Questions about Civil disobedience
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is civil disobedience and how is it defined?
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government or other authority. John Rawls defined it in his 1971 book A Theory of Justice as a public, nonviolent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law, done with the aim of bringing about change in law or government policy. Ronald Dworkin further distinguished three types: integrity-based, justice-based, and policy-based disobedience.
Who coined the term civil disobedience?
Henry David Thoreau popularized the term in the United States through his essay originally titled Resistance to Civil Government, first published in 1849. The essay was republished posthumously in 1866 as Civil Disobedience, four years after Thoreau's death. Gandhi later clarified in a 1935 letter that his own concept of civil resistance predated his reading of Thoreau's essay.
What inspired Gandhi's doctrine of Satyagraha?
Gandhi's Satyagraha was partially influenced by Percy Shelley's 1819 poem The Mask of Anarchy, which scholar Ashton Nichols described as perhaps the first modern statement of nonviolent protest as a principle. Gandhi often quoted the poem to vast audiences during the campaign for a free India. He also adopted Thoreau's phrase civil disobedience to explain the struggle to English readers, though he ultimately preferred the phrase civil resistance.
What is the origin of the word boycott and how does it relate to civil disobedience?
The word boycott comes from Captain Charles Boycott, the land agent of an absentee landlord in County Mayo, Ireland, who became the target of organized social ostracism in 1880 after attempting to evict eleven tenants. The Irish Land League coordinated workers, local businesses, and even the postman to cut off all cooperation with Boycott, following the non-violent tactic proposed by Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell in a speech in Ennis in 1879. The movement contributed to legal reform and support for Irish independence.
Who led the Egyptian civil disobedience movement in 1919?
Saad Zaghloul, an Al-Azhar graduate, former judge, parliamentary figure, and ex-cabinet minister, is considered the mastermind of the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. His leadership united Christian and Muslim communities and brought women into large-scale protests. His party, the Wafd, secured Egypt's independence and its first constitution in 1923.
How have courts responded to civil disobedience cases?
Governments have generally not recognized the legitimacy of civil disobedience or accepted political objectives as an excuse for breaking the law. Courts distinguish between criminal motive and criminal intent; admirable motives do not remove criminal intent. British judge Lord Hoffman wrote that in deciding whether to punish, courts should weigh whether punishment would do more harm than good, while also taking into account the personal convictions of those acting out of conscience.