From Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to Edward Snowden leaking classified information about government surveillance programs, civil disobedience can take many forms. 20th-century American philosopher John Rawls defined civil disobedience as a “public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies” (Galaski). The term was originally coined by, Henry David Thoreau in his 1849 essay, “Resistance to Civil Government” (Brownlee, Kimberley). Some of the most common forms of civil disobedience include leaking sensitive documents, unauthorized demonstrations, sit-ins and roadblocks, and occupation (Galaski). Both Moral Courage and Intelligent …show more content…
Even so, today with a rise in radical and frequent protests, governments are beginning to “crack down” on acts of civil disobedience. As explained by barrister, Adam Wagner, “Recent judgments and legislation suggest that the days of toleration for civil disobedience are over.” Data analysis by the New Statesman, a left-leaning British magazine, found that in the UK there has been a “disproportionate rise in police intervention in climate change protests” (Bindman, Polly). In 2022 and 2023, the UK passed three new acts that make it easier to not only arrest climate activists but also impose more severe punishments (Wagner, Adam). This includes laws that allow for a maximum 10-year prison sentence for those who violate conditions set by police on “public processions and assemblies which (are) ‘noisy’, and disruptive,” making it illegal for a person to attach “themselves to another person, to an object or to land” or be equipped to do so and introducing “a power to search protesters without suspicion if a senior officer believes offences such as locking on ‘may’ be committed in an area” (Wagner,