Is protesting peacefully and civil disobediance the same?

Question

I was wondering if protesting and civil disobediance are the same thing. If not, where is the line between civil disobediance and protesting?

Answer 1

under HR 1955 it will be.

HR 1955 is the follow up to the Patriot Act. It is designed specifically to effect our freedom of speech ... among other things.

Answer 2

They are not the same---altough the neoconservatives try to equate the two.

Peaceful protests are LEGAL-and they are a rigtht specifically protected by the First Ammendment.

Civil disobedience is, by deinition, illegal.  The concept DOES NOT mean simmply randomly breaking the law.  It means, genralllly speaking, refusing to submit to (obey) a law for the prupose of challenging the legitimace of the law or of some related action of the state.

Civil disobedience is also nonviolent--and does not mean anattempt to "get away" with violating the law; those who take this step msut be prepared to accept the sanctions applied to those who break the law.  

Sometimes, the principle is applied directly.  A good example is the famous "Rosa Parks" story, where she deliberately violated the Montgomery (Ala)law that, as  a black person, she had to give up her seat to any white person.

Most commonly, in the US, at least, the concept is applied idirectly. This happens when protesters may electto/plan to refuse to disperse if ordered to by authorities, or deliberately trespass .  Again, this must be nnviiolent--and is a symbolic challenge to the ligitimacy of whatever the state is oing tha tis being protested. And agin, participants must be prepared to accept the legal penalties.

For more on civil disobedience, see Thoreau, "Essay on Civil Disobedience," and/or a summary of the thining of Dr. martin Luther King, Jr. and Manatma Ghandi.

Answer 3

Not the same.  Protesting alone is legal, whereas civil disobedience, by definition, entails illegal activity (or passivity).

Answer 4

/ No, they are not the same thing...

One of our First Amendment rights is the right to peaceful assembly (whether in protest or support).

An assembly such as a Protest must be civilized to be peaceful.

Therefore, an unpeaceful protest would be uncivilized, or civil disobediance.

Answer 5

No it's not. Protesting unpeacefully  is civil disobediance.

Answer 6

Under the USA PATRIOT Act, protesting outside of a "free speech zone" can either be considered an act of civil disobedience or an act terrorism -- policeman's choice.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."  -- The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, page 12

Answer 7

Only one ever gets results.

Answer 8

what`s the matter..the C.I.A have you sweating?

Answer 9

yes..in s sense