Ex.2.2. Read the following text and formulate its main idea.

Unjust laws

Laws can be either just or unjust. Just laws protect human rights, and disobeying just laws for personal gain or of personal disagreement is wrong because it may harm security of other members of a community. The Greek philosopher Socrates claims that someone who breaks the law is “a destroyer of the laws”. Since laws are pillars of society, breaking those laws damages society. But some people believe that certain laws are unjust and should no longer exist.

What is an “unjust law”? According to M.L.King, it is “a code that is out of harmony with the moral law…it is a law that degrades human personality”. Unjust laws are laws that compel some people to obey while not requiring others to do the same. These laws are often used by one group to mistreat another group. Some people think that unjust laws should not be obeyed. While it is better to prevent unjust laws from being made, there are many methods by which people can act to change them after they have been enacted. One of these methods is civil disobedience, the deliberate and public violation of an unjust law as a means of protest.

“An unjust law is no law at all”, said St.Augustine, providing the foundation of civil disobedience movement across the globe. During the 1960-70s there were a civil rights movement, an anti-war movement and other several movements in which people claimed that obeying the laws was harmful because the law itself was wrong. The chief theoretician of civil disobedience was Henry David Thoreau, and among its courageous practitioners we know such people as Mahatma Gandhi in India who, while opposing British colonial rule, set formal rules of non-violent civil resistance; or Jamaica singer Bob Marley who saw the injustices taking place in South Africa during 1970s and made his opinion heard through his songs which were very influential.

In the United States the famous leader of civil rights movement was Martin Luther King, who promoted non-violent methods for racial equality. He organized marches for black’s right to vote, fair hiring, desegregation* and other rights. He was arrested and in his famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” he called on all Americans to actively but peacefully oppose laws that were morally wrong. Most of the demands were later enacted into the US law. In 1964 King won the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1968 he was assassinated.

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice is in reality expressing the highest respect for the laws.” (M.L.King)