peaceful world.
Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society because if there isn't, how will people hear the voices of the oppressed and mistreated? Peaceful resistance comes a long way in trying to advance the rights and customs of the oppressed today. For example, The Salt March of 1930 was based on the Salt Act of 1882, which excluded the people the India from producing or getting salt, only British officials. Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of this protest. According to an article by time.com, it says that "The protest continued until Gandhi was granted bargaining rights at a negotiation in London. India didn’t see freedom until 1947, but the salt satyagraha (his brand of civil disobedience) established Gandhi as a force to be reckoned with and set a powerful precedent for future nonviolent protestors, including Martin Luther King Jr.(Sarah Begley,2015)" This means the salt march was a start for India's independence. Also, Gandhi's brand of civil disobedience set precedents for future nonviolent protests. Another Example of how peaceful protests
It has been debated though out history whether or not nonviolence “works”. Many societies, and this without question includes the United States, have mostly relied on violent tactics. Many people believe that violence is the only way to stop wars, even though it creates war, and people tend to believe that violence is the one solution to many global and political problems. However, recent literature and research is starting to prove otherwise. Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist, recently published a book, Why Civil Resistance Works in 2011. The research highlights data that shows throughout history, nonviolent tactics are more effective than violent ones in various ways.
Gandhi once said “An eye for an eye and the whole world is blind.” This is true in most circumstances but there are exceptions. By comparing acts of nonviolent civil disobedience with acts of violent civil disobedience it is apparent that force or violence is only necessary to combat violence but never if it effects the lives of the innocent. A recurrent theme in each of these examples is that there is a genuine desire to achieve equality and liberty. However, one cannot take away the liberties of others in order to gain their own. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that political change would come faster through nonviolent methods and one can not argue his results as many of the Jim Crow laws were repealed. Similarly, through nonviolent resistance Gandhi was able to eventually free India from the rule of Britain. It is true that sometimes the only way to fight violence is through violence, but as is apparent, much can be said of peaceful demonstrations in order to enact change. Thus, it is the responsibility of we as individuals to understand that nonviolence is often a more viable means to an end than violence.
During the civil rights struggle in the late1950s it became apparent that those who supported segregation would go to any length in order to maintain the status quo. Until then, many whites in the 1940s believe blacks were content with the way things were (Shmoop). For the first time, the nation would come face to face to the reality of the violence that African Americans faced on a daily basis. The Brown v. Board of Education decision was a major victory for the civil rights movement. It showed momentum for desegregation in the Jim Crow south. After school integration, it was only a matter of time before Jim Crow laws would be challenged and overturned everywhere.
In Chavez's argument, he explained the importance of nonviolence during the Civil Rights Movement. He used Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s movement as an example of successful protest using nonviolence. Although Dr. King's example proved to be effective, after he died, several members of the movement resorted to violence which caused the death of thousands of Americans. Chavez argued nonviolence is the only way to protest violence in order to attract support for his cause: the farm workers' movement. Chavez's rhetorical choices, through his tone and allusion to history, effectively influenced farmers to protest without violence.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobediance to revolt against racial segregration and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states, but quickly rose to national prominence.
There are many different ways human beings deal with oppression. In his book, Stride Toward Freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. expresses how people handle oppression in three characteristic ways. Acquiescence, violence, or nonviolent resistance are ways the oppressed deal with their oppressors. In King's excerpt, he expresses that nonviolent resistance is the morally and correct way of dealing with oppression. King believed it was only through nonviolent resistance that things would begin to change for the oppressed.
Peaceful resistance itself does not affect a free society. A people-group can protest any number of laws: voting rights, taxes, and the legality of murder. A majority of society must determine what is best for itself. If the principles of a resistance aligns with the ideals of the society, the pursuit of betterment positively impacts that
The non-violent way is the most logical line of attack of defeating oppression by rising above it and proving to the oppressors that they were not any better than those they tyrannize. Although the nonviolent resistance is the most challenging way to deal with oppression because of its lengthy process, but the long term result of equality and justice can be achieved successfully, peacefully and
Civil rights can be defined as the rights for individuals to receive equality. This equality includes the right to equal jobs, justice, the right to be free from harsh treatment and discrimination from the whites in various ways. These rights include education, voting rights, employment, same sex marriages, housing, and many more. Civil rights include gay and lesbian rights, women rights to vote and hold positions in offices, African- Americans and Hispanics as well. Looking at it from a historically, the civil rights movement is the fights, protest, and demonstrations all in a non-violent form by African-Americans to achieve equality amongst whites. Today, civil rights can be used to describe the call for equality for all people regardless of culture, race, sex, age, disability, national origin, religion, or certain other characteristics.
Many changes occurred during the late 1950s into the early 1960s in the goals, strategies, and support of the movement for African American civil rights. Many strides were made for racial equality in the United States. However, while changes were made, they did take a considerable amount of time to achieve. This made some leaders of the civil rights movement frustrated and caused them to divert from their original goal of integration. They instead strove for black separatism where blacks and whites would live segregated.
If people and groups are ignored, that is oftentimes a calculated attempt to downplay on groups statuses in social, economic and political life. As practical experiences made us aware, in societies where differences between groups are very sharp, the mere refusal to acknowledge the existence of other groups seems ineffective. To this, the dominant group makes efforts to dehumanize the contending group. And if this does not achieve the desired results, the dominant group results to physical means- to fight the rival group. But if someone ignores you, laugh at you, fight you, and you win means that you adopted different strategies altogether, different from the tactics adopted by the one who ignores, laugh at you, fight you, which makes you to win.
For instance, in “The Diary of Anne Frank” Anne uses her diary to increase her family’s moral and to oppose the Nazis. As she writes about her daily life and attitude towards the Nazis, we see how she resisted by carrying on the legacy of her family with her writing.The Nazis policy was not just to remove the people, but to remove the memory of those people, and the very memories those people might have within them. Her diary is brought the people faith and optimism. People in the concentration camps used their talents such as acting or playing the piano to make people forget the hunger and misery and long for another concert. Meanwhile for the artists this was a revolt against the regime. Passive resistance points towards a future: by bearing its meaning is like a sealed envelope into in another era and redirects the world away from violence. Some may argue that you are doing nothing for the better of the Jewish people by hiding and are not helping the ultimate cause or end goal, but the people are making more of a difference preserving their culture by teaching and practicing it than killing five out of ten thousand people and then dying from being shot. The active resistors are not making that much of a difference in their army by killing a couple. By teaching, people are renewing their faith they
The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobedience to revolt against racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states but quickly rose to national prominence. It is of popular belief that the civil rights movement was organized by small groups of people, with notable leaders like—Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and even John F. Kennedy—driving the ship. That is partly correct. The Civil Rights Movement, in its truest form, was hundreds of thousands of people organizing events and protests, working together to ensure that every American—whether black, white, brown and anything in between—had the right to a prosperous and harmonious life.