Individual Freedom vs. Group Welfare

1. Individual Freedom vs. Group Welfare How much control should a democratic government have over an individual’s freedom of action?

2. Rev. Martin Niemoller • In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up.

3. Freedom • Freedom to do what one wants • Freedom from being interfered with by others

4. Canadian Bill of Rights (1960) • Individuals “remain free only when freedom is founded upon respect for moral and spiritual values and the rule of law.” • The state protects your freedom by restraining mine.

5. Obligation to obey the law • American democracy “is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny. ...Americans are free in short, to disagree with the law, but not to disobey it. For in a government of laws and not of men, no man, however prominent or powerful, and no mob, however unruly or boisterous, is entitled to defy a court of law.” President John F. Kennedy • No justification in disobedience because there is no guarantee that they will disobey only unjust laws.

6. Right to Disobey • Disobedience does settle some problems, often for the better. Civil Rights movement of 1950s and 60s. • Brought about an end to legal segregation of African Americans • 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks arrested and fined for not giving up her seat to a white passenger.

7. Martin Luther King Jr. • King encouraged boycotting the city’s bus company. • Refused to answer violence with violence • King argued that it was permissible to disobey unjust laws that were immoral and broke God’s laws. • Courage and leadership eventually contributed to the removal of legal segregation. • April 4, 1968, MLK Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

8. Mohandas Gandhi • Born in India in 1869. Educated in England as a lawyer. • Moved to South Africa to help improve position of Asians there. • Returned to India in 1914, worked to improve labour workers conditions • Hunger strike • 1920 began to work towards independent India. • Non-cooperation movement; no paying taxes, attending schools , hospitals or courts

9. Gandhi • Bloody riots in 1921 leads Gandhi to teach non-violence to Indians • Mid 1920s protest on salt tax • March to the coast with thousands of supporters • Arrested by British • Hunger strike leads to British compromise • Returns to India to promote individual disobedience rather than mass disobedience. • 1948 assassinated “The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere.” Nehru

10. Nelson Mandela, 1918- • Worked with the African National Congress (ANC) to help end racial segregation (apartheid) • ANC banned in 1960 • Mandela arrested in 1963, tried for treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. • Violence had become inevitable; he had offered responsible leadership. Without violence, there would be no way open for African to succeed in struggle against White supremacy. Of the four forms of violence possible, sabotage was chosen... • Frederick W. De Klerk, president of South Africa, freed black prisoners in 1990 as a sign of good will in ending apartheid.

11. Civil disobedience in Canada • Riel rebellion • Winnipeg General Strike 1919 • Doukhobor rebellion 1929 • 1935 On-to-Ottawa trek • 1960 FLQ crisis • 1990 Oka crisis

12. issues • Does one have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws? • If one believes that civil disobedience can sometimes be justified, what are the limits to its uses? • Is a democratic society ever justified in suspending democratic rights? • Is Canada’s protection of individual rights interfering with our ability to deal with crime?