Nonviolent Civil Disobedience

As Jesse Jackson advised: “When we act out of fear, rather than hope, we get bitter, rather than better.” Nonviolent Civil Disobedience gives us hope. At a time when people protesting are taking to the streets in greater and greater numbers, civil disobedience is an effective tool of resistance. It was used by Gandhi, Dr. King, Bishop Tutu, and others. From India to South Africa to Alabama, civil disobedience worked. Unjust laws are challenged and rolled back. But it’s not easy. Resistors pay a price: imprisonment, financial penalties, beatings, even death, but all the while occupy the moral high ground and strive to build the Beloved Community.

Recorded at the First Congregational Church.

Speaker: Erica Chenoweth

Erica Chenoweth teaches Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School, where she directs the Nonviolent Action Lab at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. She is the author of Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know and On Revolutions. She is a co-author of the award-winning book Why Civil Resistance Works. Her articles appear in major newspapers and magazines.

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