Civil disobedience should always be geared at bringing sanity in the society, including the existing governing structures such as the federal and state governments. America has a long history of civil disobedience with the height of this form of activism occurring in the 1960s. Departing from the execution of political protests such as the Boston Tea Party of 1777, civil disobedience of the 1960s had more legitimacy and prestige in America ( Myers, 2017 ). Since civil disobedience serves to protest and push change of unjust laws, the question of who decides what qualifies as unjust always comes up. The law does not need to affect the majority for it to become unjust, but the disquiet can also come from the minority.
If Neo-Nazis were to burn the Koran, that could not be described as civil disobedience but anti-Muslim protests. Civil disobedience is targeted at righting laws that are unjust to a group of American society. However, the fact that this is not a form of legal disobedience does not mean that it cannot happen. Burning of the Koran can be classified as a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment ( Persky, 2011 ). Since the American Constitution protects freedom of expression, there is no legal action that can be taken at Neo-Nazis if they burned a Koran. Nevertheless, Muslims can conduct a series of civil disobedience protests against the First Amendment since it legally protects the Neo-Nazis freedom of expression
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Roe vs. Wade says that a woman can have an abortion before the third trimester without the consent of the father. In this landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of America, the court stripped excessive legal restriction when a woman wants to have an abortion. Nevertheless, as a form of civil disobedience, a man has a right to say no and seek to prevent a woman from procuring an abortion. Men should be allowed to relinquish all responsibilities, including financial if it is the opinions and needs of women that will be considered. In 2017, the US House of Representatives, through a vote, prohibited abortions after a fetus attains the age of gestation ( Ratelle, 2018 ). Therefore, a twenty weeks fetus has binding rights under the US Constitution.
Civil disobedience is an approach that individuals and groups of people can use to protest unfair laws. For example, Neo-Nazis in exercising their freedom of expression as provided for by the First Amendment, they can burn a Koran. Muslims, on the other hand, can conduct civil disobedience protests against the First Amendment. Similarly, a man can act in civil disobedience against the law that gives a woman the right to procure an abortion without involving him.
References
Myers, P. (2017). The Limits and Dangers of Civil Disobedience: The Case of Martin Luther King, Jr. Retrieved 31 January 2020, from www.heritage.org/node/1796301/print-display
Persky, A. (2011). Cover Story: Free Speech and the First Amendment. Retrieved 31 January 2020, from www.dcbar.org/bar-resources/publications/washington-lawyer/articles/february-2011-free-speech-first-amendment.cfm
Ratelle, N. (2018). A Positive Right to Abortion: Rethinking Roe v. Wade in the Context of Medication Abortion. Geo. J. Gender & L. , 20 , 195.
