Failure of Non-Violence

Not surprisingly, the Occupy Wall Street movement has declared its devotion to non-violent protest.  

After all, we live in the era of the Arab Spring, when social media has joined with the grand tradition of civil disobedience to completely reshape our world.

Of course, this is a myth meant to prevent radical change.

When we examine the legacy of the Civil Rights movement in the United States and the ongoing struggle of the Egyptian people, we find that non-violence is incapable of producing real change.

It’s true we cannot discount the important accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement. The integration of schools, the passing of the Civil Rights Act and the creation of affirmative action programs were all important steps forward.

Nevertheless, the movement failed. There are now more black men trapped in the prison system than were enslaved in 1850.  

The median wealth of a white household is now twenty times more than that of a black household, the widest gap in 25 years. These figures are obscene.

The contemporary Egyptian struggle is no different. While Hosni Mubarak has been successfully deposed, protesters continue to be arrested and imprisoned.  The state of emergency, which legitimated the Mubarak regime’s abuses, is unlikely to be lifted.

And the incestuous union of big business and military interests that has dominated Egypt for decades will remain in power, regardless of any potential elections.

These are the true results of non-violent protests: piecemeal reforms and insulting
appeasements.

The Libyan people understand this. They did not shout slogans and naively hope for the best. Instead, they took up arms and violently forced change onto the state. They understood that for radical change, the world must look to a far older tradition than civil disobedience.

The enslaved blacks of Haiti did not wait for a peaceful resolution to free them from bondage. They rose up and destroyed the power structure that had reduced them to beasts of burden, creating the first black republic the world had ever known.

When war and hunger devastated the people of Russia while the tsar’s boot kept them pinned to the ground, the Bolsheviks didn’t wait for incremental reform. They seized power and made sure the tsar could not return.

In this country, we’re raised to idolize Martin Luther King Jr., but his movement failed, just as Occupy Wall Street will fail. We’re told that there is moral superiority in refusing to strike back. After all, the New Testament tells us to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-42).

But Christ also came “not to bring peace, but to bring a sword” (Matthew 10:34). When faced with state violence and massive oppression, violence is the only truly moral response.

France and Maximilien Robespierre, Haiti and Toussaint l’Overture, Russia and Vladimir Lenin. These are the struggles and leaders we must emulate.

­— atcrane@indiana.edu