Civil
Disobedience
Laws
that are unjust and inimical should not endeavor the people to amend
them and obey them because it should be a duty as an individual to
follow what is right. Aristotle once said that “It is not always
the same thing to be a good man and a good citizens.” As citizens
who thrive justice, they have a moral responsibility to go against
unjust laws. Campaigns such as the Salt March, to Flying pickets and
sit-ins, and the poll tax non-payment were all historical events that
brought the people common people together in order to fight against
the detrimental laws.
Henry
David Thoreau, the man who laid the foundation of Civil Disobedience,
was a transcendentalist who argued in favor of the common people and
called for an upright, more righteous government and policies. He
thoroughly expressed his opinion in his essay “Civil Disobedience”
or “Resistance to Civil Government” which was read by many
nonviolent advocates such as Gandhi and King. Thoreau being a
transcendentalist had trust that if ones soul and conscience was true
than he or she was free. Civil Disobedience was galvanized when Henry
was arrested for resisting the poll tax in protest for the Mexican
American War and slavery. Thoreau believed that an American citizens
should follow their own conscience, and for the ones who were against
the Mexican American War should not pay taxes because if we do than
we would be supporting the government. He believed that the American
government's power should be in the hand of the people, not because
they are the fairest but because they are the strongest and the
majority of America. He asked “Must the citizen ever for a moment,
or in the least degree, resign his conscience, then? I think that we
should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to
cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.” He
writes that if there was even one honest man who wants to bring an
end to slavery and willingly be locked up for it in prison then there
will be an abolition of slavery. It does not matter how small or weak
of a person they are “what is once well done is done forever.”
Thoreau explains that the government exists because the people chose
it to execute their will but the government lacks the purpose for in
which it was created for. So as the people, they must express
opposition towards the inequitable laws. He emphasizes that an
individual must not relentlessly yield to the majority of the State.
Standing firm with this moral principle, soon later the Compromise of
1850 which led to the included Fugitive Slave Law. Thoreau educated
the people on how a government should act and how they should respond
in correspondent of that action. “It is not a man's duty as a
matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even
the most enormous, wrong; he may still properly have other concerns
to engage him; but it his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it,
and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his
support.” He educates the people not to yield to the prejudice laws
but to question them and not encourage it. This teaching has inspired
reformers internationally such as Tolstoy in Russia, Gandhi in South
Africa and India, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement.
One of
the most well known prominent leaders of the independence movement
was Gandhi. He was great leader that believed in peace and wanted a
fair world that would prosper. One of his first act of civil
disobedience was the refusal to comply with racial segregations rule
on a South African train. Gandhi was once removed from a first class
railways compartment and thrown off in England. From there on he
decided to fight against the unjust laws that rejects and harms the
common the people. Although his teachings were based off peace he
believed that an unjust law is the same as violence. Many times was
Gandhi thrown into jail for refusing to obey the biased laws. During
his time in jail Gandhi read “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David
Thoreau where he read about refusing the law non violently. Gandhi
believed that violence does not allow an individual and a country to
prosper, it brings his or her doom. He states “An unjust law is
itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now
the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by
counter- violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law
and by peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment.” Rather
than the essay “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau,
Gandhi preferred the Sanskrit word satyagraha which meant devotion to
the truth. In other words in means that one must be prepared to die
and suffer himself for the truth. This method was adopted by the
people when the common people were opposing barbarous laws of the
Government of South Africa. “So long as it is your endeavor to
controls us with justice and love, we will let you to do so. But if
you wish to strike at us from behind, we cannot permit it.” Gandhi
and the people used this method for justice and love. On March of
1930 the spiritual independence leader began a march that fought
against the salt laws. This movement was known as the Salt March
which was limited my its failures. Despite the failures it announced
to the world that Indian masses were strong forces and further
continued civil disobedience which inspired many people such as
Martin Luther King.
The
great leader of the African American Civil Rights Movement, Martin
Luther King had a burning passion for civil disobedience. King fought
for good and did not cooperate with the evil laws of the government.
King used civil disobedience as a means of generating government
change. Just like Gandhi it formed a large scale of people to
nonviolently refuse to obey the government's corrupted laws. King
believed that there are two types of laws: just and unjust laws. A
just law would be a law that go upon morals or the law of God. An
unjust law would be a law that is discordant to morals. King had been
arrested arrested numerous times for leading protests and march such
as the civil rights march through Birmingham. Alabama. He emphasized
that one must accept suffering and penalty in order for the right
cause. King took more direct non-violent actions that calling for a
negotiation because direct actions such as marches and sit-ins
because it created more tension which causes the government to
confront and deal with the issues itself. He believed that civil
disobedience was the one form that can bring a negotiation for the
government to change. He has a belief that “One has not only a
legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one
has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” A man that is
obeying unjust laws is a basically a spiritually dead man. King
emphasizes that the people need to stop going along with the
government's corrupted laws and that they need to start acting
against or else we all will be spiritually dead. Martin Luther King's
idea on nonviolence had six very important principles. First was one
can resist evil without violence, second was that nonviolence seeks
to attain the camaraderie of the opponent rather than to humiliate
them, third was that the source of evil should be repressed and
opposed not the ones who are causing it, fourth is the satyagraha
which is to suffer without retaliation, fifth is that nonviolence
avoids physical violence and internal spiritual violence, and the
last principle is that the nonviolent must have great faith for a
better a future and believe that the universal will eventually will
be on the side of justice and morality. “ An individual who breaks
a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts
the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of
community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest
respect for the law.” Not only did King advocate nonviolence
nationally but also soon began to increase the awareness of it
internationally.
Saint
Augustine once said, “An unjust law is no law at all.” The
primary goal that many of these reformers all around the world were
chasing was to speak against unjust laws. That is a responsibility as
a citizen and as an individual to do. Henry David Thoreau has sparked
up the notion of Civil Disobedience is essay proclaims that even if
its a small act or the act is done by a single individual it will
last because once done will have been done forever. This inspired
other reformers such as Gandhi who believed that supporting unjust
laws is the same thing as violence. He believed that there will be
sufferings for the truth to come. Finally the word of these people
opened up the mind of the civil rights movement leader, Martin Luther
King Jr. who nonviolently acted against prejudice laws by going on
marches and sit ins in order to create tension and get the
government's cooperation rather than waiting for a negotiation. These
acts soon led to victories when congress passed the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Works
Cited
Mahatma,
Gandhi. “On Nonviolent Resistance.” 11 Sept. 1906. Speech
