A SELECTIVE LIST OF Historic Civil Disobedience Actions

here have been 1917 U.S. countless acts of civil WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE Tdisobedience through- Inspired by similar actions in Britain, out history in virtually every Alice Paul and 217 others (including country by people opposed to ) are arrested for picketing oppressive laws, governments, the White House, considered by some to be the first nonviolent civil disobedience corporations, institutions, and campaign in U.S. history; many go on cultures. Below is a listing of hunger strikes while in prison and are just a few notable — because brutally force-fed sheer size or subsequent impact Gandhi during the “Salt March,” at the start of the massive civil disobedience campaign in — and disparate examples , 1930. Photo via Wikipedia. (mostly in the United States) since Thoreau’s “Civil Disobe- 1936-1937 U.S. dience” essay. In bold are LABOR names of just a few of the Autoworkers (CIO) organized 900 sit- down strikes — including 44-day sit- organizers or participants, down in Flint, MI — to establish the right each of whom could merit a to unionize (UAW), seeking better pay separate study by students. and working conditions Suggragist pickets arrested at the White House, 1917. Photo: Harris & Ewing 1940-1944 India 1846 U.S. INDEPENDENCE / WORLD WAR II WAR / SLAVERY The Quit India campaign led by Gandhi 1918-1919 U.S. Henry David Thoreau refuses to pay defied the British ban on antiwar WORLD WAR I taxes that support the Mexican-American propaganda and sought to fill the jails War and slavery Draft resisters and conscientious objectors (over 60,000 jailed) imprisoned for agitating against the war 1850s-1860s U.S. (Eugene Debs, Evan Thomas, Julius 1940-1945 U.S. SLAVERY Eichel, Ammon Hennacy, Max Sandin) WORLD WAR II Underground railroad leads thousands of Pacifists oppose the war by not 1930-1931 India slaves to freedom; the one run by registering for the draft, refusing INDEPENDENCE Harriet Tubman frees 300 slaves induction, or walking out of camps set Gandhi’s Salt March to the sea initiates a up for COs (Dave Dellinger, Igal 1906-1914 South Africa year-long campaign promoting nonpay- Roodenko, , Larry HUMAN RIGHTS ment of taxes, sedition, and nonviolent South African campaign for Indian rights overthrow of the government (over 100,000 arrested in what is probably the TOP PHOTO: CNVA protest (Dennis Weeks, organized by Mohandas Gandhi (5,000 Charlotte Keyes pictured) at armory missile display, arrested during the campaign) largest civil disobedience in history) Dec. 1961 (photo by Troy Mayr via Gene Keyes) Gara, Jim Peck, Ralph DiGia, Walter 1958-1962 Pacific Ocean Gormly, , Corbett Bishop, Julius Eichel, Evan Sailing of Golden Rule, Phoenix, Thomas, A.J. Muste, Max Sandin) Everyman I, II, III into nuclear test zones (Albert Bigelow, Jim Peck, 1942 Norway Earle Reynolds, Barbara OPPRESSION / WORLD WAR II Reynolds, George Willoughby) About 75 percent of the country’s teachers refuse Quisling’s orders to 1955-1961 U.S. join the Nazi teachers’ union (1,000 NUCLEAR WAR are jailed) Hundreds arrested for refusal to take Police dogs used to against demonstrators in shelter during the annual compulsory Birmingham, AL, 1963. Photo: Bill Hudson/AP. 1943 U.S. air raid drills in NYC and other places SEGREGATION across the U.S. (Dorothy Day, Jim Peck, downtown Birmingham, AL, by filling Imprisoned conscientious objectors A.J. Muste, Ralph DiGia, Bayard the jails resulted in 3,500 arrests during strike to protest segregated dining halls Rustin, Ammon Hennacy, David the 2-month campaign, as well as at Danbury Prison (Ralph DiGia, Jim McReynolds, Eileen Egan) beatings, attacks by police dogs, and fire Peck) hoses (M.L. King, Fred Shuttlesworth) 1957ff U.S. 1947 U.S. NUCLEAR WAR 1964 U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS Trespassing onto military bases (e.g., CIVIL RIGHTS Journey of Reconciliation “freedom ride” Omaha, NE, Cheyenne, WY, Nevada test Organized by the NAACP, sit-ins at auto through the upper South (Jim Peck, site), boarding of Polaris