Civil Disobedience Resources

This area contains resources on Ecology, Nonviolence and a mishmash of other resources.

Why we support Non Violent direct action:

America is one of the most violent societies to have ever existed. Civil society has always kept up a public posture of nonviolence, yet the violent demeanor of the society can be seen by how violence is glorified in popular culture.

The country's elitist rulers are not interested in supporting democratic values for the public or we would have seen a move away from excessive competition, towards cooperative values many years ago.

Elitists have ruled America with the same divide and conquer tactics the British used to colonize the world with 300 years ago. Thus a few thousand brutal Brits could reap the profits and power of controlling a country the size of India for generations.

Reading James Madison, the most influential of the founders, shows us that our government was established on the principles of distrust of common men. Without the Bill of Rights, America would have ended up no different from the Roman Empire.

Today, the distrust of the common man and woman is far more invasive! Witness the media's cult worship of the rich and famous. Everyone else is labeled the little guy, or losers, etc. Good sportsman learn how to kill with a smile!

The country that openly supported slavery also was home to others who really believed in the golden rule and understood the truism about those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

Henry David Thoreau set the precedent during the 19th century of standing up against unethical behavior with the use of civil disobedience.

Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. carried the the idea of nonviolent change tactics into the 20th century. In the 1970's activists in Germany set the stage for a new generation of nonviolent civil disobedience when they opposed the construction of nuclear power facilities.

The idea of using Quaker based consensus process and civil disobedience to stop the development of nuclear power was taken up by grassroots groups around the world. In the US, the Clamshell Alliance in the Northeast and the Abalone Alliance in California used nonviolence civil disobedience to oppose construction of new power facilities. These groups created highly organized campaigns that included nonviolence training handbooks to help train people willing to do civil disobedience. Today, those same tactics are being used to oppose corporate globalization.

The idea of teaching humanity to act nonviolently is the most important mission on the face of the earth today.