Introduction In this research, the participation of political activism is analyzed, so is the history and evolution. The individuals that may have influenced the movements that have taken place. Such as; Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko just to name a few. Comparisons made from the types of ways that political activism has participated. I help give a perspective of how it has affected my race and how it affects me currently. The History of Political Activism Throughout history, notable individuals and groups have provided a pathway to freedom. Some examples activists you know may include violence and non-violent approaches. For example, Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Biko, Malala Yousafzai, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Russell Means. These …show more content…
Places that need their voices heard, go to certain lengths to get noticed and not over-looked. Places where human rights are violated, civil rights movements still occur. Here in the United States, we have movements that want to make a change in their government or somehow influence their establishments to get the outcome they want. According to Huffington Post, “ignorance comes at a high cost in a free society”. Meaning that here in the U.S, education is at a high cost. But, because of this, the real cost of ignorance is in fact that not everyone can afford education. This worries society seeing that it can become destructive society due to ignorance. The lower and middle class can hardly get an education, and because of this, the rich have an unfair advantage. The reason why it must get to the point where individuals intervene is that of the lack of knowledge. It is notorious for the ignorance established by a group of oppressors. Inequality and oppression stem from poor education, and the oppressed sometimes stay oppressed because of poor education as well. It is well known that “knowledge is power”, but not everyone knows everything. So, that makes bystanders as guilty as the oppressors due to their inability to act and only …show more content…
Activism and justice affect me because of the problems happening with Native Americans. Since I am a Native American, these issues I face personally as well as my family and tribe. Still underrepresented in our government and hardly any opportunities in our own land. We face poverty with other indigenous people as our treaties are violated by corporate companies and treated unfairly by government officials. Natives have been a huge role in activism throughout the years. In the 1960’s, activism made by Native Americans began. This “Red Movement”, was mainly started by the Lakota. The influence was evolved by the black freedom struggle. This political activism was provoked by the forced assimilation that these tribes face. Meaning that they were forced away from their culture and their traditional values. These political movements in the 1960’s laid a foundation for future participation in protests and activism. A good example of this recent event of a recent event is the protests for the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. Individuals and groups came together to protest a pipeline that would jeopardize the well-being of that
In this article, " Feminist Consumerism and Fat Activists: A Comparative Study of Grassroots Activism and the Dove Real Beauty Campaign." (Johnson and Taylor, 2008) reveal the degree and technique that are made effective to create social change among the standard of beauty based off of appearance. Several aspects are studied to reflect the comparison and contrast of the findings among the two activism groups. Dove and Pretty, Porky, and Pissed Off (P.P.P.O.) target the idea of beauty and the meaning of cultural values. These two groups advocate and influence people, but the range of who is aware of their motto is differently reached.
To many, violation of human rights is a serious issue. This shows that for every negative force, there is always someone who recognizes the wrong and seeks to correct
During the 1950’s and 60’s, protests were occurring all throughout the United States. Ordinary citizens and civil rights leaders alike joined each other to voice their opposition and frustrations with the everyday injustices and discrimination that they were faced with. Although there are many figures associated with the successes that came from the time period, grassroot activism immensely propelled the movements because without them, the marches and demonstrations would not have been possible. Student activism especially was essential to many of the movements because of their connections to other adolescents and the fact that they were the upcoming generation made their voice interesting to the media. The largest and most covered movement,
"Tapping the Roots of Power" and "An Active Technique of Struggle" are two chapters where Gene Sharp, analyzes how power is continuously interchangeable amongst the oppressed which are usually minorities and their oppressors which usually are symbolized by people of power. In both chapters, Sharp in great detail gives the reader many scenarios in which oppressed groups through civil disobedience fight against their oppressors, usually leading to victory which resembles freedom and liberation. Although oppressed groups have a great deal to loose, their constant struggling motivates them to fight against the oppressor and regain their liberty and rights back. Once minorities start to challenge authority, their obedience is lost. Once this happens,
Imagine all your human right’s strip away from you within a second. Throughout history governments have denied human right to a certain group of people by adopting new polices and/or violence. A government using violence against it people to get them to agree or even do what they want is still seen today. Throughout history countries like Cambodia and Rwanda are places where the government look away their people’s human rights.
