Dissent
After a bit of history of the idea of dissent, and a look at a few historical dissenters, we'll throw a spotlight (the beam, not the lamp itself) on 3 "dissenting ministers" in the US, England, and New Zealand. A focus on their motivations, the cost they paid, and the difference it made, can bring a wider sense of the critical importance of our freedom to dissent - the moral obligation to object, for goodness' sake.
First Reading
The first reading is from a speech made by the Black American abolitionist and women's rights advocate, Frederick Douglass, also an orator, author, editor, and statesman. The title of the speech was the "West India Emancipation" and he delivered it New York State on August the 4th, 1857.
If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
Frederick Douglass
Second Reading
The second reading is from a book written by Vaclav Havel. Havel was a Czech writer and playwright who was involved in the Theatre of the Absurd movement. He later becamse the last President of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. His book, which he wrote in 1986 is called Living in Truth.
The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire for office and does not gather votes. He does not attempt to charm the public, he offers nothing and promises nothing. He can offer, if anything, only his own skin — and he offers it solely because he has no other way of affirming the truth he stands for. His actions simply articulate his dignity as a citizen, regardless of the cost.
Vaclav Havel
Third Reading
The third reading comes from the American journalist and radio broadcaster, Edward Murrow. During World War II, Murrow's was the encouraging yet realistic voice heard by millions of listeners in Canada and the US and, later, he broadcast many talks on subjects of freedom, the danger of nuclear war, leadership, and education. The following is taken from his broadcast on March 9, 1954, entitled See it Now.
If we confuse dissent with disloyalty — if we deny the right of the individual to be wrong, unpopular, eccentric or unorthodox — if we deny the essence of racial equality then hundreds of millions in Asia and Africa who are shopping about for a new allegiance will conclude that we are concerned to defend a myth and our present privileged status. Every act that denies or limits the freedom of the individual in this country costs us the ... confidence of men and women who aspire to that freedom and independence of which we speak and for which our ancestors fought.
Edward Murrow
