Source: Asking the oppressed to be nonviolent is an impossible standard that ignores history – Alternet.org
Tag: nonviolence
Can Gandhian strategies ever made headway against covert domination?…// A True and Visionary Radical, Martin Luther King Jr. Was No Moderate
Despite the great legacy of MLK the fact remains that his success (partial) using non-violent methods will not work for socialism. And his grim assassination is a reminder that as you move from a specialized activist movement viz. the Civil Movement to a universal fieldof socialism a new analysis is needed. You are not going to challenge the domination of covert agencies and the crypto-fascist state with peaceful pleading. MLK never really addressed the issue of socialism directly and to say that he was more than a moderate is correct but not enough. He never really made any explicit reference to socialism that I am aware of in the context of an actual program to reach postcapitalism.
In his absorbing profile of the writer Alex Haley (author of “Roots” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”) in the New York Times Book Review a year ago, Michael Patrick Hear…
Source: A True and Visionary Radical, Martin Luther King Jr. Was No Moderate – 1848+: The End(s) of History
Sentimental and genocidal nonsense about nonviolence…//The Deep Connections Between Democracy and Nonviolence
The proponents of nonviolence live in an imaginary world whose implications in the end will prove more violent and kill millions where a fight against the powers of current states moving toward catastrophe might save millions of lives.
The power of nonviolence was a remarkable tactic in the hands of MLK but it was limited in scope and we see King before his violent assassination starting to confront the larger field of social injustice, state criminality, imperialism, and capitalist penetration. He could see the limits of his tactics. And the grim fate of King tokens the fate of the nonviolent activists should they begin to threaten the status quo. And King’s activism saw the intervention of army troops, and in the end was unable to really resolve the issue of racism. And a generation of nonviolent inaction on the left has produced nothing in the way of real change and paralyzed the attempts to deal with climate catastrophe. Nonviolence simply emboldens those who know they can simply ignore those who adopt nonviolent tactics and the complete indifference of capitalist entities here in clear knowledge of the dangers that have brought a whole society to the brink. It is clear that without a true response the force of capitalism will destroy a planet and the Gandhian saints indirectly induce genocide. The history of democracy is NOT a tale of nonviolence, starting with the brave stand of the Greeks/Athenians against the Persians. The American democratic revolution was a violent war against an imperial power that succeeded against all odds. And the Civil War clearly shows that nonviolence could never have abolished slavery.
In the final analysis American democracy is no such thing as its oligarchic aspect reigns in the name of ‘democracy’ as a facade. The path to real democracy demands a new definition as ‘democracy’ freed of capitalist fascism and domination. The better name is ‘democratic socialism’ and a path to dealing with the de facto rogue state defined by capital.
We should note that Gandhi is a misleading figure: his labors did little or nothing to produce independence in India, and it was observed by the neo-buddhist figure Rajneesh that a regiment of men with rifles could have freed India in the 1920’s. As if Ukraine were any model for nonviolence!
We need to face the crisis on its way without sentimental pseudo-ethics of the brand of nonviolence fake sanctities.
In recent weeks, leaders and commentators here and abroad have rightly framed Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine as a struggle between autocracy
Source: The Deep Connections Between Democracy and Nonviolence – CounterPunch.org
The Gita: the critique literature:…//Dangers of teaching the Bhagavad Gita in educational curriculums | MR Online
This is an astonishing article to find at Monthly Review but on reading I find it entirely convincing. I don’t usually associate the Gita with capitalist ideology, but the author’s account of Hindutva in the age of Modi is very convincing. I have been consistently a schizoid fan/critic of the Gita, fascinated by its history, and very critical of its actual dubious place in religious history. Like the Bible the Gita is a palimpsest of confusions, but it is also, in principle, connected to an ancient and very profound tradition of yoga. In the hands of yogis the Gita is one thing, in the hands of Hindutva, quite another. We saw this other side with the Hare Krishna cult of the seventies; the problem is the path of Bhakti,
devotion beside the rationalistic yogas. But the Gita has many critics on its own terms as a text for yoga lore. We should cite three issues here: first Gandhi’s reverence for and confusion over the Gita: Continue reading “The Gita: the critique literature:…//Dangers of teaching the Bhagavad Gita in educational curriculums | MR Online”
Poor People’s Campaign Announces ‘Season of Nonviolent Direct Action’ Targeting US Senate
“If our actions result in the system believing it has to arrest us, then so be it. Civil disobedience is a badge and banner we will proudly wear,” said Rev. William Barber.
Martin Luther King Knew That There’s Nothing Peaceful About Nonviolence If You’re Doing It Right
Establishment pundits love to cite Martin Luther King as a way to delegitimize militant protests and shame unruly protesters. But King wasn’t a proponent of passive, compliant protest — to him, nonviolent action was about forging a powerful collective force that could coerce ruling elites into conceding to demands for justice.
Source: Martin Luther King Knew That There’s Nothing Peaceful About Nonviolence If You’re Doing It Right
1848+: The End(s) of History 