Is civil disobedience the solution to injustice and injustice?
Socrates was the first to commit an act of civil disobedience. Socrates' life ended when he was sentenced to death for denying the gods. Socrates expressed his thoughts fearlessly, even though he knew he would be executed in the end.
"The best government is the government that governs the least.”
Henry David Thoreau
"Strength comes not from physical capacity, but from unyielding will.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Civil disobedience is one of the current issues of both political science and legal philosophy. While there are many works written on this subject in the Western world, Prof.Dr. There is the book "Civil Disobedience" written by Hayrettin Ökçesiz. People who are confused about what to do when high electricity bills are added on top of the economic problems, how will we pay, will the government find a solution to this issue, will the solution be sufficient, what will happen if we don't pay, etc. started asking questions. Thereupon, CHP Chairman Kılıçdaroğlu's statement, "I will not pay my electricity bill," became the subject of discussion. There are some who consider Kılıçdaroğlu's statement as a rebellion and say that it will lead to anarchy, and there are those who interpret it as a call for civil disobedience by trying to raise awareness. So what is this civil disobedience? Why and how did it arise?
Socrates was the first to commit an act of civil disobedience. Socrates' life ended when he was sentenced to death for denying the gods. Socrates expressed his thoughts fearlessly, even though he knew he would be executed in the end. Although he believed that he was not guilty and when he had the opportunity, instead of fleeing, he voluntarily drank the hemlock poison brought for his execution and ensured the execution of the sentence given to him.
Henry David Thoreau said: “There are laws that are unjust: should we obey them or strive to change them? Or should we obey until the law changes, or should we break it without waiting?”. People often think that when such governments exist, the majority must be convinced for change. It is thought that if resistance is attempted alone, the situation will be worse, and if the law is violated, the cure will be greater than the affliction. At this point, Thoreau blames the government for the cure being worse than the affliction and asks, "Why doesn't the government act and innovate earlier?"
Civil disobedience emerged as a form of action for the first time in 1849 with the philosophy principle of "the best government is the government that never rules" in the works of American Henry David Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government" and "Civil Disobedience". Henry David Thoreau, who graduated from Harvard University in 1837, fought against all the acts of political power related to slavery, human rights violations and war. Because he thought that the American and Mexican War would strengthen the institution of slavery, he refused to pay the income tax and went to jail in order not to finance the war and to protest. Thoreau openly states that he did not pay the tax for principled reasons such as protesting slavery, reacting to the oppressive government, and protesting the US war with Mexico, and peacefully demonstrates his civil disobedience. Saying that a government dominated by the majority cannot be just, Thoreau desired a government system in which the conscience, not the majority, decides what is right and wrong, and found the meaningless respect for the law meaningless. According to him, government is good if it can provide a service; but most governments are misplaced at times. He must be man first, nationality second, and not the law; respect for justice. With Thoreau, civil disobedience emerged in the form of resistance to a tax that was believed to be unjust, and Thoreau managed to influence millions with his views, leading to the formation of the doctrine of civil disobedience. In the following periods, it has also been a method used in matters other than tax.
Another important name that comes to mind when it comes to civil disobedience is Mohandas K. Gandhi, who tried to save India from British rule during his lifetime and managed to attract the attention of the public in the face of social injustices. When the British administration banned the making of salt, Gandhi obtained salt by evaporating sea water with his friends and broke the law in a symbolic sense. Gandhi's "Salt Walk" became massive despite the absence of the internet and social media at that time. It was the most disturbing action for the British administration in India, and together with Gandhi, 60 thousand people who supported the march were imprisoned by the British. Gandhi made several hunger strikes until India's independence in 1947, and in the end, the administration had to repeal the law. Thus, India gained its independence by using the methods of civil disobedience under the leadership of Gandhi. Gandhi, by blending the "Philosophy of Satyagraha" with the ideas of Henry David Thoreau, committed a civil disobedience that envisaged active but non-violent and passive resistance against evil or injustice, and he suffered the price of it. Revolt against injustice, not with violence and blood; showed that it is possible with peaceful actions.
“I have a Dream”: August 28
In 1963, during the March to Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin Luther King called for equality between all races in the USA and encouraged people to fight racial discrimination with his famous "I have a dream" speech to 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial. . King's disobedience opposes unjust, racist approaches that discriminate between blacks and whites, and symbolically includes violations of laws that justify that separation. He contributed both to the concept of civil disobedience and to the political rights of blacks two years later with his anti-racist ideas and actions in America.
Civil disobedience is broadly defined as actions undertaken for ethical purposes, in public and non-violent protest against government-enforced laws. It is an act of peaceful protest that is carried out in violation of the law, while not violating a higher right of third parties.