nuclear dealerships in San Francisco to protest , , Bayard submarines, engaging in long distance discrimination led to hundreds of arrests Rustin, Ernest Bromley, George marches organized by Committee for over a two-month period including 226 Houser) Nonviolent Action among other groups in one day (4/11/64) (A.J. Muste, Bradford Lyttle, Marj 1940s-1950s U.S. Swann, Erica Enzer, Karl Meyer) 1964 U.S. WAR FREE SPEECH Refusal to pay for World War II, Korean 1960 U.S. Free Speech Movement occupation of War, and subsequent military spending CIVIL RIGHTS administration building at UC Berkeley, (A.J. Muste, Wally Nelson, Juanita Lunch counter sit-ins beginning in where almost 800 were arrested, at the Nelson, James Otsuka, Maurice Greensboro, NC, spread throughout the time the largest single-day mass civil McCrackin, Ernest Bromley, Marion South, and led to the formation of disobedience in U.S. history (Mario Bromley, Eroseanna Robinson, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Savio) Walter Gormly, Marj Swann, Ammon Committee (3,600 arrests across the Hennacy) country) 1964ff U.S. 1955-1956 U.S. 1961 Britain Draft card burnings (David Miller, Tom CIVIL RIGHTS NUCLEAR WEAPONS Cornell, David McReynolds); first Rosa Parks arrest for refusal to move Direct action against nuclear weapons done in 1947 to protest peace-time draft from the white section of a bus touches was spearheaded by the Committee of off the year-long Montgomery bus 100; 17,000 participated in a sit-down in 1965 U.S. boycott Trafalgar Square, where 1,300 were CIVIL RIGHTS arrested () Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights result in arrests and 1961 U.S. beatings (M.L. King, James Bevel, CIVIL RIGHTS Hosea Williams) Freedom Rides to desegregate interstate bus travel throughout the South 1960s-70s U.S. resulting in beatings and the arrests of VIETNAM WAR hundreds (Jim Peck, Albert Bigelow, Widespread draft resistance as well as John Lewis) counseling violation of draft laws; estimates of draft resistance range from a 1963 U.S. 500,000 to two million men, 3,000 of CIVIL RIGHTS whom were ultimately jailed (David Southern Christian Leadership Harris, Randy Kehler, Benjamin Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her 1955 Conference campaign to desegregate Spock, William Sloan Coffin) arrest in Montgomery, AL. Photo: Wide World

2 • HISTORIC CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ACTIONS 1971 U.S. in Colorado (, Allen VIETNAM WAR Ginsberg) May Day actions were designed to shut down in Washington, DC, by blocking 1979 U.S. traffic and key facilities throughout the NUCLEAR WEAPONS / POWER city (13,500 arrested in the largest civil Wall Street Action during which activists disobedience in U.S. history, including block the streets to the NY Stock , Barbara Deming, Exchange (1,045 arrested) Grace Paley, , Ralph DiGia, David McReynolds, Jim Peck) 1980 U.S. WAR / MILITARISM Burning of draft cards in NYC to protest The Pentagon is blockaded by activists Vietnam War, 1965. Photo: Neil Haworth. after a march of 1,500 organized by the Coalition for a Non-Nuclear World (600 1967 U.S. arrested, including Dan Ellsberg, Grace VIETNAM WAR Paley, Jim Peck, Dave Dellinger, Ben Spock, David McReynolds) Stop the Draft Week actions held across the country, with 123 arrests in Oakland, 1980 to present U.S. CA, and 264 in New York (Joan Baez, WAR / MILITARISM Benjamin Spock, Jim Peck, Kay Boyle, David Harris, Randy Kehler, David “Plowshares actions” committed by small groups of mostly Christian activists who McReynolds, Igal Roodenko) Part of 1971 May Day actions in Washington, enter military (and other) installations to DC. Photo: Ed Hedemann. 