Political Responsibility and Resistance to Civil Government
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1996
Language
en-US
Abstract
Theorists define civil disobedience as unlawful protest for limited reform by individuals who regard the prevailing system as basically just. Those terms do not describe many respected examples of conscientious protest, so this essay employs instead the broader concept of political resistance, while it celebrates the many lesser-known individuals whose resistance required great courage. Three of the individuals discussed acted during wars abroad: Hugh Thompson interrupted a massacre by soldiers of his own side in My Lai, South Vietnam, Mordechai Growas acted out of deep compassion for a fellow Warsaw Ghetto resister and Henryk Iwanski aided resisters in the Ghetto; and two‐Samuel Block and Annie Devine—campaigned for voting rights under front‐line conditions in Jim Crow Mississippi.
Recommended Citation
David B. Lyons,
Political Responsibility and Resistance to Civil Government
,
26
Philosophical Exchange
5
(1996).
Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199662555.003.0009
