2017 Silver Shield disOBEY Series - Celebrating Non-Violence and Civil Disobedience

The 2017 Silver Shield disOBEY series is Chris Duane’s tip of his hat to the forward thinking, influential, non-violence activists that have helped shape the non-conformist movement we see now. These leaders are known for standing up against the establishment by non-violent means. They all supported a conscious individual solution to the collectivist problems that governments have bought onto the populations. 

As Chris says “For every Guy Fawkes mask (associated now with the Anonymous movement) you see at a protest now day’s, there is one of these men intellectually behind it.”

These rounds show the men behind the mask, showing the great minds behind the movement.

2017 1 oz Proof disOBEY Thoreau — Mintage 660

Henry David Thoreau is known for his views on government vs individual rights. He was maybe one of the first people to take political action by not taking action. He based his philosophy on the teachings of Jesus Christ and also Buddha but used the philosophy as a political tool. In 1849 He published a book called ‘Civil Disobedience’ which was to ignite the spark of the individual against the collective majority for future generations.

His story is rather interesting and personally I really enjoyed hearing about him retiring to the wild, building himself a house and living as simply as he could. The realisations he came to by living so simply are a real insight into the human experience.

“The authority of government... can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it.” -Henry David Thoreau

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." -Henry David Thoreau

“Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.” - Henry David Thoreau

2017 1 oz Proof disOBEY Gandhi — Mintage 700

With a very easily recognisable face, Mahatma Ghandi is the second release in the disOBEY series. Well known for his non-violence approach to protest, Ghandi aimed to free 330 Million Indians from the fierce grip of the 100 Thousand British invaders.

He started his endeavour as a lawyer in the British legal system. He tried to promote Indian Justice toward the racist and oppressive rule of the British at the time. After a number of tireless years trying to beat the system from the inside, Ghandi realised that that change would have to come from outside the system as the system was heavily rigged in the favour of the British.

He became a peaceful individual activist and yet he was beaten, mocked, betrayed and arrested — but through all of this he persisted without violence. He became a symbol for the Indian people, showing them that the real power was within each individual and that they just had to stop supporting a system that was skewed against them. 

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”― Mahatma Gandhi

2017 1 oz Proof disOBEY Solzhenitsyn — Mintage 600

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a decorated soldier in the Soviet Army who saw many brutal atrocities during the war. He witnessed a German woman being gang raped to death and after witnessing the excessively brutal acts of war, he decided to speak out.

He spoke out against the Soviet system but voicing his disproval only managed to get him locked up in prison.

This proved to be a turning point for Solzhenitsyn, he began to realise the true meaning of the human experience and this did not include the collection of possessions or the chasing of power, but instead, to grow as an individual and to mature the soul.

“Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. "One word of truth outweighs the world.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

2017 1 oz Proof disOBEY Martin Luther King Jr — Mintage 670

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is another easily recognisable face in the disOBEY series. He is perhaps one of the most successful Black Rights protestor in America and his words have been used by the movement since he uttered them. He was a passionate activist towards social justice on racial issues but was not an advocate of violence. He believed in civil disobedience, involving peaceful non compliance to unjust and racist laws.

While he was a champion for the race issues in the country, he also applied the same principles towards the Vietnam war. He opposed the war and turned his sights towards the Industrial Military Complex. This was a whole other beast to take on, while the powers that be could bend civil rights movements towards their directions, a fight against the war machine was a step too far. Within a year of taking on the Industrial Military Complex Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. 

Martin Luther King Jr.: "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"

Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967

"I call on the young men of America who must make a choice today to take a stand on this issue. Tomorrow may be too late. The book may close. And don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, "You're too arrogant! And if you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name. Be still and know that I'm God." 

2017 1 oz Proof disOBEY Lennon — Mintage 755

John Lennon is known for more than just his sunglasses! He is amongst one of the first people to be labelled a Rock Star and with his band The Beatles he was thrust into a world of fame and fortune. Although he could have easily enjoyed the fame and fortune his band afforded him, John Lennon became a voice for the peace movement against the Vietnam War.

He delivered a message of peace, making love instead of war and the fact that the power actually lay in the hands of the people and not the powers that be. He instilled the hope of change, not just a change in law but a change in consciousness. 

This message flew in the face of the powers that be and both legal and illegal pressure was applied to Lennon to cease his actions. This was documented in the documentary ‘The U.S. vs John Lennon”

“When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the sytem’s game. He establishment will irritate you, pull your beard, flick your face — to make you fight.

Because once they have got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they dont know how to handle is NON-VIOLENCE and HUMOR.” — John Lennon

2017 1 oz Proof disOBEY Dalai Lama — Mintage 630

The final strike in the 2017 disOBEY series belongs to the Dalai Lama. Throughout his life, the Dalai Lama has pushed for non-violent solutions to the invasion of his country. 

He was called to lead his country - Tibet - in 1950 when the Chinese invaded. 

In 1954 he was called to Beijing to talk about peace with Mao Zedong but the talks proved unsuccessful.

In 1959 the Chinese troops brutally extinguished the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa and he was then forced into exile from his homeland.

He has since pushed for a peaceful solution and has been a voice around the globe for international peace. He is considered a world leader and his words are a huge inspiration for a number of people around the world.

“As long as I am alive, I am fully committed to amity between Tibetans and Chinese. Otherwise there is no use.” — Dalai Lama

“I think the self-burning itself on practise of non-violence.

These people, you see, they easily use bomb or explosive, more casualties. But they didn’t do that. Only sacrifice their own life. So this is part of practise of non-violence. — Dalai Lama

This has been my roundup for the 2017 disOBEY series of strikes released by Silver Shield. The coins pictured are all PROOFS and the photography is all my own original photographs. I hope you have enjoyed this look into civil disobedience and some of the intellectual minds behind the philosophy that has bought abut groups such as Anonymous (the guy Fawkes masks) and some of the other peaceful protest organisations around the world. 

@silvernova

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