nonviolent resistance

1. Refusal to obey a law considered unjust; civil disobedience.

Mahatma Gandhi urged and practiced nonviolent resistance during the efforts to win independence for India from Britain in the early twentieth century.

African-Americans in the civil rights movement often practiced nonviolent resistance in the South in the 1960s — for example, by sitting-in at segregated lunch counters to provoke arrest and draw attention to their cause. (See segregation and sit-ins.)

Example Sentences

Which brings me to the consent theory of power, a favorite of theorists and agitators from way back, updated by Gene Sharp, an advocate of nonviolent resistance.

From Salon

Los Angeles police arrested at least 25 people Tuesday night amid a curfew downtown as faith leaders made calls for “nonviolent resistance.”

From Los Angeles Times

His search led him to India, where he studied Mohandas K. Gandhi’s ideas about nonviolent resistance.

From Los Angeles Times

Participants were not only educated in the principles of nonviolent resistance but went through role-playing exercises to learn how to withstand the worst insults and attacks without succumbing to rage.

From Seattle Times

Carter quoted many of the same theologians King cited in his practice of nonviolent resistance, and he would join King in 2002 as a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

From Washington Times

Related Words

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