The Initiative for Freedom of Expression republished state banned materials to fights against restrictions on freedom of expression in Turkey. Turkish laws limit freedom of expression, and punish writers and publishers for perceived seditious publications. After a Turkish writer was put on trial for writing a book on the Kurdish population, the Initiative for Freedom of Expression began a campaign where each week volunteer publishers would print booklets containing a state-banned article. The publishing of the banned articles took a form of civil disobedience.

Rosa Parks in December 1955, was arrested and fined after refusing to offer her seat on a bus to a white man. She was seated in the front row of the 'colored section.' The law in Montgomery, Alabama at the time required that African American riders yield their seats to white folk should the front of the bus, or 'white section' become full. Parks was fined $10.00 dollars and an additional $4.00 in court fees. Rosa Parks' civil disbedience of this morally neutral law led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. In June of 1956 a Montgomery federal court ruled that any law requiring the racial segregation of seatin on buses was a violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constituion of the United States of America.