Photo: Screenshot.
March 07, 2022
Austin Kuan
Humans are created equal, but will you be convinced if someone has more equal opportunities than you? Of course not; this means that the "equality" claimed by society is a mirage, and you actually belong to the discriminated-against group.
If a group has been discriminated against for a long time by a larger force in society, some people will choose to accept their fate, while others will choose to protest. However, initial protests are usually ineffective because if protests were effective right away, society would have been able to adjust. The discriminated party will then enter the "resistance" stage. There are two ways to resist: passive, silent resistance, such as a strike, and violent physical confrontation, which is the cause of many street riots.
The government or society immediately declares the above two forms of resistance, whether passive or radical, "illegal" and orders the masses to disband. If the masses refuse to disband, the stage of "disobedience" will be reached. Disobedience to superior orders is "disobedience," and disobedience to legal rules is also "disobedience." Is it more effective to engage in passive disobedience or to engage in positive and aggressive disobedience? Indeed, the central figure who led the civil disobedience activities was extremely frustrated.
At the end of 2000, there was a major snafu in an Eastern European country's presidential election. Even if the original dictatorial leader cheated in the election, he still lost, but he refused to recognize the outcome of the election and, as a result, refused to step down. The opposition parties decided to hold nationwide protests and demonstrations, but they needed an effective strategy to carry them out. Following the introduction of special channels, reactionary party representatives quietly traveled to the countryside of Boston, USA, to meet Gene Sharp, the occult scholar.
Gene Sharp has a Ph.D. in political theory from Oxford University, and Harvard helped him establish the Albert Einstein Institute in 1983 to study and promote the use of "nonviolent means" to advance liberal democracy. Gene Sharp is a well-known figure in international politics. He frequently receives mysterious visitors from all over the world to discuss how to oppose a dictatorship or an unjust social system.
Mahatma Gandhi of India had a big influence on Gene Sharp. From 1920 to 1934, Gandhi urged the Indian people to use "non-violence" and "non-cooperation" to combat the British colonial government's exploitation, which caused the United Kingdom a great deal of trouble. The colonial government could not use the military or police to suppress the protesters because they did not use violence. Britain lost the moral high ground because the protesters did not use violence and quickly gained the support of international public opinion. The colonial government suffered significant financial losses as a result of the "non-cooperation" movement. Despite being arrested several times, Gandhi was quickly released. When faced with a "non-violent" strong-willed person, the powerful can neither kill him nor imprison him forever, and usually have to admit defeat in the end. India was later able to gain independence from the Britain, and Gandhi's "non-violent, non-cooperative" movement played a key role.
Observing key events of civil disobedience around the world between 1920 and 2000, Gene Sharp discovered that adopting the central thinking of "non-violence," combined with the application of other strategies, has the best chance of success. From the Middle East to Africa to Europe, he has succeeded time and again through the disobedience movement he secretly directed, bringing more and more mysterious people to Gene Sharp's study in the Boston countryside. To the locals, however, Gene Sharp was just another ordinary old man.
When he accepted the group of Eastern European visitors, Gene Sharp was 72 years old. Even though he had white hair and was nearly bald, he still enthusiastically talked about Rosa Parks (1913-2005), and everyone nodded. Rosa Parks, an African-American woman from Alabama, USA, has lived in a racialized social structure since she was a child. When she boards the bus, she is not permitted to sit in the first four rows; she is only permitted to sit in the fifth and later rows. It's simply due to her skin color. She boarded the bus on February 4, 1955, and sat in the fifth row. After the bus was full, a white man approached. The driver requested that she allow him to sit. "I've had enough!" she thought to herself, refusing to give up her seat. She was arrested after the driver called the cops. The court fined Rosa Parks $10. Groups that couldn't bear watching the incident later launched a boycott of Alabama buses for 381 days, leaving many Alabama buses empty and affecting ticketing revenue. The far-reaching consequences of this incident were that the US Congress finally repealed the old act that discriminated against African-American citizens. Yes, all humans are created equal, and no one is above equality.
"The dictator you are facing is already notorious internationally, and his last remaining weapon is a part of the military and police loyal to him," Gene Sharp told the Eastern European visitors, "If you confront the military and police, you will be labeled a ‘mob,’ giving him one of the best reasons to suppress you. You'll need some patience, but it won't take long, and you won't have to pay the price for more than ten years, as Gandhi and Rosa Parks did. Because the dictator's failure has already been revealed, as long as international pressure is strong enough, you insist on ‘non-violent confrontation,’ and the military and police who initially supported him will eventually defect and overthrow him. Someone within you must be thinking, ‘I've had enough!’ and planning to confront government officials head on. Remember to refrain from doing so; they must be restrained. At the same time, be on the lookout for anyone posing as a protester and using weapons against the government; track these people down."
When Gene Sharp saw the news a month after the Eastern European visitors had left and the dictator had been deposed, he went for a happy walk by the lake. He kept researching the international situation. He was 82 years old in 2010. He saw more visitors from Tunisia and Egypt in North Africa. He became the world's godfather and ideological teacher of "nonviolent resistance." In more authoritarian systems, freedom and democracy flourish.
Gene Sharp died one week after his 90th birthday on January 28, 2018. The world is still chaotic after him, but the ideological mentor who could inspire people's fierce fighting spirit is no longer present, and many people feel lost. Many Boston residents discovered too late that a key figure who was shaking the world had always lived beside them. He turned out to be an elderly gentleman who had been sitting in the coffee shop's corner. He was the familiar figure walking silently by the lake with his head down.
Disobedience is not an easy thing to do. It takes not only blood, but also strategy and ideological direction. Gene Sharp does not teach how to disobey from a conspiracy standpoint. He believes that civil disobedience necessitates a noble motive in order to move more people nonviolently, gain more support, and even melt the hearts of the perpetrators. Gene Sharp hopes for not only democracy and liberty, but also the realization of peace and love. Nonviolent confrontation motivated by such motives is unquestionably "the noblest disobedience."