During Western Expansion in the United States, it affected many different groups of people. Motivated by the idea of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the expansion of the US through the American continents was justified and bound to happen, they all moved west in the hope of riches and other opportunities. However, these groups, especially the Native Americans, American workers, and immigrants, instead faced many challenges that contradicted the founding ideals of the US: liberty, equality, rights, democracy, and opportunity. To begin with, the Native Americans had their liberty, equality, rights, and opportunities taken away. As the Americans moved westward, they overtook the Native Americans’ land and forced them out “to confine most western tribes to reservations” (Indian Wars Shatter Tribal Cultures).
During the mid-20th century a group of nonviolent protesters call the Freedom Riders began a nonviolent campaign against the segregation of bus facilities in the south. The social activists which were both white and black college students would peacefully ride Greyhound busses through the south as an act of civil disobedience. The most notable states would be Alabama and Mississippi where they would face violent mobs and corrupt sections of government. Unfazed by the attacks on them they would continue on and even gain support as more and more people would seek an end to segregation.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” This quote from Elie Wiesel, who is the author of the best selling book Night and who himself survived the greatest injustice, the holocaust (Bio. Com), addresses an effective method to fighting injustice, protesting, which is found in both the readings on Socrates and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail. But what causes injustice so that “there may be times when we are powerless to prevent” it? From my desire to address the primary cause of injustice, resulted my thesis that ignorance anywhere is injustice everywhere.
The movement began to be mobilize their power, they formed militant organizations including the Equality League, Congressional Union and the Women’s Party (Keyssar 2000, p. 203). Properly funded and more militant enabled them to gain recognition and apply political pressure to leader throughout the states (Keyssar 2000, p. 203). The movement then took a turn for bold protest actions in 1917, organizing picket lines, hunger strikes and even suspended congressional lobbying (Keyssar 2000, p. 215). All goes to show the level aggression the movement has taken to pressure political leaders. Deploying their broad repertoire of tactics made the protest more effective, the aggression tactics saw success as they began to win support in multiple states (Keyssar 2000, p. 217).
Throughout the history of the United States, there generally have been dozens of particularly social movements, which is fairly significant. From the African American Civil Rights Movement in 1954 to the feminism movement in 1920, protests for all intents and purposes have helped these groups basically earn rights and fight injustice in a really major way. Some injustices that these groups face range from lack of voting rights to police brutality, or so they essentially thought. The indigenous people of North America aren’t actually immune to these injustices, basically contrary to popular belief. Back in the 1968, the American Indian Movement generally was formed to for all intents and purposes give natives security and peace of mind in a
Civil disobedience has been discerned in numerous time periods of American history. The definition of disobedience can be interpreted when one or a group prioritizes their conscience of their beliefs over the dictation of laws through rebellion. Notable historical events of slavery and independence has been marked with the disobedience of government laws. Even though the disobedience of societal laws can undermine the corruption of the government, disobedience has undeniably steer societal progress. A form of civil disobedience was the fight for independence of the colonies in the American Revolution.
This is very dissimilar to previous decades where major politicians like presidents did not lend support to the movement before. In addition, during the 1960’s, the first youth led organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, as mentioned in (Document A), discusses how they will bring similar beliefs of Martin Luther King to the younger generations. With support of the younger demographics, the movement can spread their beliefs in new ways and with more protest and discussion to the general
In the sixth chapter “Grassroots Indian Activism: The Red Power Movement in Urban Areas” of his book Reimaging Indian Country, Nicolas G. Rosenthal analyzes the influence of national Red Power activism on local American Indian activism and places emphasis on various examples of local Red Power. Rosenthal demonstrates how local and national activism were related in the big network of Red Power activism, especially throughout the 1970s. The comprehension of the connections between the different stages of activism is, according to the author, important for the understanding of how the movement was interpreted and transformed over the years. Events of protests and occupations like Alcatraz and Wounded Knee were important to draw national and
These radicals believed in fighting the social machine that before, had made the cookie-cutter lifestyle a status-quo. With this came political activism and a new generation
Education is vital to one’s life and well-being, however since education isn’t free so many kids around the world can’t take advantage of it simply because of their economic status. When people become educated, it allows them to develop different perspectives and would not only see an improvement in their life, but in society as a whole. There’s no doubt that education is the most important thing to enhance the lives of individuals. Without it, kids aren’t able to reach their full potential, causing citizens to experience major issues in life such as a low standard of living, ignorance, and among other things. Education should be free for everyone, regardless of their economic background, because every individual is important and should have the equal opportunity to better themselves.