Essays on Direct Action

Introduction

Are humans threatening the survival of our planet by disrupting the ecosystem? Marvin Gaye and the public believed this to be the case in the 1960’s and 1970’s when the modern Green Movement first began. Gaye sang “Poison is in the wind that blows from the north and south and east. Radiation underground and in the sky, animals and birds live near by all die. What about this crowded land, how much more abuse from man can we stand?” . Greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, ocean poisoning, topsoil depletion, food chain poisoning, acid rain, pollution along with demands ...

Marking Luther King Jr. is one of the most prominent figures during the civil rights movements of 1960s. He led the African-Americans in a peaceful demonstration to imply resistance to racism. In a letter during his time in Birmingham City jail, King articulated his position in support of the non-violent resistance to racism. As a theologian, King emphasized the values of Christian living in understanding the nature of violence. One of the strong arguments indicated in the letter is the statement that, “it is wrong to use immoral means (meaning violence) to attain moral ends”. In this argument, King ...

The letter by Martin Luther King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” targets the white ministers in the city of Birmingham. King writes this letter to the 8 white ministers who criticized his actions as a clergy in a statement which was published in the newspaper, after he violated the law of the city and had to be jailed. The purpose of the letter is to address issues in the city which subjects African American towards injustices and segregation. The author seeks to address the plight of the Negroes who have suffered under the whites for a long time (Fahey ...

What is the reason why social movements appear? The term “social movement” implies the creation of large groups of people that share common views on various social and political issues and act to defend their views and to cause a social change. The worldwide peak of social movements was seen in the 1960s, but even after its passing, the idea of social movements continued to be challenging for society. Della Porta writes, “The excitement and optimism of the roaring 1960s may be long gone, but social and political events . . . have hardly rendered the investigation of grassroots activism any less ...

Basic Identification

While confined in Birmingham prison, Martin Luther King Jr. jotted down a letter that explained the reasons for his arrest in 1963. Martin wrote the manuscript on scrap papers, newspaper corners, and the toilet paper while imprisoned in a solitary cell in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. He wrote the letter to respond to the nine criticisms of the clergymen regarding King and his fellow activists. Racism was highly prevalent in Birmingham during the 1950s and 60s. King was arrested for taking part in an anti-segregation parade in the town because he did not have a permit (King, par. ...

Philosophy

Compare Views: Obligations of the Citizen

In his ‘letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King wrote to eight white clergymen, addressing their disapproval over his nonviolent protests against racial inequality. Martin Luther King answered the charges of him being an outsider, by claiming that anything that happened anywhere in the United States affected everyone else, and that no one was an ‘outsider in the United States. King further addresses the clergymen’s opposition to the black demonstrations. King’s central idea regarding the obligations of the citizen is that it is the duty of the citizen to oppose all ...

Gustafsen Lake Standoff was a direct action campaign because of a dispute involving Secwepemc people and other people from the native groups in British Columbia (CBC, 2012). This dispute lasted for three months between June and September 1995. The secwepemc people and other native people started a sacred sun dance at Ts’Peten, which they referred to as Gustafsen Lake. Their occupation at Ts’Peten was followed by continued struggles to be recognized through legal processes. The direct action started when the former arrangements of holding sacred sun dances broke down after the threats of eviction (CBC, 2012). The natives constructed fences ...