There is a way for pacifism, but you don't do it by asking nicely. You say, "give us rights, and we're blocking central square completely. Do it before the local economy feels the hit!"
But it is important you're ready to face violence yourself. Because the town might decide to send the police on your protest. In this game, you have to bank on the nation having a conscience, especially the government. Considering the government is as evil as they are stupid... probably not a good bet.
I feel like pacifism is an important part of any movement, the difference between being able to label people as "violent extremists" and limit outreach that way becomes harder when they're not destroying property or anything and just inconveniencing the government. The important part in any movement is outreach, pacifism becomes really effective when you have thousands of people blocking roads or buildings. The sheer number of people sends a message, and even if the government is able to ignore it, it's not really able to get others to ignore it or shun it as easily as violence. Violent protests also play a large part in movements, but you need both. Then again, movements are multifaceted. Art also plays a HUGE role, honestly it's what really drives outreach IMO. Focusing on how to take a stand the 'right' way just causes less people to take a stand at all.
Edit: Another way to look at violent vs nonviolent protests would pretty much be that you need to both prevent people from ignoring the event and also prevent people from ignoring the cause. People need to be willing to understand the cause, and going with only violence is just going to limit that.
And let's be clear here that calling shit like vandalism "violence" is oppressor shit. Shooting protestors in the face with rubber bullets is "non-lethal" but spray-painting FUCK PIGS in a cop car is "violence"
Yeah, when I say violent I mean things that can easily be portrayed as violence or destruction of property. Unfortunately not many people get their news from multiple places or even read the whole article so giving people half-truths in the form of misleading titles and wording isn't too difficult.
ehhhhh... Even destruction of property I'm personally not crazy about labeling violence. When oppressors do violence against you they're not smashing windows or whatever.
I don't think burning down a Wendy's is praxis but it damn sure isn't an assassination or tear gassing or murdering cops and shit.
Yeah, the double standard is definitely unfair asf. I was mostly talking about how certain news outlets use purposefully misleading wording to make protests seem a lot worse than they are. I personally feel like a little graffiti or smashing windows is an inconvenience at most, tbh. Violence is like assault and stuff lke that, not inconveniences towards businesses that can definitely afford to fix those inconveniences.
I think it changes if there are people in the building (which is what I was imagining when you said smashing windows). Because that can cause people to feel unsafe and that could be seen as a violent act.
If there's no one there then it's just vandalism and should only be done against small businesses if they're part of the problem.
"should only be done against small businesses if they're part of the problem."
Sorry but WTF, small business are already f over by the goverment for you to say that is okey to attack them in protest
The petit bourgeois are not inherently on the side of the working class, because of their positions between the proletariat and the haute bourgeoisies, they must make their position of being allies of the working class plain and clear, or else they must be treated as allies of the bourgeois.
You've made up a specific scenario of classism rather than a myriad of other reasons to protest.
Such as equal rights and targeting businesses that have owners who refuse to serve people because of their ethnicity/gender/sexuality/marital status/religion, etc.
Depends what you're protesting. If you're campaigning for equal rights for queer people and they've been explicitly homophobic or transphobic or something then yeah, they're going to get some.
If it's just general businesses with nothing to declare, leave them alone.
There's a lot of morally good property destruction. The data center hits, the warehouse fires, defacing fascist politicians' homes, destroying ICE/cop cars, cutting down Flock cameras. It's too broad of a term to be useful for condemning people.
When it’s mine and especially when you’re poor. Most people I see running cover for useless vandals have some money to their name and don’t care if they loose something cause they or their parents can buy a replacement.
Yeah because I get to decide what’s to be done with my stuff. You don’t get to torch my car to satiate your two minutes of hate, no matter how just you try to paint it. Choose a better target.
Human rights are not guarenteed tomorrow from your protests. If a thunderstorm is, then I am guarenteed to get wet when the roof over my head is gone. When my window are broken, the voices of the proletariat no longer drown out the howling wind and debris.
And that's the fundamental issue. The ones we should target, the weatlthy, are safe behind their gated communities. When Ted Cruz and his family are on vacation in Cancun back during the BLM protests, tens of millions of dollars of small businesses owners livelihoods burned in those nights. Was it their fault they didn't have comprehensive insurance on their goods? They were already strained by the impacts of COVID.
When you're oppressed, part of a crowd, there is an energy. Violence, a rage that needs to be unleashed. And, as it happens, you neighbours are alot closer to you than the men on the top of their ivory Towers. But the BLM movement did achieve many goals. Police are no longer allowed to turn off bodycams, no knock warrants have been prohibited in many cities. Yet it wasn't the sight of your local jewelry shop with its windows smashed or hole in the wall Diner boarded up with graffiti that led to these changes. It was corporations and the government, seeing millions of people, in unity, March down the street demanding for something. There is a power to that.
Yeah, that's true. I think it would just spook those who aren't aware of the movements and don't care to be aware of them, since "Group of people destroying property near your neighborhood" sounds a lot more foreboding to someone who doesn't know or doesn't care to know why.
1.2k
u/aarontgp Jul 28 '26
There is a way for pacifism, but you don't do it by asking nicely. You say, "give us rights, and we're blocking central square completely. Do it before the local economy feels the hit!"
But it is important you're ready to face violence yourself. Because the town might decide to send the police on your protest. In this game, you have to bank on the nation having a conscience, especially the government. Considering the government is as evil as they are stupid... probably not a good bet.