Civil disobedience — the deliberate, public, nonviolent violation of an unjust law as a form of moral witness — has appeared independently in every tradition that has confronted the gap between what the law permits and what justice requires. From Thoreau's refusal to pay taxes supporting slavery to Gandhi's salt march to King's Letter from Birmingham Jail to Mandela's armed resistance, the tradition runs long and varied. Its philosophical core is consistent: the law derives its authority from justice, and when the two diverge, the person of conscience is obligated to act on the more fundamental obligation.
Juana