"This is What Democracy Looks Like."

Watching the documentary about the anti-globalization protests in Seattle reminded me that civil disobedience is still very much alive. There is a tendency to think that protests and sit-ins stopped with the Civil Rights Movement, but that is not remotely the case. It also made me look back on my own involvement in the world around me. I remember in middle school, there was a walk-out organized to protest the war in Iraq, and I remember that I was too afraid to go. I was in Ms. Quilty's environmental science class when the walk-out was supposed to take place, and she told us that as Americans, we had a right to protest, as long as we were willing to accept the consequences. She told us that if the protest was something we believed in, then we should get up and leave. At that point, I did not understand the concept of civil disobedience or what it could achieve; I think I have a much better understanding of it now. I completely disagree with those who call protests pointless and futile, who say that you have to be in a position of political power to make a difference. The protestors in Seattle may not have stopped NATO or its actions, but they did make a difference. Martin Luther King, Jr. has said that "Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealth with." This is what civil disobedience is about; to remind the government that its purpose is to serve the will of the people, and to let them know when they are not.