Danielle_Alicia
04-29-06, 08:56 AM
“Civil Disobedience: Your Obligation, Right, And Duty.”
By: Danielle Alicia Martin
"That government is best which governs least.” ~Thomas Paine
“Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” ~Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist.
We have troops of men and women, many whom are deployed around the world against their wills, used as chess pieces in sick politician’s games. The fact that so many don’t believe nor have a voice in what they do, that they can be sent to kill or support the killing of other humans, says that their humanity is not only being utilized, it is being discouraged. These soldiers often become mere pawns moved by invisible hands to strange places with strategic greed and power struggles as motivations thrust upon them. If the soldier actually speaks, says how they feel, they are reprimanded and told to get back in line and remember their place. And that place is to go unwillingly, to do or die, to defend with their lives something they may not even believe in. At this point, they are not using their humanity at all, it has been trained and frightened out of them. The soldier pseudo-wins the game but never reaps the rewards. Instead, shame and guilt, pain, and years of self-abuse often become the soldier’s only real lifetimes friends. ( I have seen it in my own father, a man forced to fight in two wars, one of which he didn’t believe in. He carries the scars of that, the trauma lies deep within his soul.) One day, 500,000 people gathered in Washington D.C. in 1969 to protest, en masse, the war in Vietnam. In 1971, 13,000 people were arrested who all were engaged in acts of civil disobedience, all of them concerned about war and the handling of soldiers.
Not too long ago there were African-American men and women who were not allowed to attend schools with their Caucasian counterparts. They were not allowed to drink from the same water fountain, they weren’t allowed to dine in the same restaurants, nor sit in any seat they chose on the bus. These wonderful, strong, noble people who helped build this country and fought against our enemies, were kept down by a frightened, ineffectual and bigoted Government that was supposed to be “by the people, of the people.” One day Rosa Parks had enough and she did one act of civil disobedience that started a chain reaction that would bring equality to many more people in America. Now many more people of other oppressed segments of society are fighting for their equal rights as well.
Before that, women had no rights to vote. Our lives were also, just like the soldiers, bodies to bring meaning to those with the control. We darned socks, did laundry, cooked three meals daily and cleaned up after each one. We cared for the children and handled the day to day affairs. But, when it came down to politics, or having the right to our own education, we had to fight tooth and nail to be heard. We had little say in anything; indeed, we were seen as warm flesh to serve man’s goals, desires, and needs. One year, in 1872, many women decided to engage in acts of civil disobedience by voting, despite not being allowed to legally do so. Many arrests were made, including that of Susan B. Anthony. Eventually, the states all crumbled and women were allowed to vote.
Our country, as we know it today, was founded by those who engaged in civil disobedience against England. They were escaping religious persecution and came here to this land. Despite the fact they were all under English rules and laws, they disobeyed and even fought wars to gain their freedom. If you were born here, have prospered here, have enjoyed living here, then you have acts of civil disobedience to thank for it, first and foremost. There would be no “United States of America,” if it weren’t for the outright defiance of old laws.
From anti-apartheid demonstrations to medical marijuana arrests, from arresting Dr. Kevorkian to allowing women’s peace camps at military base, civil disobedience has a long and valued history in this country and around the world.
Is it our duty as human beings, as Americans, to engage in acts of civil disobedience if we feel all other avenues of recourse have been exhausted? Our Declaration of Independence sure says so. First of all, bear in mind what the title of that document meant. We were declaring our independence from England, in an act of treason! And what was the first things said in the document? Read it correctly. Is it not talking about, and justifying their acts of civil disobedience?
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self evident:
That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.” (Italics mine.)
The document clearly states that we have a right to alter or abolish any system of government or rules that have a long history of abuse with no natural end nor real resolution in sight. If this rule were never followed, there would be no America, no Equal Rights Amendment, nothing.
So, would I engage in an act of civil disobedience? I would, I have, and I will continue to do so. Complaining at home about it does nothing, nothing at all. As an American, as a woman who has knowledge and respect for our individual rights, I feel it is my duty, obligation, and human right to fight for justice.
I have broken the law on numerous occasions to get my point across. If I feel I am right and that there is a grave injustice, then I will risk arrest to bring the subject to light. But, there are usually more productive ways to fight for what we believe in. That is why I have been at demonstrations for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights, and even marched in their parades alongside them. I have walked with pride up the Capitol steps with tv cameras following as me and thousands of others protested the dumping and storing of nuclear and other toxic wastes into our lands and water tables. Because of our efforts, Utah is now the leader in proper nuclear waste disposal. I have written numerous letters to my congressmen, and even the President himself, to tell them in an intelligent but forthright manner, my opinions on their policies and how I feel they should vote. I am also a big advocate of and for religious tolerance. I want religions to respect other peoples of other faiths, beliefs, and ways of life. And, in return, I want all those outside of any religion to respect those that choose to have religion in their lives.
