Resistance to Civil Government:

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Resistance to Civil Government

• Cultural and Historical Ramifications of
  Thoreaus Essay on Civil Disobedience

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Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

• Dubbed The Mother of the Civil Rights
  Movement, Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus
  Boycott in 1955 when she refused to give up her
  seat on the bus to a white passenger. This single
  act of civil disobedience is responsible for
  bringing Martin Luther King, Jr. to the forefront
  of the civil rights movement.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

• Montgomery Bus Boycott Nonviolent boycott of
  buses in Alabama to protest segregation of
  public transportation. This is one of the largest
  and most successful protests of racial
  segregation in American history.
• In his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, he
  stated that it was his moral responsibility to
  disobey unjust laws
• His nonviolent doctrine was heavily influenced
  by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi

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Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
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The Dalai Lama (1935- )
The Dalai Lama is the political and spiritual
leader of Tibet, and has been in exile since 1960
due to Chinese occupation of his country.
Tibetan Uprising Day is acknowledged by protests
in many countries
6
Nelson Mandela (1918- )

• Before becoming the first democratically elected
  President of South Africa in 1994, Nelson Mandela
  lead a nonviolent struggle to end apartheid
  (racial segregation) in South Africa. He was
  arrested and imprisoned for over 27 years for his
  involvement in the resistance movement. Apartheid
  in South Africa finally ended in 1994, largely
  due to Mandelas leadership and an international
  movement devoted to equality for black South
  Africans and democracy throughout the country.

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Thich Quang Duc (1897-1963)
This Vietnamese Buddhist Monks act of
self-immolation protested the Vietnam War, as
well as the unequal and harsh treatment of
Buddhists in Vietnam.
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Tiananmen Square Protests, 1989
Groups of students and intellectuals led a series
of protests against the corruption of the
government of the Peoples Republic of China from
April 15th to June 4th, 1989. During the
protests, between 2,000 and 3,000 people were
killed and between 7,000 and 10,000 were injured
by armed militia of the government.
9
Kent State IncidentMay 4, 1970
A four day student protest of Richard Nixons
invasion of Cambodia led to the shooting deaths
of four students and the wounding of nine others
by Ohio National Guardsmen. The incident was
followed by student strike of over 8 million, who
protested the actions taken by the National Guard
at the university in Kent, Ohio.
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The Million Man MarchWashington, D.C. 1995
Just over one million African American men
marched on the nations capitol to protest
conservative Republican promises to cut welfare,
public housing, Medicaid, and student aid
programs.
This precedent for this type of protest was set
by the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
over three decades earlier. At this nonviolent
protest of racial inequality and segregation,
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous I Have A
Dream address.
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Modern Anti-War Protests
Gulf War protest at UW-Madison, 1993
Iraq War protest in Flagstaff, Arizona, 2003
The first Chinese anti-war protest of Iraq War at
Beijing University, 2003
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Journal Assignment

• Write one page about one or more of the
  following
• What is injustice?
• To what lengths would you go in order to stand up
  for what you believe to be right? Use the true
  stories that you have just heard to determine
  this. Would you have given up your seat on the
  bus? Would you allow yourself to be exiled from
  your country by an oppressive, neighboring
  government?
• Do you or your peers currently face any
  injustices imposed by the various governing
  forces in your lives? What are they? Is it
  possible to use nonviolent force as a means for
  change?