What is the purpose of civil disobedience? Civil disobedience is doing something illegal to try to get the law change. Civil disobedience is important part of human history and its future. Throughout this paper it is going to state the reasons for civil disobedience and going to cite historical examples . Civil disobedience has been responsible for important change that has happened . Civil disobedience should be encourage and is completely justified. A way to change a law, is to vote for a change, However, sometimes voting is not enough. Henry David Thoreau said, “If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.” That it is our duty to fight against unjust laws that we do not believe in and are against our moral code. That voting is all well and good but it is a long process, and does not guarantee the right outcome.That government forces us to obey a law that we do not believe in and may violate our natural law as human beings . Then we do not have a choice other than to use civil disobedience to get attention and to try to get the law change. Now an example of "civil disobedience" not at its finest moment is the Occupy Wall Street protest in 2011.Now this was an unorganized form of civil disobedience where no one state a law to change. They were just breaking the law by trespassing and complaining about the world. They also let anyone in and did not have a leader or spokesperson to make their case. It was unorganized and messy form of civil disobedience. (2011 A Year) However, it was in some way helpful ,it allowed people to blow off steam and not act in a violent matter . So, the occupy wall street was not a successful protes... ... middle of paper ... ...ian were arrested and released from jail for transpee. (SIBUSISO TSHABALALA)They fought against their government for a good reason to make their lives and the lives of everyone in Cape town a little bit better. Civil disobedience does not has to be historic or on a big scale. Civil disobedience is justified when people have a good point and a purpose. Civil disobedience is a great tool for the world to use. It help make changes and prevent violence when perform responsibly. It is responsible for ending segregation , giving women equal rights , and many more thing. Also in the future it will change so much more. Without civil disobedience the government would have too much power and control over it citizens. Civil disobedience is way for citizens of this world to make their voices heard to government and corporations. It has made the world a better place to live in.
When a citizen abides by the social contract, they initially agree to enter and be a participant of a civil society. The contract essentially binds people into a community that exists for mutual preservation. When a person wants to be a member of civil society, they sacrifice the physical freedom of being able to do whatever they please, but they gain the civil freedom of being able to think and act rationally and morally. Citizens have what is called prima facie obligation to obey the laws of a relatively just state. A prima facie duty is an obligation that we should try to satisfy but that can be overridden on occasion by another, stronger duty. When it comes to prima facie duty, this duty can be outweighed by a higher order obligation or
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.
The most famous instances of famous civil disobedience were all non-violent. Many famous civil rights activist preach non-violence, but there have been a lot of instances of violent civil disobedience. In 2014 the Boko Haram organization kidnaped 329 Nigerian girls from the Government Secondary School in Chibok. The boko Haram disliked western style education. So they kidnaped all these girls to protest. They ended up forcing girls into marriage. There is always an act of disobedience going on. This is similar to what happened to Korematsu. He was forced to stay in a military base, because of his
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
It is important to notice that if civil disobedience was not effective, then it would not be continually used to disobey the law. In "The Role of Civil Disobedience in Democracy” by Kayla Starr, she explains why we have the right to participate in civil disobedience. “The U.S. Bill of Rights asserts that the authority of a government is derived from the consent of the governed, and whenever any form of government becomes destructive, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or abolish it” (Starr 1). There are many examples of how effective this act of defiance could be. During the Boston Tea Party, the citizens of Massachusetts practiced civil disobedience by throwing Britain’s tea into the Boston harbor because they did not want to pay taxes on tea. Now, you can see that the Boston Tea Party played a major role in the United States becoming independent from Britain (Starr 1). Although violating the law has consequences, in this case the reward outweighed the risk. I think that by realizing the power that civil disobedience carries, we can stand up against ...
In the Theory of Justice by John Rawls, he defines civil disobedience,” I shall begin by defining civil disobedience as a public, nonviolent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law usually done with the aim of bringing about a change in the law or policies of the government”.
Civil Disobedience is a paradox. Civility and disobedience diametrically oppose one another; civility implies politeness or a regard to the status quo while disobedience is a refusal to submit to the standard. When these words are coupled together, however, they compliment one another. The purpose of Civil Disobedience is to disregard the obligation of observing a law with the intention of highlighting a need for change. Morality, Religion, and Ethics often play into the decision to willingly break a law which creates more depth behind the practical meaning phrase, because those three tend to emphasize a respect for authority and integrity. When people break the law in the name of civility, they often are asking questions like, “What must I
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.
In the chapter “Civil Disobedience” by Professor David S. Meyer, he talks about many different movements and social groups that had made an impact within society. He goes over the different areas that civil disobedience covers, and gives detailed examples about how civil disobedience leads to change of some sort. Meyer explains that in order to fully understand what civil disobedience is, it has to be looked at on a different level. Many people have their own interpretation of what they think civil disobedience is. It is seen as challenging public authority, and most of the time leading to an uproar of different groups participating in civil disobedience. When social movements take action into commencing civil disobedience, they do it
The civil and eventually violent disobedience of the thirteen colonies against England resulted in the birth of now one of the most powerful nations in the world. The civil disobedience of those willing to go against the norm allowed for Americans to be able to marry who they chose. It is because of Nelson Mandela getting arrested for what he believed in to allow for south Africa to be free from segregation. Civil disobedience has paved the way for society to become better because at some points society was not based on fairness. It was based on cruel ideologies and those ideologies put laws into affect that were meant to lower certain groups of people. So by breaking those laws it awakens those groups and allows them the motivation to go up against these unfair laws and in doing this allows for these unfair laws to be
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.
All in all, civil disobedience has made many positive changes in the world today. Nevertheless, the end goal or result of any act of civil disobedience is not meant to benefit the individual, but the community as a whole. The ends of such an act should not be a private gain, but a public gain. Just like in The Hunger Games, how Peeta and Katniss remained brave by risking their lives to stand up for their districts.
Civil disobedience is an active resistance to an unjust law found in a society. This purposeful violation of a law has influenced many changes in societies throughout history and around the world. Some view civil disobedience as having a negative impact on a free society with resistances disturbing the normal order of their lives, but actually the protests are only making the world a better, more equal place for everyone living there. Civil disobedience also establishes the idea that change can take place and be effective with the absence of violence.
The argument regarding civil disobedience has been a hotly contested subject ever since the creation of a democratic form of government. The idea that a person can disobey a law and accept the consequences because it violates their moral code has intrigued philosophers and lawmakers for several years. However, I would assert that civil disobedience is beneficial, even essential, for the advancement of free society.
I believe that civil disobedience has a positive impact on a free society. The opposition of controversial and possibly immoral laws provides a voice for the people and allows for change to occur. Civil disobedience makes us question the norms of our society in a critical analysis of our system. I also feel that those whom practice civil disobedience have a strong sense of self and social conscious. Civil disobedience has been a part of American history since the Revolutionary War. From the Civil Rights Movement, draft dodgers during the Vietnam War, protestors in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and the Civil War. Civil disobedience has been a force of major change throughout our nation.