Civil Disobedience is the Cause of Protests

Civil disobedience has been the cause for a large number of protests around the world. It is defined an individuals rights to freedom of speech and is done in a peaceful way. Civil disobedience is important in a democratic country because it allows individuals to exercise their rights and speck against the unfair and unjust government and its laws. Even though the citizens are given their rights, they could be put in jail, could get hurt or even killed for protesting against these laws. It allowed Americans to speak against the Britain and their unjust laws, rules and even against their own government. Gandhi and Thoreau believed that there would be no government without the people it govern, That government is best when it govern least. The government was for the protection of the citizens rights and their opportunities, but instead the government was hurting the people. In these cases the citizens used non violent protest against the laws they thought was unjust and were able to succeed. Henry David Thoreau refused to pay taxes that would fund the American Mexican war, which he was thrown in jail for. He preferred going to prison to get his voice heard without using any violence. Thoreau wanted there to be an end to slavery, the end of the wars in Mexico and an end to unnecessary taxes. Gandhi highly influenced by Thoreau ,was thrown in prison many times because he was willing to not obey the laws to help raise awareness to the people who didnt know what was going on. Even though he was in prison during the Salt march that didnt stop the people from marching on. He didnt give up on what he believed and because of that his non violent march helped India gain freedom from the British. Another man that helped make a big impact on the world today by using civil disobedience is Martin Luther King, he used his civil disobedience strategy to also protest against government laws he thought were unjust. This took a large amount of people who were willing to putter life the line so that the laws could be fair. Gandhis ideas influenced King to fight for civil rights peacefully. King was arrested and thrown into jail where he wrote his Letter from Birmingham jail to a clergyman. The purpose of the letter was to address the people who criticized him about what he was doing when he was only doing what was wrong and he let the people who were against what he was doing know that what they are doing and how they were treating the blacks wasnt right. He continued to fight for the rights for blacks. Freedom must be demanded by the oppressed ( MLK). He wanted the protesters to know that if they wanted to gain their freedom and have the same rights everyone else have they have to come together peacefully and let the world know what is going on.These men used civil disobedience to help change unfair laws and to raise awareness about a particular situation. It wasnt used for personal gain, and their intentions were to remain peaceful and because they used it for all the right reasons the citizens won their civil rights.

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