[lbo-talk] non-violence is the most powerful weapon we have

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Wed Nov 9 08:30:38 PST 2011


Lenin's Tomb: They're elitist because they act without accountability, outside the democratic process, paying no attention to the needs of anyone else in the movement, completely indifferent to any negative blowback their actions may bring on other protesters.

This is a fair statement of the issue, though it must be posed again for each separate occasion that a black bloc appears. Judgment of one appearance does not carry over to other occasions, since the "membership" of black blocs is so apparently fluid.

I do prefer not to multiply technical terms beyond necessity, and I do not see the need for either "elitism" or "adventurism" in this thread.

It would be useful, however, to use "non-violent" in its original technical sense and not use it interchangeably with "peaceful." "Non-violent" in fact is shorthand for "Non-violent civil disobedience." It is deceptive when used merely as a synonym for peaceful. Also, as several have pointed out, Violence (on the whole a meaningless term since it covers so many radically different actions) should at least be confined to action which physically harms other people.

Carrol



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