Howard Zinn's Seven Guidelines For Civil Disobedience
In the Seven Guidelines for Civil Disobedience, Howard Zinn presents civil disobedience as an act of deliberately violating a law for a societal purpose (Zinn 1). Therefore, civil disobedience is completely justified when society is threatened by a regime that practices absolute sovereignty. It is justified because absolute sovereignty only serves the interests of the state, not ours. Zinn perfectly uncovers the agenda of absolute sovereignty by stating: “We must never forget that we and the state are separate in our interest, and we must not be lured into forgetting this by the agents of the state. The state seeks power and wealth…[while] the individual seeks, health, peace, creative activity, and love” (Zinn 2). Consequently, absolute sovereignty
can lead to a despotic regime, because the interests of the state and of the people do not align. Therefore, absolute sovereignty is a threat to our natural rights because it lures us into the false pretenses of achieving peace within a society, and fighting off chaos. It encourages its citizens to resign their natural rights, in order for the state to achieve infinite power. Once the state achieves infinite power, it becomes the oppressor and we become the oppressed. We have created a divisive society; where we begin to encourage, and promote the superior-inferior complex. Once we hit this point in society, we must fight back. An individual’s fundamental right is at stake. Therefore, we must break the social contract, and revert back to our state of nature. Absolute sovereignty does not promote justice nor avoids chaos. Instead, it fuels injustice and chaos by forcing us to resign our natural rights. Once this occurs, we are no longer perceived as equals by society. This perception eventually leads to inevitable oppression from the state. Civil disobedience is justified, even if it means breaking the law. We must not be deceived by regime that claims to be democratic, but exerts an atmosphere of pure totalitarianism (Zinn 1). Dr. King’s, Letter from a Birmingham City Jail, perfectly conveys how civil disobedience should be executed to obtain our natural rights back, and escape the chains of oppression.
can lead to a despotic regime, because the interests of the state and of the people do not align. Therefore, absolute sovereignty is a threat to our natural rights because it lures us into the false pretenses of achieving peace within a society, and fighting off chaos. It encourages its citizens to resign their natural rights, in order for the state to achieve infinite power. Once the state achieves infinite power, it becomes the oppressor and we become the oppressed. We have created a divisive society; where we begin to encourage, and promote the superior-inferior complex. Once we hit this point in society, we must fight back. An individual’s fundamental right is at stake. Therefore, we must break the social contract, and revert back to our state of nature. Absolute sovereignty does not promote justice nor avoids chaos. Instead, it fuels injustice and chaos by forcing us to resign our natural rights. Once this occurs, we are no longer perceived as equals by society. This perception eventually leads to inevitable oppression from the state. Civil disobedience is justified, even if it means breaking the law. We must not be deceived by regime that claims to be democratic, but exerts an atmosphere of pure totalitarianism (Zinn 1). Dr. King’s, Letter from a Birmingham City Jail, perfectly conveys how civil disobedience should be executed to obtain our natural rights back, and escape the chains of oppression.