1967 U.S. damage military hardware, then await VIETNAM WAR arrest; more than 100 such actions 1971 U.S. worldwide (, Phillip Confront the Warmakers action at the VIETNAM WAR Berrigan) Pentagon (683 arrested, including David Release of the “Pentagon Papers” to press Dellinger, Jim Peck) by Daniel Ellsberg 1980 and 1981 U.S. WAR / MILITARISM 1967-1972 U.S. 1976-circa 1982 U.S. VIETNAM WAR Approximately 2,000 women in 1980 and NUCLEAR POWER 3,500 in 1981 surround, blockade, and Destruction of draft board files as well as Nuclear power stations across the stretch yarn across the entrances to the property of war corporations (Phillip country are occupied by demonstrators Pentagon as part of the Women’s Berrigan, Daniel Berrigan) (1,415 arrested at Seabrook, NH, 1977, Pentagon Action (145 and 65 arrested, 1968 U.S. and 1,953 arrested at Diablo Canyon, CA, including Grace Paley) VIETNAM WAR 1981), inspired by similar actions in Europe (Sam Lovejoy) 1981ff Europe / U.S. The Presidio 27 — military prisoners in NUCLEAR WEAPONS San Francisco stockade — protest 1977 South Africa Beginning with Greenham Common in inhuman conditions (charged with REPRESSION Britain, peace encampments — many mutiny and given 2-year sentences) Protests opposing apartheid and the women-only — were established outside Stephen Biko 1968 Czechoslovakia murder of spread from all Euromissile bases as well as in the U.S. REPRESSION Univ. of Fort Hare (more than 1,200 with the intent to disrupt military arrested) exercises and war games Lightening Warsaw Pact invasion undermined by eight months of 1978 U.S. 1982 U.S. spontaneous nonviolent noncooperation NUCLEAR WEAPONS / POWER NUCLEAR WEAPONS and resistance by students and others Sit-in for Survival blockade of the U.S. Blockade the Bombmakers human 1960s-70s U.S. Mission during the first UN Special obstructions at five nuclear missions to VIETNAM WAR Session on Disarmament in NYC (400 the UN during the second Special Session arrests) on Disarmament (1,691 arrested — A half million people participate in largest single-day CD action in NYC telephone and/or income tax refusal to 1978-1979 U.S. history) protest Vietnam War (Joan Baez, Karl NUCLEAR WEAPONS Meyer, Martha Tranquilli, Brad Rocky Flats Truth Force year-long 1982-1987 Europe / U.S. Lyttle, Gloria Steinem, Dave blockade of the railroad tracks supplying NUCLEAR WEAPONS Dellinger, Barbara Deming) the Rocky Flats plutonium bomb factory Demonstrators block European

HISTORIC CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ACTIONS • 3 installations of U.S. “Euromissiles” 1990s U.S. / Canada My Experiments with Truth, Mohandas Gandhi, FOREST DEFENSE Beacon, 1993 (Pershing/cruise missiles) precipitating Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of more than 5,000 arrests annually until Many nonviolent direct actions, including Conflict, Joan Bondurant, Princeton, 1988 the 1987 INF Treaty (Petra Kelly, Daniel tree-sits (Julia Butterfly Hill) and sit-ins, Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Ellsberg) roadblocks, and the largest civil , Erik Erikson, W.W. Norton, 1993 disobedience in Canadian history of 900 The Power of Nonviolence, Richard Gregg, Pierides, 2008 1983-1985 U.S. people opposed to old growth logging of The Quiet Battle: Writings on the Theory and NUCLEAR WEAPONS Clayoquot Sound in 1993 Practice of Nonviolent Resistance, Mulford Sibley, The White Train campaign, initiated by Doubleday, 1963 Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent 1999 U.S. Shoulder to Shoulder, Midge Mackenzie, Vintage, 1988 Action (near Seattle) blocked rail ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day, HarperOne, 1996 Over 40,000 demonstrators gathered in shipments of nuclear weapons across the Nonviolence in America, Alice Lynd and Staughton U.S. and forced the Dept. of Energy to Seattle to protest the World Trade Lynd, Orbis, 1995 switch to trucks (Jim Douglass, Shelley Organization meeting in Seattle; a loose Stride Toward Freedom, M.L. King, Beacon, 2010 Douglass) coalition of groups — the Direct Action Letter from Birmingham Jail, M.L. King, Network — formed human blockades in HarperCollins, 1994 1985-1990ff U.S. streets and intersections to disrupt the Why We Can’t Wait, M.L. King, Signet Classics, 2000 CENTRAL AMERICA meetings (157 arrested); the success of Freedom Ride, , Simon & Schuster, 1962 Do It!: Scenarios of the Revolution, Jerry Rubin, Pledge of Resistance organized civil this protest encouraged many Touchstone, 1970 