In his article "The right of rersistance in situations of extreme deprivation" Roberto Gargarella argues for a poverty-based right of resistance for systematically deprived citizens, concluding that state authorities should adopt more respectful and open attitudes toward these problems. Systematic deprivation and socio-economic injustice undermines the legitimacy of the social order and law itself and causes 'legal alienation' in the same way that systematic violation of civil and political rights does. It thus under certain conditions justifies breaking the law, even in today's democratic states. Still, violating law for the sake of social justice raises a dilemma: under which circumstances can illegal actions be condoned without threatening the legal order as such? What is a consistent and viable approach? The article argues that recent developments in South African jurisprudence suggests the contours of one such 'more respectful and open attitude' towards social rights based violations of the law.

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