The term "Civil disobedience" characterises the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence.
Civil disobedience was practise in Ireland in the fight against British colonisation.
The American author Henry David Thoreau pioneered the modern theory behind this practice in his 1849 essay, originally titled "Resistance to Civil Government", and later retitled "Civil Disobedience". This essay has had a wide influence on many later practitioners of civil disobedience. In the essay, Thoreau explained his reasons for having refused to pay his taxes as an act of protest against slavery and against the Mexican War.
Civil disobedience has served as a major tactic of nationalist movements in former colonies in Africa and Asia prior to their gaining independence. Most notably Mohandas Gandhi developed civil disobedience as an anti-colonialist tool. Martin Luther King, a leader of the US civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s also adopted civil disobedience techniques, and antiwar activists both during and after the Vietnam War have done likewise. More recently, in the 2000s, people have used civil disobedience to protest the war on Iraq and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Civil disobedience has served as a tactic of Polish opposition against communists. (See: Solidarity)
Many who practise civil disobedience do so out of religious faith, and clergy often participate in or lead actions of civil disobedience. The Berrigan brothers in the United States, for example, are priests who have been arrested dozens of times in acts of civil disobedience in antiwar protests.
In seeking an active form of resistance, those who practise civil disobedience may choose to deliberately break certain laws, such as by forming a peaceful blockade or occupying a facility illegally. Protesters do so with the expectation that they will be arrested, or even attacked or beaten by the authorities. Protesters often undergo training in advance on how to react to arrest or to attack, so that they will do so in a manner that quietly or limply resists without threatening the authorities. For example, Mohandas Gandhi outlined the following rules: