[Vision2020] The Three Principles of Civil Disobedience

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (January 15, 2006) Lewiston Tribune with a special thanks to
Dr. Nick Gier -

 

You may listen to Dr. Gier's speech, as presented on KRFP (Radio Free
Moscow, 92.5 FM), by downloading it from:

 

http://www.tomandrodna.com/Sounds/MLK_Nick_Gier.mp3

 

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The three principles of civil disobedience

By Nick Gier

 

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of
justice." 

-- Martin Luther King Jr. 

 

I'm sure that people have protested unjust laws ever since the first laws
were promulgated. Some scholars claim that Gandhi was influenced by an
ancient tradition of civil disobedience in his own country, and we now know
that Gandhi protested South African pass laws a year before he read Henry
David Thoreau's famous work "On Civil Disobedience" in 1907. 

 

But it cannot be doubted that Thoreau's work did give an intellectual
framework for Gandhi's program of active nonviolence as well as new ideas
for specific forms of non-cooperation. 

 

When faced with unjust laws, Thoreau proposed that people could "obey them,
amend them, ... or transgress them." With respect to the Fugitive Slave Law
of 1850, Thoreau chose to transgress. In eventually supporting the violent
acts of John Brown, Thoreau broke with the nonviolence resistance to which
Gandhi and King consistently adhered. 

 

In July 1846, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax and spent one night in jail
for his crime. Thoreau proclaimed that "under a government that imprisons
unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison." Gandhi and King
would go to jail for much longer terms and willingly accept the punishment
for breaking the law. 

 

We can now begin to discern several principles of civil disobedience. The
first principle is that you maintain respect for the rule of law even while
disobeying the specific law that you perceive as unjust. 

 

Gandhi very much admired Socrates' respect for Athenian law and his decision
not to flee when his prison guards were bribed. King was always confident
that American democracy would eventually treat his people as equal under the
rule of law. 

 

Nonviolent activists do not seek to undermine the rule of law, but only the
repeal of unjust laws. Gandhi's and King's demands were clear and simple:
Laws that discriminated and disenfranchised must be abolished. Indian
outcastes, African-Americans and gays do not want "special rights"; they
simply want the rights that all others enjoy. 

 

The second principle of civil disobedience follows from the first: You
should plead guilty to any violation of the law. As Gandhi explains: "I am
here to ... submit cheerfully to the highest penalty that can be inflicted
upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be
the highest duty of a citizen." 

 

Gandhi instructed his disciples to take the penance of their oppressors upon
themselves. Gandhi's tactics were a form of moral and political jujitsu.
Some of Gandhi's judges felt as if they were the ones charged and convicted.
Thoreau said that his one night in jail made the state look foolish. 

 

We have now arrived at the third principle of civil disobedience: You should
attempt to convert your opponent by demonstrating the justice of your cause.
Active nonviolence does not seek, as Gandhi says, "to defeat or humiliate
your opponents, but to win their friendship and understanding." 

 

Gandhi would have agreed with King's axiom that "there is within human
nature something that can respond to goodness." This is what gave King hope
that "the aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community,
while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness." 

 

Although Thoreau quoted Hindu scripture in his book "Walden," there is a
much stronger spiritual dimension to Gandhi's and King's political activism.
One could criticize them for violating the hallowed separation of politics
from religion. 

 

The Establishment Clause certainly does not ban the expression of religious
views; it only proscribes the favoring of one religion over another. Gandhi
and King's vision was inclusive and nonjudgmental, rather than declarations,
such as a recent one by an army officer in uniform that "our God is greater
than Allah." 

 

Nonviolent resistance to oppressive regimes had a good track record in the
late 20th century. From the Baltic states across to Ukraine, and east to the
Philippines, ordinary people in dozens of countries have proved Thoreau
correct: "When all subjects have refused allegiance, and all officers have
resigned from office, then the revolution is accomplished."

 

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In keeping with the spirit of civil disobedience, and in memory of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., you may download, listen, and read Dr. King's "I
Have a Dream" speech from:

 

http://www.tomandrodna.com/notonthepalouse/Dream.htm

 

Thank you, Dr. Gier.

 

May future generations enjoy the intent of your words and those of Dr. King.

 

Until then . . .

 

Take care of yourselves and each other, Moscow.

 

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

 

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown

 

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