Civil Disobedience In History

There have been multiple instances in history where civil disobedience changes the world.. The idea of opposing laws to make a clear message to either ordinary citizens or politicians has played huge impacts into society. Instances like the Salt March in March of 1930, the General Textile Strike in 1934, and the José Bové versus McDonald’s situation in 1999. All three of these examples perfectly describes the idea of civil disobedience. One of the most infamous examples of civil disobedience in history is the Salt March of 1930. The march, led by Mohandas Gandhi, was a protest against the British rule in India. According to History.com, the Salt Acts prohibited collecting and selling the salt, which was necessary to the Indian diet. This led
Gandhi would be released in January of 1931, and soon after he would work with Lord Irwin on calling off his followers and their work, in exchange to negotiate at a conference in London on India’s future. It wouldn’t be until August of 1947 that India would finally be given their independence from the British rule. It is led to believe that the actions of the Salt March is what led to more Indians believing in the idea of independence. Another example of civil disobedience arises from the year of 1934. Still during the Great Depression era, workers were heavily underpaid for their work. The Great Depression took a huge toll on the Textile industry. The southern region was hit the worst with this low profit-high work era. So many people were left devastated because of either low wages or low work. Those in the textile industry were forced to work devastating hours to keep up with production. This all took a change, when nearly 170,000 southern textile workers marched out of their work on Labor Day of 1934. Along with the southerners, nearly 130,000 northern textile works joined in on the
This is an astounding moment for those who may have felt that they did not have a voice, when they always had. One not-so-well-known example of civil disobedience was the case against José Bové in 1999. According to Proceedings of The Western Society for French History, in 1999, the United States attempted to export hormone induced beef into European countries. With that, Europe resisted the export. This was overturned when the World Trade Organization backed the U.S. in their export, which allowed the export to take place. This stirred up the sheep farmer José Bové, which on August 12th, 1999, José and members of the Confédération paysanne, the second largest farmers union in France, dismantled an ongoing construction of a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Millau, France. It was a broad action taken by the group. After already having a felony relating to destruction of property, José Bové spent several weeks in jail for his actions. However, this action gained him national and international attention. According to ABC News, nearly 15,000 people from around the world attended the two-day