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Abolitionism: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen
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#a practice which is - at the given time in history - considered to be normal, tolerable and, above all, legal by the majority of a given society | #a practice which is - at the given time in history - considered to be normal, tolerable and, above all, legal by the majority of a given society | ||
#but seen as an intolerable violation of higher principles of justice and humanity by an active minority (i.e. the abolitionists) | #but seen as an intolerable violation of higher principles of justice and humanity by an active minority (i.e. the abolitionists) | ||
#who therefore engage in all sorts of activities with the aim of doing away with this practice and its legal foundation, and to do so immediately and completely. | #who therefore engage in all sorts of activities with the aim of doing away with this practice and its legal foundation, and to do so immediately and completely. | ||
In this description, abolitionism is defined by the immediatism and radicalism of its demands, thus distinguishing itself from more reformist currents that ask not for the immediate abolition, but for a gradual phasing-out of the institution in question. In this usage of the term, the opposition to a repressive institution can be divided into abolitionists (who by definition are immediatists) on the one hand and gradualists on the other. Other usages of the term would see abolitionism as encompassing all opposition ot a repressive institution, and speak of immediatists and gradualists as varieties of abolitionism. | |||
In this contribution, abolitionism is referred to as only the immediatist kind of opposition to a repressive institution. Those who are not calling for the immediate and complete abolition are referred to as gradualists, not as abolitionists. | |||
==Slavery== | ==Slavery== | ||
The first abolitionist movement was also the most successful one ever. The fight to end slavery started out from the very fringes of society, but ended up not only with the eradication of both the slave trade and the legal institution that permitted the holding of slaves, but brought about such a radical change in public opinion that - today - it has become almost impossible to imagine how a society could ever have considered the existence of slavery as something natural and unquestionable. | The first abolitionist movement was also the most successful one ever. The fight to end slavery started out from the very fringes of society, but ended up not only with the eradication of both the slave trade and the legal institution that permitted the holding of slaves, but brought about such a radical change in public opinion that - today - it has become almost impossible to imagine how a society could ever have considered the existence of slavery as something natural and unquestionable. | ||