The civil rights movement did not succeed because of Martin Luther King Jr’s peaceful speech, it succeeded because the Black Panthers bought a firearms en masse and took their rights.
We didn’t win the revolutionary war because we asked nicely and protested peacefully, we won because we ignored the standards of chivalry in war at the time and fought like guerillas.
Anyone who says violence isn’t the answer has never studied history.
Violence is the only thing that’s ever worked.
MLK succeeded because the powers that be realized that Malcom X was the fallback plan. Malcom X did not have a problem with violence. And that’s not a dig at Malcom X.
Violence is the threat backing up the demands of the peaceful. A group of people asking nicely are easily suppressed by violent opposition, unless a threat of escalation exists. If those demands fail, escalation is the necessary response. Otherwise, the threat will have been a bluff and future threats won’t be taken as seriously.
On the other hand, violent change still needs popular support to have lasting effects, and it needs to feed back into a nonviolent result. Many tyrants have claimed power by force, only to have their dynasty crumble within a few generations.
Thus, violence in the name of progress always needs to be preceded, accompanied and succeeded by peaceful efforts to get people on board with that progress and help them actually feel the results.
We need a diversity of tactics. The literature describes a “radical flank effect” where the radical and moderate wings of social movements mutually benefit.
The civil rights movement did not succeed because of Martin Luther King Jr’s peaceful speech, it succeeded because the Black Panthers bought a firearms en masse and took their rights.
We didn’t win the revolutionary war because we asked nicely and protested peacefully, we won because we ignored the standards of chivalry in war at the time and fought like guerillas.
Anyone who says violence isn’t the answer has never studied history.
Violence is the only thing that’s ever worked.
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Moderates only ever succeed with and because of a radical flank demonstrating the alternative.
MLK succeeded because the powers that be realized that Malcom X was the fallback plan. Malcom X did not have a problem with violence. And that’s not a dig at Malcom X.
Violence is the threat backing up the demands of the peaceful. A group of people asking nicely are easily suppressed by violent opposition, unless a threat of escalation exists. If those demands fail, escalation is the necessary response. Otherwise, the threat will have been a bluff and future threats won’t be taken as seriously.
On the other hand, violent change still needs popular support to have lasting effects, and it needs to feed back into a nonviolent result. Many tyrants have claimed power by force, only to have their dynasty crumble within a few generations.
Thus, violence in the name of progress always needs to be preceded, accompanied and succeeded by peaceful efforts to get people on board with that progress and help them actually feel the results.
It was both, fellow worker.
We need a diversity of tactics. The literature describes a “radical flank effect” where the radical and moderate wings of social movements mutually benefit.