Illegal Use of Force
Observations on the necessity of rebellions
The phrase Law and Order is manipulative. A device that commands our commitment for fear of social decay. We must challenge this concept of Law and Order to build a society that is both equitable and responsive. It is helpful for us to first have a broader view of power and how power uses Law to maintain Order.
Laws are the structure by which power is expressed and through which Order is enforced. The threat to that order does not simply occur when one breaks a law, but when power arbitrarily enforces the law. Yet worse: When the violence of the law to is used to further concentrate Order’s power.
Laws that serve power and oppress people are illegitimate, as are those who are sent to enforce the laws. This is why rebellions are important, even if laws (or windows) are broken. They show us where our systems of law have failed and what our institutions need to do to fix them. Any institution that can’t fix its own system failures must be abolished and rebuilt from scratch.
In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King admonished that “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” He explained that “an unjust law is a code out of harmony with the moral law,” mostly because it “degrades human personality.” Contrarily, just laws not only “square with moral…
