Failing to follow Gandhi and King

DEPUTY Richard Boyd Barrett was quoted in your newspaper (Dec 23) — “It is entirely justified to disobey an unjust law. That is what Gandhi did, and what Martin Luther King did.”

He then goes on to state that refusing to pay property and water taxes falls under the King/Gandhi doctrine of civil disobedience. Mr Boyd Barrett is in error in applying the King/Gandhi doctrine to a property tax issue. According to the doctrine of King and Gandhi it is only justified to break the law by acts of civil disobedience when the following criteria has been met or will be met:

1. The law or the proposed law must be against fundamental human values. Such as — prohibiting people because of the colour of their skin from sitting in front of a bus.