Civil disobedience is a type of demonstration legally accepted against the regime imposed by an oppressive government, when a group of citizens refuses to obey certain laws, in protest, because they consider them immoral or unjust.
The concept of Civil Disobedience was defined by the American Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), a poet, naturalist, historian, philosopher and activist who became known for fighting against the abusive collection of taxes by the American government in order to finance the war against Mexico, during the first decades of the 19th century.
Popularly known as the “father of anarchism”, Thoreau expounded his philosophy on civil disobedience in a homonymous essay published initially in 1849.
Unlike common disobedience, which aims to end order and social harmony (a criminal act), civil disobedience has an innovative character, that is, not to destroy the government, but to improve it according to real needs of the people.
Learn more about anarchism and anarchy .
See also some characteristics of an anarchist person .
For an act of disobedience to be interpreted as a political protest, it must be based on arguments that support a justification in favor of ethics and morals. As a rule, there are three circumstances that favor civil disobedience: the application of an unjust law , an illegitimate law (granted by those who do not have the right to legislate), and an invalid law (of an unconstitutional nature).
According to the principle of democratic civility, citizens have a moral duty to follow the laws, but legislators (the government) also have a duty to create just laws, that is, that they follow the constitution and principles of civil rights and social.
Civil disobedience is a method of peaceful protest , which helped to influence the works and actions of important personalities throughout the 19th and 20th century, such as Martin Luther King Jr. , Liev Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi , for example.
Currently, in the legal sphere, civil disobedience is part of the so-called Citizens’ Right of Resistance , as well as the Right to Strike and the Right of Revolution, which serve to guarantee the protection of the people’s sovereignty, should it be threatened by an oppressive regime.