Civil disobedience is the backbone of this country. It is what this country was founded on, and continues to play a vital role in how things get accomplished. As George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”
In the following scenario, let’s say that all religion except just one, has become outlawed. No other religions can be practiced, the Bible can no longer be read by any of the common people. It can only be read and interpreted by some high ranking member of that one religion’s clergy. I would, in this scenario, risk arrest for my right to read the Bible, and indeed, I would continue to give public sermons on the Bible (as I have for many years now anyway) and I would practice whatever beliefs I felt were right. If it meant prison time, then so be it, but I would keep at my activities in prison as well. No one would ever be able to shut me up. Through verbal words, written words, or writing on the prison walls, I would fight for my right!
Think that scenario is far-fetched? Actually, it was the way of much of the European world for centuries. People were killed for reading the Bible, and you could only practice one religion: Catholicism. (This is not a slight against Catholicism, just meant to show that my above scenario did, indeed, happen at one time.) The Reform Movement also was civil disobedience, and many paid with their lives for speaking out on their right to believe what they want, and to worship God as they saw fit.
I believe we must seek, as priority, non-violent means to accomplish our goals. Violence should always be the very last resort of anything. First, all other avenues of persuasion must have been realized and effected with great precision and care, and much time allowed for natural societal change as well. Our noble points can get lost in the sad aftermath of violence.
Do you see where change needs to be made? What are you doing about it? Do you just sit and complain at your television? Or are you linking minds and arms with those who can direct your passion? Change doesn’t come overnight, but if no one ever said a word about their beliefs then it is possible it would never come. Get involved and do something, even if it is for only one day, go out there and stand up for what you believe in and let your voice be heard in a civil manner with great integrity and thought-out defenses. When you get tired or distraught, remember that you have the long and valued tradition of change supporting you; your founding forefather’s tombstones cry out to you, all of them urgently exclaiming, “Do your duty!”
And at night, as you lay upon your bed, you will have the full realization of why you are here as a human being, and not as a cooking pot.
:teach:
By: Danielle Alicia Martin
"That government is best which governs least.” ~Thomas Paine
“Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” ~Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist.
We have troops of men and women, many whom are deployed around the world against their wills, used as chess pieces in sick politician’s games. The fact that so many don’t believe nor have a voice in what they do, that they can be sent to kill or support the killing of other humans, says that their humanity is not only being utilized, it is being discouraged. These soldiers often become mere pawns moved by invisible hands to strange places with strategic greed and power struggles as motivations thrust upon them. If the soldier actually speaks, says how they feel, they are reprimanded and told to get back in line and remember their place. And that place is to go unwillingly, to do or die, to defend with their lives something they may not even believe in. At this point, they are not using their humanity at all, it has been trained and frightened out of them. The soldier pseudo-wins the game but never reaps the rewards. Instead, shame and guilt, pain, and years of self-abuse often become the soldier’s only real lifetimes friends. ( I have seen it in my own father, a man forced to fight in two wars, one of which he didn’t believe in. He carries the scars of that, the trauma lies deep within his soul.) One day, 500,000 people gathered in Washington D.C. in 1969 to protest, en masse, the war in Vietnam. In 1971, 13,000 people were arrested who all were engaged in acts of civil disobedience, all of them concerned about war and the handling of soldiers.
Not too long ago there were African-American men and women who were not allowed to attend schools with their Caucasian counterparts. They were not allowed to drink from the same water fountain, they weren’t allowed to dine in the same restaurants, nor sit in any seat they chose on the bus. These wonderful, strong, noble people who helped build this country and fought against our enemies, were kept down by a frightened, ineffectual and bigoted Government that was supposed to be “by the people, of the people.” One day Rosa Parks had enough and she did one act of civil disobedience that started a chain reaction that would bring equality to many more people in America. Now many more people of other oppressed segments of society are fighting for their equal rights as well.
Before that, women had no rights to vote. Our lives were also, just like the soldiers, bodies to bring meaning to those with the control. We darned socks, did laundry, cooked three meals daily and cleaned up after each one. We cared for the children and handled the day to day affairs. But, when it came down to politics, or having the right to our own education, we had to fight tooth and nail to be heard. We had little say in anything; indeed, we were seen as warm flesh to serve man’s goals, desires, and needs. One year, in 1872, many women decided to engage in acts of civil disobedience by voting, despite not being allowed to legally do so. Many arrests were made, including that of Susan B. Anthony. Eventually, the states all crumbled and women were allowed to vote.
