Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience: An Overview of Nonviolent Resistance to the State
                        
 
For starters, let us define our terms:
 
civil -  pertaining to citizens; humane, considerate, kind.
 
disobedience - refusing or failing to obey orders.
 
nonviolent  - not using physical force or strength to cause injury.
 
resistance - the act of opposing or refusing to comply.
 
State -  supreme ruling power of a country.
 
Putting these definitions together, our topic may be defined as the gentle, but firm, refusal of the inhabitants of a community to follow the political laws promulgated by its government.
 
Why is this an important subject to readers of Strike The Root? It is significant because, as Gene Sharp has stated:
 
No government can exist for a single moment without the cooperation of the people, willing or forced, and if the people withdraw their cooperation, the government will come to a standstill . . . . Even the most powerful government cannot rule without the cooperation of the ruled.
When people refuse their cooperation, withhold their help, persist in their disobedience and defiance, they are denying their opponent the basic assistance and cooperation which any government or hierarchical system requires. If they do this in sufficient numbers and for long enough, that government or hierarchical system will no longer have power. This is the basic political assumption of nonviolent action. [1]
 
Of course, people may choose to fight the State by employing violence: shooting government agents, throwing bombs, blowing up government buildings, but are they really doing anything to accomplish their goal of ridding themselves of the State? Can the idea of the State be affected by forceful means? No. The State is a state of mind, an idea which cannot be harmed by violence. Ideas can only be attacked with better ideas. What the State idea has claimed for itself over the ages is "legitimacy": the idea that society requires some form of political government to survive and thrive.
 
It is impossible that the idea of "legitimacy" be attacked with force. Even if an insurgent movement were to be successful in overcoming the military and police of the State, wouldn't the rest of the population still believe that some sort of government was necessary? State legitimacy can only be destroyed when sufficient numbers of people come to view government actions in the same moral light as that of the individual. If this moral leveling is not brought about, if this delegitimization is not accomplished, then violent revolution must inevitably fail, even if it were successful in battle. The destruction of State legitimacy must precede the advent of violent revolution, and when that has occurred, violence against the State will be unnecessary. Under any other circumstances, violent revolution will only result in the replacement of one government by another. (Of course, electoral politics is subject to the same criticisms and questions: How can jockeying for positions of State power via elections possibly delegitimize the State?)
 
Gene Sharp has defined "nonviolent action" as those methods of protest, resistance, and/or intervention without physical violence, in which members of the nonviolent group do or refuse to do certain things. Sharp has categorized nearly 200 activities, from refusal to pay taxes, mass rallies, marches, and protests, to wearing colored armbands to express one's support of the protesters and one's opposition to the government. Sharp has also cataloged many historical examples of nonviolent actions. Probably the first recorded act of civil disobedience in history is the refusal of the Hebrew midwives to obey Pharaoh's order to kill male Hebrew babies in 1350 BC (Exodus 1:15-19). Their refusal to obey an inherently unjust political law highlights the relationship between conscientious objection, civil disobedience, and nonviolent resistance. The midwives did not intend to delegitimize Pharaoh's dynasty, but neither would they obey a political law which was opposed to the law of God and nature that innocents should not be killed. Hence, their refusal to act against their conscience. But to many readers of these pages, every political law is unjust by its very nature--being a dictate of the State. To anarchists and voluntaryists, if government law directs them to do what is right, they respect the law, not because it is political law, but because what it directs them to do is already right by nature, logic, and common sense. But if the law tells them to do what is wrong, they disobey or ignore it.
 
Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most celebrated and recognized advocates of nonviolent resistance, maintained that non-cooperation with evil was always a duty, and argued that the performance of duty and respect for one's conscience must always be maintained regardless of consequences. How did the Egyptian midwives know that they wouldn't be killed for refusing to obey Pharaoh's orders? They didn't. How many Russian dissidents knew in advance that they wouldn't be killed or jailed? None. But that did not deter them from doing what they saw as right. As Vladimir Bukovsky, one of them, wrote so eloquently in 1977:
 
We had grasped the great truth that it was not rifles, not tanks, not atom bombs that created power, nor upon them that power rested. Power depended upon public obedience, upon a willingness to submit. Therefore each individual who refused to submit to force reduced that force by one 250 millionth of its sum . . . .
We weren't playing politics, we didn't compose programs for the liberation of the people, we didn't found unions . . . . Our sole weapon was publicity. Not propaganda, but publicity, so that no one could say afterward, "I didn't know." The rest depended on each individual's conscience. Neither did we expect victory--there wasn't the slightest hope of achieving it. But each of us craved the right to say to our descendants: "I did all that I could. I never went against my conscience." [2]
 
Such a stance against the Soviet regime, which at that time seemed impregnable, may appear to have been foolhardy, even insane. However, as Leo Tolstoy noted, those who choose to resist, "have only one thing, but that is the most powerful thing in the world--Truth." And in the truth of nonviolent resistance we find the following pearls of wisdom:
 
"[T]he prim[ary] human obligation is to act fearlessly and in accord with one's beliefs; that one should withdraw cooperation from destructive institutions; that this should be done without violence . . .; that means are more important than ends; that crimes shouldn't be committed today for the sake of a better world tomorrow; that violence brutalizes the user as well as the victim; that the value of action lies in the direct benefit it brings society; that action is usually best aimed at one's immediate surroundings and only later at more distant goals; that winning state power" [3] should be eschewed; that freedom begins with one's self because freedom is self-control; that freedom is oriented toward a love for truth; and that all power depends upon the consent of the governed.
 
 
                                                                     ~ Carl Watner, January 2010
 
 
End Notes
 
[1] Gene Sharp, THE POLITICS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION, Boston: Porter Sargent Publishers, 1973. From Part One, "Power and Struggle," p. 64.
 
[2] Vladimir Bukovsky, TO BUILD A CASTLE - MY LIFE AS A DISSENTER, New York: Viking Press, 1977, pp. 33, 277.
 
[3] Jonathan Schell, THE UNCONQUERABLE WORLD, New York: Metropolitan Books, 2003., p. 201.
 
