Civilly Disobeying What? On Directness and Relevance in Civil Disobedience

Abstract Recent acts of civil disobedience in protest against politicians' inaction about climate change have often targeted works of art to provoke public opinion on the issue. Such initiatives have attracted criticism from those who object to this form of political dissent. Can civil disobedience be indirect and target objects that are unrelated to the problem at stake? This paper argues that indirect civil disobedience should comply with a criterion of relevance according to which the target should be in some sense related to the problem denounced by the action. Such a requirement draws on Grice's conversation maxims and ensures that civil disobedience be a proper communicative act. Relevance may be a component of disobedience without implying that radical protest should take the form of direct action.