Standing up to oppression takes great individual courage.
During the Middle Ages, there were rebellions against the king. One major rebellion
was called the Peasants’ Revolt. This rebellion was very different and daring because it
was the peasants who rebelled against the king. Peasants in those days had no status
in society. They suffered cruel and unjust treatment and control. Their role was to to
serve the king, the church and the lords. Therefore, to rebel against the king was a
courageous movement by the peasants. The peasants rebelled because they were angry
with some new laws introduced by the king. One law prevented the peasants from
asking higher wages. When they questioned their position in life, they were told by
the priests that it was “God’s will to have a life of hard work and poverty”. When
King Richard II introduced the poll tax and sent his men to collect this, the peasants
started to gather a lot of courage and rebelled. They began to riot and protest against
these laws and fight against injustice. Every courageous peasant played a part in the
rebellion. Rebellion also happens in modern day society. A good example is the killing
of Gaddafi, the Libyan leader who oppressed the Libyan people. The very angry and
unhappy Libyans were brave and protested against his regime through riots and war
and eventually killed him. It takes a lot of courage for an oppressed person to rebel against unfair treatment. 