Global Corporate Shills Join Media Cartel To Enforce Internet Conformity
Original article - "Facebook, Twitter and news organizations including Agence France-Presse have joined a coalition of media and technology groups seeking to filter out online misinformation and improve news quality on social networks. First Draft News, which is backed by Google, announced Tuesday that some 20 news organizations will be part of its partner network to share information on best practices for journalism in the online age."
Democrats Scramble As Their Wall Street Annointed Falters
Original article - "While Fowler said that he expects Clinton to fully recover from her bout with pneumonia, which forced her to leave a Sept. 11 memorial event early and cancel an early-week fundraising swing, he said the Democratic Party would be mistaken to proceed without a contingency plan. The party's existing rules empower the DNC to name a replacement candidate but include few guidelines or parameters."
N.P.R. Outlet Publishes Election Propaganda, Calls It Educational
Original article - "San Francisco Bay Area NPR affiliate KQED has published a comic book guide to Donald Trump’s immigration policy, aimed at students, which is titled “Fear of Foreigners” and casts Trump as part of the “History of Nativism in America.” The comic book slide show, illustrated by Andy Warner, is part of KQED’s series “The Lowdown,” described by the station as “Connecting newsroom to classroom,” and is presented among “lesson plans and education guides” for teachers to use."
Google Skewers Searches To Promote Its Favorite Sock Puppet
Original article - "Biased search rankings can swing votes and alter opinions, and a new study shows that Google's autocomplete can too. A scientific study I published last year showed that search rankings favoring one candidate can quickly convince undecided voters to vote for that candidate — as many as 80 percent of voters in some demographic groups. My latest research shows that a search engine could also shift votes and change opinions with another powerful tool: autocomplete."
Physics: 1, Goverment B.S. Propaganda: 0
Original article - "The official government position holds that the collapse of all three towers was due to intense heat inside of the buildings. But a new forensic investigation into the collapse of the three World Trade Center towers on 9/11, published in Europhysics News – a highly respected European physics magazine – claims that “the evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that all three buildings were destroyed by controlled demolition.”"
How Socialism Slowly Starves Venezuela To Death
Original article - "At least 15 percent of Venezuelans eat out of the trash, according to a study conducted by More Consulting between August 8 and 12...More than 72 percent of Venezuelans — surpassing 21 million people — do not have an adequate diet. In contrast, only 24.8 percent of citizens have adequate food consisting of proteins, carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits."
Veteran Angry Fascist Endorses Veteran Happy Fascist For President
Original article - "In case you hadn’t heard, George H. W. Bush just announced he is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, supposedly in an “unprecedented” snub of Republican candidate Donald Trump. However, that’s just a BS excuse. Considering how close knit the Bushes and Clintons are (they’ve been ruling us for over 30 years now as America’s unofficial dynasty families after all), this really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Bill loves H. W.; he has also referred to George W. as his “brother from...
Yup, You Guessed It - Another FBI Terror Plot Comes To Light
Original article - "As has become the norm in terrorist attacks in the Western world, reports are now coming from the mainstream media that the suspect in the recent Chelsea bombing in New York and New Jersey, Ahmad Rahami, was known to the FBI before conducting his attacks over this past weekend. Interestingly enough, the first acknowledgement of the fact that Rahami was known to the FBI came from Rahami’s father who cryptically shouted to reporters that he reported his son to the FBI two years ago."
Clinton State Department Gave Out Advisory Posts To Big Dollar Donors
Original article - "The State Department appointed 194 of Hillary Clinton’s donors to advisory boards at the agency while she was secretary of state. These donors gave money to either Clinton’s political campaigns, the Clinton Foundation, or both, or they were affiliated with organizations that did donate, the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday."
Behold Governor Moonbeam's Central Planning Flatulence Catastrophe!
Original article - "In yet another attack on California businesses, yesterday Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill (SB 1383) that requires the state to cut methane emissions from dairy cows and other animals by 40% by 2030."
When A Political Machine Implodes - Huffington Post Edition
Original article - "If Hillary ends up losing in November, The Huffington Post admits that "journalists" in the mainstream media will not be able to bear the thought that it was in any way her fault. The years of endless scandals from Whitewater, through Travelgate, "sniper fire" in Bosnia, Benghazi, deleted emails, pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, etc. couldn't possibly be to blame. And certainly, Hillary's "medical episode couldn't be the reason that voters turned on her, right? Lets just ignore this...
America's Angst-Ridden Pivot To Asia
Original article - "The United States exists an entire ocean away from Asia, yet its policymakers, politicians, and even Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter have declared America’s “primacy” over the region, vowing to assert itself and its interests above all nations actually located in Asia."
Xenophobic Political Hack Blames Foreigners For Failing Poll Numbers
Original article - "Blaming Russia has been the go-to strategy for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton since the convention, and that appears unchanged today, with reporters asking if Clinton was concerned that the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey were a Russian plot to try to get Donald Trump elected."
Behold - The Potemkin Election Farce Goes Up In Flames
Original article - "A CNN/ORC poll released shortly after last night’s debate found that Hillary Clinton scored a clear victory over her rival Donald Trump. One problem – the survey sample included 41% Democrats compared to just 26% Republicans. Asked, “Who do you think did the best job in the debate – Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?”, 62% of respondents said Hillary while 27% said Trump."
If You Can't Succeed On Your Merits, Rig The Debate
Original article - "There is proof that Hillary’s team rigged the debates. Our friends at True Pundit reported a month ago that Hillary’s lawyers worked out a “sweet deal” for Clinton, guaranteeing she would not be asked “cross-examination” questions by the moderator. At all."

Further reading

 

 Reprint Rights