Values-based activists hold that the means used to pursue our goals will shape the character of the ends we achieve. In their work for the peaceful transformation of society, values-based activists strive to abide by a set of core values, such as respect for individual rights, truth, transparency, and integrity. Values-based activists tend to put an emphasis on the long-term impact of their actions, and are more concerned about the potential negative side-effects and unintended consequences that tend to accumulate when those serving a cause adopt an ends-justify-the-means approach. Values-based activists also attempt to use methods that would not have a bad effect on society should people on all sides of an issue adopt them and reject the methods and mind set characteristic of Utilitarianism. Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King were practitioners of values-based activism.

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