To what extent should we obey the authority of our governments? DISSENT To what extent should we obey the authority of our governments?

Enlightenment Reaction to high level of government controls, including freedom of speech (did not have right to question king) Voltaire – freedom of speech essential Democracy – rule by people = need to criticize and express opinions Leads to revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries around world

Dissent: to differ in opinion, to disagree DEFINITIONS Dissent: to differ in opinion, to disagree Can dissent peacefully or violently Legally (union on strike) or illegally (FLQ kidnapping) What liberal rights allow for us to express dissent?

DEFINITIONS Civil Disobedience: refusing to follow certain laws to influence government policy A peaceful but illegal form of protest Eg. Occupying a tree to prevent logging Can include the use of non-violent actions like boycotting, picketing, not follow laws like paying taxes or registration, unauthorized rallies, causing mass arrests Suffragette movement, against police brutality

THREE KEY POINTS – ARE THESE ACTIONS JUSTIFIED? How does this relate to liberalism?

Use civil disobedience to wear down British occupation Gandhi Use civil disobedience to wear down British occupation Salt march Making own fabric

WOMEN’S RIGHTS MOVEMENTS The evolution of women’s rights extended over a century Actions of dissent Letter writing campaigns, legal protests, using the courts (Person’s Case) Some actions of civil disobedience Illegal protests/parades, boycotts, property destruction, filling jails, Emily Wilding Davidson

Counter-culture movement 6 i.e. Hippies Based many of their ideas on Enlightenment philosophers like Rousseau Government opposed – tried to repress, sometimes violently Violent actions like students getting shot at Kent State – protestors were peaceful = civil disobedience

THREE KEY POINTS – ARE THESE ACTIONS JUSTIFIED? How does this relate to liberalism?

Civil Right Movement 5 For the most part, the US Civil Rights Movement adopted civil disobedience Rosa Parks MLK Bus boycott Million Man March Selma

JIM CROW LAWS After the Civil War, Southern States enacted laws that mandated “separate but equal” status for black Americans. The most important laws required that public schools, public places and public transportation have separate buildings, toilets, and restaurants for whites and blacks.

1955, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Alabama and is arrested. Inspires black leaders to mount a one-day bus boycott. A main speaker is a new minister in town, 26-year-old Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. The boycott lasts until December 1956. The bus company suffers economically; violence erupts; bombs are thrown at organizers' homes; and the white Citizens Council and the Ku Klux Klan hold rallies. At last, a Supreme Court decision integrates the buses, and soon thousands of black riders are on the buses again -- sitting where they please.

1954 legal decision Brown v. Board of Education, the supreme court declared segregated classrooms were illegal. when desegregation began, many black students found mobs protesting outside their integrated schools, and other schools chose to close rather than integrate. The Little Rock Nine were a group of courageous black students who integrated the Arkansas capital city's Central High School in September 1957. Initially thwarted by violent white mobs and National Guard troops who refused to help, the students eventually entered school after President Dwight Eisenhower ordered paratroopers to protect them. Little Rock Nine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSdLPNQSa4k&feature=related

THE BLACK PANTHERS Like Malcolm X, the Panthers did not discourage the use of force in self-defense, and they often resorted to violence. Critics tended to ignore their many non-controversial activities, including running medical clinics and free breakfast programs for the poor. Branded "America's greatest threat" they found themselves under assault by the FBI and police. Tensions culminated in a December 4, 1969, raid that left Chicago Panthers leader Fred Hampton and a colleague dead.

By 1964 a Civil Rights Act was passed which achieved many of the aims of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which had been quickly overturned. The 1964 law barred discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in public facilities such as restuarants or hotels. Later laws were passed to legislate fair election practices.

THREE KEY POINTS – ARE THESE ACTIONS JUSTIFIED? How does this relate to liberalism?

ABORIGINAL PROTESTS IN CANADA Issue of land claims Specific and Comprehensive Claims Lubicon Nisga’a Violent Protests In each of these cases, land claims disputes erupted into violence Oka Crisis (1990) – golf course Ipperwash Crisis (1995) – land taken during WWII, made into military base, never returned Caledonia land dispute (2006) – granting building permits before land claims have been settled

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTS Eco-terrorism Tree spiking Burning down recreation areas/resorts Shooting at fishermen (especially whaling) Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior PETA Anti-fur campaigns Baby-seal hunt protests

THREE KEY POINTS – ARE THESE ACTIONS JUSTIFIED? How does this relate to liberalism? Is violence ever effective or necessary?

ANTI-WAR PROTESTS Vietnam (1960s) Iraq (2000s) Hippies Kent State Dixie Chicks

DISSENT IN THE US TODAY Tea Party – created in 2009 to protest the increasing amount of spending and intervention of the federal government Minutemen – named after militiamen in the US Revolutionary war, they patrol the border to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico Militias – various groups united in their beliefs of the federal government's threat to their freedom, especially the 2nd amendment

OTHER EXAMPLES Thailand Ukraine Tunisia/Egypt WTO/G8 Summits Red Shirts vs Yellow Shirts Ukraine Orange Revolution Tunisia/Egypt Willing to die for revolution WTO/G8 Summits Started in Seattle Using violence gain attention to the conditions of coffee growers

Shock and Awe 10 Throwing paint on fur Anti-abortion media campaigns Ramming whaling boats Burning down resorts to protect environment Spiking trees

THREE KEY POINTS – ARE THESE ACTIONS JUSTIFIED? How does this relate to liberalism?