Throughout history, wars, injustice, and other violent acts have established themselves in our past. Issues concerning land ownership, segregation, government injustice, gender discrimination and economic inequities have plagued our societies for centuries. In some countries, despite the government and its leaders, violence is used to gain control and power. When studying historical events, we can examine how individuals, governments and political groups have taken different approaches to injustice. Introduced by Henry Thoreau in 1849, civil disobedience is defined currently as “the refusal to obey governmental demands or commands as a collective nonviolent protest in hopes for a change in politics, economics, or social structure in any given
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According to Thoreau, when a government is wrong, and you as a man do not agree, it is your duty to verbalize your position, and react peacefully along with taking the consequences for your actions. He writes, “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable” (Thoreau 53). Thoreau’s approach has been adopted by many individuals throughout history and his ideas have transcended centuries. Mahatma Gandhi, the renowned symbol of the Indian independence movement, is a good example of an individual who has adopted Thoreaus’ idea of civil disobedience. Ghandi expressed his distain of British Imperialism by holding nonviolent protests. Mahatma Gandhi, a future Indian leader of the nationalist movement, was born in Porbandar India on October 2, 1869, shortly after the Indian Rebellion of 1867 against the British profit …show more content…
The cause behind the Salt March was because of the imposed taxes the British put on the Indians when importing salt. Gandhi and his followers then organized a march to the Arabian Sea, a two hundred and forty mile walk, to defy the British law of increased salt taxes, by making their own salt from seawater. When Gandhi reached the town of Dandi, near the Arabian Sea, he was at the forefront of thousands of followers willing to fight for their right. However, like most of Gandhi’s non-violence protests, was shut down by the government, with the British police stomping all of the progressive salt works Gandhi and his followers set up into the mud. Although morale was slowly declining, Gandhi reached down into the mud and picked up a salt crystal, again symbolizing their resistance to the British law. Using Thoreau’s ideas of nonviolence being the best way to respond, with what seems like Gandhi’s irrelevant and trivial actions, like picking up a salt crystal, is what sustains their protest, even when Gandhi is taken into custody by the police. In Thoreau’s essay, he writes, “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at one?” (Thoreau 57). This connects to Gandhi’s Salt March movement because of how he was “shut down” so to speak by the British government, but he and his followers still found
According to Thoreau, when a government is wrong, and you as a man do not agree, it is your duty to verbalize your position, and react peacefully along with taking the consequences for your actions. He writes, “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable” (Thoreau 53). Thoreau’s approach has been adopted by many individuals throughout history and his ideas have transcended centuries. Mahatma Gandhi, the renowned symbol of the Indian independence movement, is a good example of an individual who has adopted Thoreaus’ idea of civil disobedience. Ghandi expressed his distain of British Imperialism by holding nonviolent protests. Mahatma Gandhi, a future Indian leader of the nationalist movement, was born in Porbandar India on October 2, 1869, shortly after the Indian Rebellion of 1867 against the British profit …show more content…
The cause behind the Salt March was because of the imposed taxes the British put on the Indians when importing salt. Gandhi and his followers then organized a march to the Arabian Sea, a two hundred and forty mile walk, to defy the British law of increased salt taxes, by making their own salt from seawater. When Gandhi reached the town of Dandi, near the Arabian Sea, he was at the forefront of thousands of followers willing to fight for their right. However, like most of Gandhi’s non-violence protests, was shut down by the government, with the British police stomping all of the progressive salt works Gandhi and his followers set up into the mud. Although morale was slowly declining, Gandhi reached down into the mud and picked up a salt crystal, again symbolizing their resistance to the British law. Using Thoreau’s ideas of nonviolence being the best way to respond, with what seems like Gandhi’s irrelevant and trivial actions, like picking up a salt crystal, is what sustains their protest, even when Gandhi is taken into custody by the police. In Thoreau’s essay, he writes, “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at one?” (Thoreau 57). This connects to Gandhi’s Salt March movement because of how he was “shut down” so to speak by the British government, but he and his followers still found