Civil disobedience can be compared to meetings and demonstration marches in terms of mass, transparency and appealing to the public conscience. But acts of civil disobedience are different from other meetings and demonstrations. As an action, it is not only limited to gathering, but also deliberately violating a certain norm as a form of expression. Civil disobediences do not advocate a revolt or revolution, they do not seek to overthrow a government or eliminate a legal order by neutralizing it through continued violations. In these aspects, they differ from anarchists and revolutionaries by staying within constitutional limits. Illegal acts in civil disobedience are done openly without hiding from the authority, and those who participate in these acts risk punishment from the very beginning. The aim here is to attract the attention of the public. Because they aim for their actions to be heard more and their thoughts to gain mass.
In a democratic legal order, the person who has been wronged tries to attract the attention of the administration and the public by resorting to civil disobedience, which is defined as passive resistance, if the problem is not resolved after trying legal ways to remedy the injustice.
Today, the theoretical aspect of the concept of civil disobedience takes place in the works of Dworkin, Rawls, and Habermas.
According to John Rawls, civil disobedience applies to just societies in general and is the benchmark for the moral foundation of democracy in a just democratic state. Rawls considers civil disobedience as a form of protest. According to Rawls, civil disobedience is an open, conscientious but illegal political act that is not based on violence, aims to change the government's policies. In its nature, it is a form of resistance against injustices suffered by individuals by the state authority. Protest action must be directed against very serious injustices and political appeals to the majority must always be made in good faith and rejected, and common means must be exhausted.
Dworkin, on the other hand, sees civil disobedience as a right. Since civil disobedience is a legal defense tool, those who act with the motive of civil disobedience should not be punished. He argues that if the individual believes that he is doing the right thing by violating a law that he is sure of injustice, this can easily be a reason for keeping the penalty level low, and that prosecutors and judges should take this into account.
Jürgen Habermas states that civil disobedience emerges in accordance with positive law, and he sees civil disobedience as a political philosophical movement because it is based on goodwill, reconciliation and non-violence. According to Habermas, since a democratic state does not base its legitimacy on pure legality, it can expect only principled obedience from its citizens, not absolute obedience.
Explaining civil disobedience as a concept in political science and legal philosophy, it draws the boundaries of what the concept should and should not be, and guides us. However, acts of civil disobedience in the historical process are exemplary. When violence is involved in a protest that started with an act of civil disobedience, that act is no longer an act of civil disobedience. For example, the "2013 Gezi Park Protests" started as an act of civil disobedience as a purpose and method, but in the following days, it both turned to different issues and started to contain violence. In this context, civil disobedience as an act has found meaning in the exemplary actions of Turkey and other countries in the historical process.
White Wednesday Movement: On 28 December 2017, an Iranian woman named Vida Movahed climbed onto an electric box in Tehran and wore a white headscarf, which she wore on the end of a stick, in response to the obligation to wear a headscarf in the Constitution prepared after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the penalties imposed on women who did not wear it. A new mode of action emerged. As the women who supported the action initiated by Movahed took their actions on Wednesdays, these protests were called “White Wednesday”.
It went down in history as the “A Movement”. The protest, which was named "White Wednesday" because the women watching Vida Movahed continue their protests on Wednesdays, is now held on different days of the week, wearing headscarves of different colors. Photos with protest content are taken in public and shared on the Facebook page "My Stealthy Freedom".
Greenpeace: Greenpeace organizes its actions specifically in the form of civil disobedience. They unload sick fish in front of the protested institution, climb poison-laden ships and factory chimneys, unfurl banners, chain themselves in the area they are trying to protect.
Actions against weapons, war and military: Civil disobedience actions in the USA are generally organized as actions against weapons, war and army. In 1955, during the Civil Defense exercise in New York, an action was taken not to go to the places of protection. In 1958, there was an attempt to enter the area where nuclear weapons were tested and an act of non-payment of taxes. In 1970, the University of Minnesota boycott was organized, and in 1983, an air force base was entered and a military vehicle was smashed.
Nuclear Energy Actions: In 1975, in Germany, an invasion action was carried out in the region where the teams started to cut down trees in order to prevent the efforts to establish a power plant. This process took place in Germany, such as church occupation, tree hugging, road occupation, etc. The actions continued for years. As a result of various "civil disobedience actions" carried out for 50 years without giving up, the German Parliament approved the government's decision to completely end nuclear power generation by 2022.
Hologram Action: Spanish activists organized the first 'hologram' action in history in front of the parliament on April 10, 2015, to protest the 'Citizen Security Law', which restricts the right to freedom of demonstration and expression. In the action in which the hologram technique was used, both the images and voices of the participants were projected in front of the Spanish Parliament building. This action, which was carried out in front of the parliament in Spain, is an action that can also be evaluated within the scope of civil disobedience. It is not only a press release, but also a technological act of civil disobedience that takes place in a prohibited place (in front of the parliament building) and where the criterion of "illegal but legitimate" is addressed.
Freedom Convoy: On January 29, 2022, in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, actions began as the "Liberty Convoy" to discourage the Canadian government's application of the obligation to have the Covid-19 vaccine imposed on truck drivers, some other motor vehicle drivers and drivers in cross-border transportation. The protests carried out by thousands of anti-vaccine truck drivers by constantly honking their horns blocked the traffic on inter-city and inner-city roads in the country. It was stated by the protest organizers that the protests would be peaceful and lawful and would continue as long as necessary. The protests started to be seen in European countries such as France, Netherlands, Austria and Belgium.
