Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Expanding on the Idea of Non-violent Revolutionary Action

I recently put up a post titled A Non-violent Revolutionary Proposal which explored the idea of not voting as a means of spurring non-violent revolutionary change.  This afternoon, I stopped by Arts & Letters Daily and was pointed to an interview with John Horgan intriguingly titled John Horgan on erasing war from the human condition.  And who would not want to erase war from the human condition, I mean besides politicians and the industries which provide the armaments for wars?

While the Horgan interview is interesting reading, Horgan brought up an individual by the name of Gene Sharp, who I was until that moment unfamiliar with, and Sharp’s 1973 work titled The Politics of Non-violent Action, which I was also unfamiliar with, so via the power of the internet, I went searching, and one of the first items of interest I delved into was a piece titled Power and Struggle, wherein under a section titled Why People Obey the following can be read.

When analyzing human obedience the psychological factor is decisive. Domination and submission are psychological states of mind. Those who argue against the use of nonviolent tactics like demonstrations or petitions, claiming that they are merely symbolic gestures, forget that power is symbolic as well. Withdrawing support, even symbolically, calls into question the props and illusions that hold Power up. Yet people are often ignorant of the power they hold, and governments conspire to maintain the illusion of their monolithic power, making their subjects feel helpless. (bold by ed.)

That quote is immediately followed by a section titled Violent Sanctions, which opens this way.

It may seem counter-intuitive that nonviolent resistance can be effective against rulers who have massive amounts of force at their disposal. But that is precisely the beauty of nonviolence. Using violence against “violence experts” is the quickest way to have your organization or movement crushed. That is why governments frequently infiltrate opposition groups with agents provocateurs—to sidetrack the movement into violent channels that the violence professionals (police, military, security agencies, etc.) can deal with.

A cautionary note worth paying attention to, especially in regards to agents provocateurs, which should recollect to many readers, Hutaree Hysteria.

There are a good number of additional links which can be explored at that Power and Struggle link, which I have not delved into yet, except one, which is a short parable, described as “whimsical,” titled The King Who Ruled Nothing, which is well worth reading and illustrative of the power of withdrawing support from rulers, say like by not voting.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/17 at 02:31 PM
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