Civil
disobedience - The Role of Educators in
Prevention and Intervention of moral reasoning and civic action
1.
Rational and
objectives
Civic engagement can consist in
civil disobedience. Questioning existing laws and regulations is a crucial task
in a functioning democracy, and a functioning democracy must be able to deal
with this questioning. However, according to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther
King (the main thinkers about civil disobedience) and others, civil
disobedience can be ethically justified only under the following conditions:
a) A thorough
moral-ethical justification: To what degree is this law or rule unjust? It is
important that it is not only unjust to me personally (i.e., I feel treated
unjust), but that the lack of justice is in some way general, that is that
several people are concerned. It is advisable, therefore, to consult other
competent people and to justify the decision for them before acting – however,
in some cases there is no time for this.
b) Violence
must be avoided if ever possible. There are situations in which the protagonist
has to decide on actions that may involve violence (e.g., destroying an
airplane that threatens to fall on a football stadium full of people).
c) In most
cases it is also required not to flee from the legal consequences of the
disobedience, e.g., to admit to have done so, to stand trial and, in case of
conviction, to accept the sentence. However, if the laws governing the court
are unjust in themselves (e.g., death penalty for opposition), one cannot
require the protagonist to stand trial. It must be underlined, though, that
deliberate acceptance of the sentence does not mean accepting the law. Gandhi
and Martin Luther King went to jail although they did not support the
underlying laws.
2.
Learning
outcomes
·
Knowledge about the possibility and of
practical examples of civil disobedience;
·
Sensitizing about issues of civil
disobedience, including sensitivity when civil disobedience is a possibility
(see the statement of Hannah Arendt above) or even a duty (see the statement of
Martin Luther King above);
·
Acquiring competence to argue about civil
disobedience situations (informed moral decision-making) with reference to
appropriate values at stake for and against either option (civil disobedience
yes or no) at least for concrete (personalized) situations, if not in general;
·
Knowledge and competence to apply
appropriately the three principles a to c above, including recognizing when
civil disobedience is inappropriate (rule a), what issues need to be taken into
account when deciding to practice civil disobedience (rule b) and what the
consequences have to be faced in the case of civil disobedience (rule c);
·
Understanding the position of someone of
different opinion with respect to agreeing or disagreeing with civil
disobedience in the specific situation (empathy while possibly still disagreeing);
·
Understanding the role of civil
disobedience in a democratic society (see the statement of Rawls above) and
that civil disobedience might be necessary;
Suggested
Activities:
Activity 1: Look at this short video clip on Civil disobedience:
Thoreau and Civil Disobedience :
"It
is better to have your head in the clouds and know where you are, than to
breathe the clearer atmosphere below them and think that you're in
paradise."
Divide
into groups with one group arguing for this quote and the other against this
quote.
Then
they need to choose again and explain why they chose that position
Categorize
the different types of civil obedience and disobedience
Activity
2:
- Have
the students discuss their opinion about civil disobedience and under what
situations and conditions would they be willing to be civilly disobedient?
Listen
to the following talks:
- Ted
Talk: Matt Damon on Civil Disobedience:
- Martin Luther King Jr. Speech
Civil Disobedience and obeying Just vs. Unjust laws :
Lead
a discussion about how the students’ own attitudes differ or agree with the
ones presented in these video clips.
Activity 3
Students should find original texts from Thoreau, Gandi and Martin Luther King and present two ideas from each which they agree with and which they do not agree with.
Recommended reading for the VaLe and Dilemma-Based Learning Models:
- · Patry, J.-L., Reichman, R. G., &
Linortner, L. (2017). Values and Knowledge Education (VaKE) for Lifelong Learning in Applied Fields: Principles and
General Issues. In H. E. Vidergor & O. Sela (Eds.), Innovative Teaching Strategies and Methods Promoting Lifelong Learning
in Higher Education: From Theory to Practice (pp. 187-213). New York, NY:
Nova Science Publishers.
- Patry,
J.-L., Weinberger, A., Weyringer, S., & Nussbaumer, M. (2013). Combining values and knowledge
education. In B. J. Irby, G. Brown, R. Lara-Alecio & S. Jackson (Eds.) and
R. A. Robles-Piña (Sect. Ed.), The
handbook of educational theories (565-579). Charlotte, NC: Information Age
Publishing.