Our country, as we know it today, was founded by those who engaged in civil disobedience against England. They were escaping religious persecution and came here to this land. Despite the fact they were all under English rules and laws, they disobeyed and even fought wars to gain their freedom. If you were born here, have prospered here, have enjoyed living here, then you have acts of civil disobedience to thank for it, first and foremost. There would be no “United States of America,” if it weren’t for the outright defiance of old laws.
From anti-apartheid demonstrations to medical marijuana arrests, from arresting Dr. Kevorkian to allowing women’s peace camps at military base, civil disobedience has a long and valued history in this country and around the world.
Is it our duty as human beings, as Americans, to engage in acts of civil disobedience if we feel all other avenues of recourse have been exhausted? Our Declaration of Independence sure says so. First of all, bear in mind what the title of that document meant. We were declaring our independence from England, in an act of treason! And what was the first things said in the document? Read it correctly. Is it not talking about, and justifying their acts of civil disobedience?
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self evident:
That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.” (Italics mine.)
The document clearly states that we have a right to alter or abolish any system of government or rules that have a long history of abuse with no natural end nor real resolution in sight. If this rule were never followed, there would be no America, no Equal Rights Amendment, nothing.
So, would I engage in an act of civil disobedience? I would, I have, and I will continue to do so. Complaining at home about it does nothing, nothing at all. As an American, as a woman who has knowledge and respect for our individual rights, I feel it is my duty, obligation, and human right to fight for justice.
I have broken the law on numerous occasions to get my point across. If I feel I am right and that there is a grave injustice, then I will risk arrest to bring the subject to light. But, there are usually more productive ways to fight for what we believe in. That is why I have been at demonstrations for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered rights, and even marched in their parades alongside them. I have walked with pride up the Capitol steps with tv cameras following as me and thousands of others protested the dumping and storing of nuclear and other toxic wastes into our lands and water tables. Because of our efforts, Utah is now the leader in proper nuclear waste disposal. I have written numerous letters to my congressmen, and even the President himself, to tell them in an intelligent but forthright manner, my opinions on their policies and how I feel they should vote. I am also a big advocate of and for religious tolerance. I want religions to respect other peoples of other faiths, beliefs, and ways of life. And, in return, I want all those outside of any religion to respect those that choose to have religion in their lives.
Civil disobedience is the backbone of this country. It is what this country was founded on, and continues to play a vital role in how things get accomplished. As George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”
In the following scenario, let’s say that all religion except just one, has become outlawed. No other religions can be practiced, the Bible can no longer be read by any of the common people. It can only be read and interpreted by some high ranking member of that one religion’s clergy. I would, in this scenario, risk arrest for my right to read the Bible, and indeed, I would continue to give public sermons on the Bible (as I have for many years now anyway) and I would practice whatever beliefs I felt were right. If it meant prison time, then so be it, but I would keep at my activities in prison as well. No one would ever be able to shut me up. Through verbal words, written words, or writing on the prison walls, I would fight for my right!
Think that scenario is far-fetched? Actually, it was the way of much of the European world for centuries. People were killed for reading the Bible, and you could only practice one religion: Catholicism. (This is not a slight against Catholicism, just meant to show that my above scenario did, indeed, happen at one time.) The Reform Movement also was civil disobedience, and many paid with their lives for speaking out on their right to believe what they want, and to worship God as they saw fit.
I believe we must seek, as priority, non-violent means to accomplish our goals. Violence should always be the very last resort of anything. First, all other avenues of persuasion must have been realized and effected with great precision and care, and much time allowed for natural societal change as well. Our noble points can get lost in the sad aftermath of violence.
Do you see where change needs to be made? What are you doing about it? Do you just sit and complain at your television? Or are you linking minds and arms with those who can direct your passion? Change doesn’t come overnight, but if no one ever said a word about their beliefs then it is possible it would never come. Get involved and do something, even if it is for only one day, go out there and stand up for what you believe in and let your voice be heard in a civil manner with great integrity and thought-out defenses. When you get tired or distraught, remember that you have the long and valued tradition of change supporting you; your founding forefather’s tombstones cry out to you, all of them urgently exclaiming, “Do your duty!”
And at night, as you lay upon your bed, you will have the full realization of why you are here as a human being, and not as a cooking pot.
:teach: