Non-Violent Protest Essay

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Non-Violent Protest Conflicts and war often happen because people try to solve disagreements and fight for a change through violent means. The problem of using violent confrontation strategies is that people quickly escalate to the point where their only concerns are victory, vengeance, and self-defense. In these cases, the moral arguments of people who are being unjustly treated become irrelevant. That is because most of the people tend to think of nonviolence as ineffectual, the weapon of the weak while in fact, it is the most effective and proper way in solving a disagreement or achieving protestors’ goal. Non-violent resistance strategies are designed to avoid bloody conflicts by absolutely refusing to be drawn into a violent confrontation. Far from being cowardly, this is a strategy that requires tremendous courage, self-control, as well as a willingness to endure pain and sometimes even death. The aim of non-violent resistance is to convert the opponent; to win over their mind and heart and persuade them that our point of view is right. Moreover, in nonviolent conflict, the participant does not want to make their opponent suffer; instead they show that they are willing to suffer themselves in order to bring about change. Great historical people have proven nonviolent resistance to be effective in attaining their goals such as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez. These individuals use nonviolent acts to accomplish favorable settlements either through writing or demonstrations. Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817. Unlike most writers of his time, Thoreau came from a family that was neither wealthy nor distinguished. His father made pencils in a small shop and his mother took in boarders. After he graduated from Harvard, he was expected to be Lawyers, Doctors, and businessmen, like

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