disobedience actions in response to U.S. subsequent actions at WTO events We Won’t Go!, Alice Lynd, Beacon, 1968 military intrusion in Central American; around the world Armies of the Night, Norman Mailer, Plume, 1995 1,000 were arrested at Federal buildings A Manual for Direct Action, Martin Oppenheimer & protesting the embargo of 1995-2005ff George Lakey, Quadrangle Books, 1965 (May 1985); protesting U.S. El Salvador The Czech Black Book, Robert Littell, Avon, 1969 policies 240 were arrested at the Penta- Illegal shipments of medical supplies, Civilian Resistance as a National Defence: Nonviolent Action Against Aggression, Adam Roberts, Pelican, gon (Oct. 1988); 1,100 were arrested food, and humanitarian aid into Iraq by 1969 occupying Congressional offices, military groups such as Voices in the Wilderness, We Won’t Pay!: A Tax Resistance Reader, Dave M. bases, and the White House to protest Code Pink, among many others; activists Gross, 2008 the San Salvador Jesuit murders (Nov. were arrested and Voices was fined War Tax Resistance, Ed Hedemann and Ruth Benn, , 2003 1989); 620 were arrested at the White thousands of dollars by U.S. government “A Matter of Freedom,” Juanita Nelson, NWTRCC, House on the 10th anniversary of Oscar for violating U.S. sanctions (Kathy Kelly, “Bodies Upon the Gears” speech, Mario Savio, 1964 Romero’s assassination (Mar. 24, 1990) ) “Draft and Military Resistance to the Vietnam War,” Andy Mager, The Nonviolent Activist, War 1989 West Bank 2004 U.S. Resisters League, Mar.-Apr. 2000 OPPRESSION IRAQ & AFGANISTAN WARS “10 Cases of Nonviolent Civil Disobedience,” The Book of Lists #3, Amy Wallace, David The residents of Beit Sahour refused their Among the many actions against the Wallechinsky, Irving Wallace, Morrow, 1983 taxes to protest the Israeli occupation; Republican National Convention in NYC “The Pledge of Resistance,” by Ken Butigan in Peace responded with arrests, property was a day of civil disobedience Movements Worldwide (ed.: Michael Nagler and seizure, cutting phone lines, putting the coordinated by the A31 Coalition where Marc Pilisuk), Praeger, 2010 town under curfew for 42 days streets and intersections were blocked MAGAZINES/NEWSLETTERS: (1,781 arrested, the most ever at a U.S. The (1939-1946) 1987ff U.S. political convention) WRL News, War Resisters League (1945-1984) AIDS / HOMOPHOBIA The Peacemaker, (1949-1992) ACT UP, among others, organize actions SOURCES Liberation Magazine (1956-1977) across the country at which hundreds are Besides Wikipedia and other online sources as well WIN Magazine, War Resisters League (1966-1984, as the Peace Collection at Swarthmore College, 2006-present) arrested, including 600 on Oct. 13, 1987, the following books and magazines (many out of The Nuclear Resister (1980-present) at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC print but available in some libraries) provide more in depth information on the above mentioned The Nonviolent Activist, War Resisters League (1985- individuals and civil disobedience actions: 2006) 1980s-present U.S. Network News, NWTRCC (1985-1993) WAR / MILITARISM On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau, A.J. Muste Memorial Inst., More Than a Paycheck, NWTRCC (1994-present) Hundreds of antiwar activists refuse to “The Theory, Practice & Influence of Thoreau’s Civil pay some or all of income tax to protest Disobedience,” Lawrence Rosenwald, http:// National War Tax Resistance U.S. wars and military spending, esp. thoreau.eserver.org/theory.html, a detailed analysis of Thoreau’s essay and its influence Coordinating Committee , , Iraq (Archbishop The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Gene Sharp, PO Box 150553 • Brooklyn, NY 11215 Raymond Hunthausen, Randy Kehler, Porter/Sargent, 1973 [email protected] • www.nwtrcc.org Betsy Corner, J. Tony Serra, Julia The Power of the People, Robert Cooney & Helen Butterfly Hill) Michalowski, Library Company of Philadelphia, 1987

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4 • HISTORIC CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ACTIONS