Home Page > Tuan Tran > On Civil Disobedience

The twentieth century was a century of great turmoil: of colonialism, wars, poverty, and famine. But during this time, the world also saw how love can transform the hearts of men. What does love have to do with Civil Disobedience? To answer this question, we need to reflect on the principle of "ahimsa," or non-violence, as exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Both Gandhi and King were men of religious conviction. By religious, I don't mean a person who follows a certain religion: such as a Christian, a Moslem, or a Buddhist. But an individual who believes that only the truth is unchanging, and the manifestation of this truth is the absolute love for all living beings. For love is the absence of violence in both thought and action.

A non-violent act of Civil Disobedience is the most noble form of protest. For its aim is not merely to gain material benefits for an oppressed group, but to transform the heart of the people in a society. Without this love, then it is just a vicious circle. The victim will become the perpetrator, and the cycle will start all over again.

Thus an effective protest is not necessarily the most vocal such as shouting down someone else, nor is it vindictive. Perhaps an example from the movie Gandhi will illustrate this point.

During Gandhi's fast to the death as an act of self-sacrifice in order to stop the war between the Hindus and the Moslems. A Hindu man told Gandhi he wants to take revenge for the death of his son, who was killed by a mob of Moslems. Gandhi's reply was: go find an orphan Moslem boy about the age of your son, whose parents were killed by the Hindus, and raise that boy as though he is your own son.

Tuan Tran