According to Brownlee (2012), civil disobedience is the refusal to obey a demand, an order, or a command of a given government or power without engaging in altercation or violence with the aim of forcing a concession from the government. Civil disobedience is regarded as a social movement tool used by either an individual or a group of people to protest a common practice or a law. Civil disobedience has also shown signs of changing in the course of the movement from a simple spark of ignition to a massive unifying factor. Civil disobedience has been used as a philosophy and a tactic in many nationalistic movements mostly in India, Africa, and in America to champion for factors such as labor, anti-war, social, and political rights.
Civil disobedience has achieved massive success in as far as change is concerned. The strategy has assisted in inspiring action and bringing change. The start of civil disobedience can lead to media attention to an issue under contention and further inspire the involvement of citizens who would have otherwise remained dormant. For instance, in 1955, Rosa Parks, for example, refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus hence sparking widespread civil disobedience movements (Brownlee, 2012). Secondly, and most fundamentally, civil disobedience has been used to unify a campaign. As a movement continues, civil disobedience can come in to serve as a common thread that links leaders, protestors, and events. For instance, Martine Luther King and Gandhi used civil disobedience characterized by non-violence in gaining a moral high ground that went on to ensure that they had not only the control but the direction of their respective protests.
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In the United States, for instance, civil disobedience has also been used as a tool for achieving political rights. The Boston Tea Party represents one of the significant acts of civil disobedience as Susan Anthony was arrested for defiantly voting in the House of Representative 1872 elections despite the fact that women were not allowed. As such, she sparked a nationwide campaign for the fight against female disenfranchisement in voting. In India, Mahatma Gandhi used civil disobedience as a tool to fight colonialism. In his mind, civil disobedience was an inherent right of a citizen and thus should not be denied whatsoever. The American civil rights movement was also a civil disobedience initiative in the 1950s that sought to end racial segregation in the country.
However, the philosophy of civil disobedience has received widespread criticism from various quarters especially those who feel that it should be condemned for its acceptance of the existing political structure. Brownlee (2012) intimated that the conservative school of thought also postulates that civil disobedience is a form of anarchy that gives an individual the right to chose any law that he deems fit. Whereas there are people who believe that civil disobedience is a source of social change, there are those who have held that it is only a tactic used when there are no other available means. However, this cannot be regarded as true for some reasons. Asserting that civil disobedience accepts the existing political structure would wrong considering that in India, Gandhi led civil disobedience that sought to disrupt the current colonial government. Claiming that a civil movement is a form of anarchy is also misplaced given that it only aims to bring change to areas that it feels are against the welfare of the ordinary citizenry.
In conclusion, civil disobedience is a tactic used to demand change in the society by employing a peaceful strategy of rebelling the existing laws, orders, and commands by the existing government or power. It has shown immense success in India and US where many citizens have faced various forms of sociopolitical and economic oppression.
Reference
Brownlee, K. (2012). Conscience and conviction: The case for civil disobedience . OUP Oxford.