The Great Teacher Boycott: The first civil disobedience act in Turkey was the teacher boycott organized by the Turkish Teachers' Union in 1969. The Great Teacher Boycott is the first general strike in the history of the Turkish working class. The teachers called it a "boycott" and went on a general strike under conditions where even strikes by public officials were prohibited. 109 thousand of the 170,000 teachers working at that time participated in this general strike. Such a massive action has never been reached again in Turkey.
Headscarf Actions (1990-2000): These are the actions of students who cannot attend classes while wearing headscarves in many universities. The starting point of the actions was Istanbul University. Upon the decision of the rector of Istanbul University of the period to not allow students to attend classes with headscarves and beards, or to be expelled, young people decide to make their voices heard. They continued their first acts of civil disobedience for four months for one hour every day in the garden of the university. On October 11, 1988, from Istanbul to Ankara, they held a demonstration with the slogan "Hand in Hand for Freedom" and were supported by large masses.
Saturday Mothers: Inspired by the mothers gathered in Plaza Del Mayo Square to find their children, who were forcibly destroyed by the junta administration in Argentina, the “Saturday Mothers” sit-in protest is the longest and most important civil disobedience act in Turkey. The sit-in protests, which started on May 27, 1995 for the first time, were held every week in Galatasaray Square as a group of people who sought the perpetrators of their relatives who disappeared in custody and their relatives who were victims of unsolved political murders. The fact that no official permission was obtained from any legal authority in the organization of the protests, no slogans were shouted during the protests and silence was adopted as the basic principle,
came to the fore as the principles of disobedience.
“It was necessary to oppose all kinds of ambiguity, nihilation and justification of all kinds of unlawfulness, and to organize an activist action within this. We had no other way to convey this reality but through civil disobedience. This is a place of silent screaming outside of anyone, political arguments, ideas and organizations. Because there was such an equal distance disobedience, these actions could last for twenty-two-odd years” (Umut, Foundation Employee-Trainer, 58).
Action "One Minute of Darkness for Continuous Light": After it was revealed that legal officials cooperated with illegal groups and some wanted names as a result of the Susurluk Accident, it was launched on February 1, 1997 to bring the deputies with ties to the mafia before the judiciary. It is an act of civil disobedience in which the lights in the houses are turned off for one minute at 00:00 am.
Standing Man Action: The "Standing Man" protest in Taksim Square during the 2013 Gezi Park protests is a remarkable example of pacifist and peaceful civil disobedience in Turkey. On 17 June, Erdem Gündüz's "stopping" by turning his face to AKM in the middle of Taksim Square to protest his intervention in Gezi Park marked the beginning of the "standing man" protests. With his silent protest, Erdem Gündüz gave new impetus to the resistance and inspired many across the country to commit a new type of civil disobedience.
Justice march (2017): CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's 25-day march from Ankara to Istanbul.
In civil disobedience actions from the example actions given above; Sitting; making carpets out of humans; blocking the military parade by sitting; occupation, lectern occupation; collecting signatures for the call for a general strike; blood spatter; hugging trees; border crossing; prohibited demonstrations and marches; creating human barriers or chains that paralyze traffic; boycott, blockade, non-evacuation; methods of entering forbidden areas were used.
To summarize, civil disobedience is against the law and the legal norm must be violated, and in this respect it is against the law. The act causing the violation must not contain violence. Non-violence is one of the main features that distinguishes other forms of protest from civil disobedience. The action must be performed in public. Civil disobedience is an overt act, which is declared in advance and whose continuation can be anticipated by the police. According to this criterion, secretly planned actions of illegal organizations and gangs are not civil disobedience. The aim of the action should be to call for the understanding of social justice and public conscience. The perpetrators must assume political and legal responsibility. The action taken must involve reasonable, measured disobedience to the law that is considered unjust. It should not be against the legal order as a whole, but against a disruptive rule within the legal system.
As a result, Thoreau, who is the main philosophical source of civil disobedience, opened the way to question the power relations existing in the relationship between the ruler and the ruled with his non-violent suggestions. Questioning power relations opens the way to the idea that unjust and unjust social and economic structures can be changed.
References
Thoreau, Henry David, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, 2001, mozambook,( sayfa 5,14)
https://asosjournal.com/DergiTamDetay.aspx?ID=12246
http://tbbdergisi.barobirlik.org.tr/m2011-93-700
Hayrettin Ökçesiz - Sivil İtaatsizlik (1994, Afa) - libgen.lc.pdf
(https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/383129)
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/621665
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316621353_SIVIL_ITAATSIZLIK_VE_MESRULUGU_SORUNU
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/356013
https://cins.ankara.edu.tr/23_4.pdf
https://www.tuicakademi.org/sivil-itaatsizlik/
https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/Content/Images/CKeditorImages/20200324-16034456.pdf
