Civil Disobedience Essay
The subject of civil disobedience is a controversial topic, one that sparks much debate. On one hand, one could argue that protesting or actively disobeying a law one sees as unjust threatens the legal system and, in turn, negatively impacts society. However, history has shown that, in cases of unjust laws, civil disobedience provides the pressure that pushes open the door to change. A free society is based on the ideals of equal rights and opportunities for all. People are inherently flawed, and since the government is comprised of people, it is subject to potential corruption. This corruption can result in unjust laws. Unjust laws go against, or threaten, the ideals of a free society. In such instances, it becomes necessary to take action
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When those attempts fail, though, civil disobedience becomes necessary. Peaceful resistance to laws seen as unjust positively impacts a free society by moving to protect the ideals that make a society free. Civil disobedience has been proven to lead to beneficial change, such as the Salt March led by Mohandas Gandhi in 1930, against the British monopoly on salt. Although change did not occur immediately after the Salt March, and several thousand people were arrested including Gandhi himself, it drew attention to, not just the opposition of the salt monopoly, but British rule in India as well. The British authorities realized afterwards that they could not ignore Gandhi, and that there wasn’t a way to stop him from taking direct action against policies he considered unjust. Even now, civil disobedience is used as a means of creating a tension and pressure that cannot be ignored by authorities, or society in general. The Dakota Access Pipeline protests are a good example of
When those attempts fail, though, civil disobedience becomes necessary. Peaceful resistance to laws seen as unjust positively impacts a free society by moving to protect the ideals that make a society free. Civil disobedience has been proven to lead to beneficial change, such as the Salt March led by Mohandas Gandhi in 1930, against the British monopoly on salt. Although change did not occur immediately after the Salt March, and several thousand people were arrested including Gandhi himself, it drew attention to, not just the opposition of the salt monopoly, but British rule in India as well. The British authorities realized afterwards that they could not ignore Gandhi, and that there wasn’t a way to stop him from taking direct action against policies he considered unjust. Even now, civil disobedience is used as a means of creating a tension and pressure that cannot be ignored by authorities, or society in general. The Dakota Access Pipeline protests are a good example of