Nonviolence can work from any direction, including from governments. In a town in PA, civil disobedience has been made legal, protecting protestors from crackdown while defending their community from large corporations. (Read more about it here) Please add your comments below. About Daily Metta Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta… read more
Tag Archives: civil disobedience
“Civil Disobedience and Conscience”–Daily Metta
August 14: “To put down civil disobedience is an attempt to imprison conscience.” –Gandhi (Young India, January 5, 1922) Gandhi rarely spoke of rights, always opting in favor of duties from which our rights emerge. This, according to Sushila Nayyar, is due to the curious fact that Sanskrit has no word for “rights.” It is… read more
Alice Paul: Not Just a Radical
Who really was Alice Paul? This is the question that Zoe Nicholson, satyagrahi, feminist, scholar, and lifelong activist, spent over forty years researching and synthesizing to realize the woman from the sensationalized myth of a woman we have been taught about in school or that has been depicted in film. Through her research Nicholson found… read more
Revolution on Granite
By: Mercedes Mack In 1989, students in Kiev, Ukraine, had had enough of Soviet occupation and politics. Two student groups, the Student Brotherhood (March 1989) and later the Ukrainian Students Union (December 1989) formed a coalition against Soviet influence. Initially, student groups staged protests and strikes in response to concerns regarding higher education-abolish compulsory courses… read more
Remembering the Resistance of Rosa Parks
By Bryan Farrell. Originally published by Waging Nonviolence on December 2nd, 2010. Yesterday [December 1st, 2010] marked the 55th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the “colored” section of a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her act of civil disobedience led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for more than a year,… read more
Alice Paul’s Enduring Legacy of Nonviolent Action
Suffragists picketing in front of the White House in 1917. (Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress) By Ken Butigan Article originally posted on Waging Nonviolence Turning points are easier to recognize long after they’ve occurred than while they’re taking place. One of those shifts happened 100 years ago next month, setting in motion a dramatic strategy… read more
Civil Disobedience
Civil Disobedience (CD) is the deliberate, open violation of a law held to be unjust and the willing acceptance of the prescribed punishment. CD can also be referred to as Nonviolent Direct Action when the action taken is considered to be illegal or challenges a law. Civil Resistance is used interchangeably with CD by some… read more
Constructive Program
Constructive program (CP) is a term coined by Gandhi. It describes nonviolent action taken within a community to build structures, systems, processes or resources that are positive alternatives to oppression. It can be seen as self-improvement of both community and individual. CP often works along side obstructive program, or Civil Disobedience, which usually involves direct confrontation… read more
