Thank you for this post, we heard in some comments after the January 6 attack on the Capitol the terms "banana republic" and "third-world country" as a reference point for what occurred that day - how many times has instability in other nations been caused directly by or funded by the USA, I was appalled by the slur, the violence brought to other countries on behalf of all Americans is the most immoral exercise of abuse of power, we are a morally bankrupt country from the inside out, what we witnessed two weeks ago - just a small glimpse of that reality.
Nonviolence is always the harder path. But also the only path to a world beyond domination. My favorite take on this these days comes from Kazu Haga (himself a practitioner in the Kingian tradition); he offers this:
"We are in need of a truly nonviolent revolution, not just of systems and policies, but also of worldviews and relationships. We need to understand that people are never the enemy, that violence and injustice itself is what we need to defeat, and that the goal of every conflict must be reconciliation."
You are entirely correct about state-sponsored violence and I agree with your basic premise. Committing violence in the name of justice is clearly not meant to be a part of a nonviolent effort to bring about change.
You did not really address the violence (looting, fires, etc.) committed by those who are angry and desperate about racism, Policing, and other injustices -- sometimes led by white supremacist agitators, as in Minneapolis.
How should we approach and respond to that violence if we truly support nonviolence?
PS - I believe your relativist argument (comparing the relativo degree of state-sponsored violence to anti-racism rioting and looting, for example ) is correct -- as far as it goes -- but my question remains: how do we redirect the anger and frustration we feel into nonviolent actions that take back the power that government has taken from us or that we have ceded to the state or to repressive actors? (For example, we Christians and patriots also need to reclaim the Bible and the US flag as well as break the "de facto" monopolies now held on both by the right wing. Sadly, we ceded and surrendered these symbols and sources of truth to more vocal and less-well-grounded actors long ago...)
Thank you for this post, we heard in some comments after the January 6 attack on the Capitol the terms "banana republic" and "third-world country" as a reference point for what occurred that day - how many times has instability in other nations been caused directly by or funded by the USA, I was appalled by the slur, the violence brought to other countries on behalf of all Americans is the most immoral exercise of abuse of power, we are a morally bankrupt country from the inside out, what we witnessed two weeks ago - just a small glimpse of that reality.
Nonviolence is always the harder path. But also the only path to a world beyond domination. My favorite take on this these days comes from Kazu Haga (himself a practitioner in the Kingian tradition); he offers this:
"We are in need of a truly nonviolent revolution, not just of systems and policies, but also of worldviews and relationships. We need to understand that people are never the enemy, that violence and injustice itself is what we need to defeat, and that the goal of every conflict must be reconciliation."
(Elaborated more here: https://citizenstout.substack.com/p/democracy-in-america-a-day-in-infamy)
Thank you
You are entirely correct about state-sponsored violence and I agree with your basic premise. Committing violence in the name of justice is clearly not meant to be a part of a nonviolent effort to bring about change.
You did not really address the violence (looting, fires, etc.) committed by those who are angry and desperate about racism, Policing, and other injustices -- sometimes led by white supremacist agitators, as in Minneapolis.
How should we approach and respond to that violence if we truly support nonviolence?
PS - I believe your relativist argument (comparing the relativo degree of state-sponsored violence to anti-racism rioting and looting, for example ) is correct -- as far as it goes -- but my question remains: how do we redirect the anger and frustration we feel into nonviolent actions that take back the power that government has taken from us or that we have ceded to the state or to repressive actors? (For example, we Christians and patriots also need to reclaim the Bible and the US flag as well as break the "de facto" monopolies now held on both by the right wing. Sadly, we ceded and surrendered these symbols and sources of truth to more vocal and less-well-grounded actors long ago...)