What are the consequences of violence in this world?

The

ideology

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of

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nonviolence

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has come to play a major role in political struggles in the United States of America and, indeed, in nations around the

world

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. Almost every organization seeking radical

change

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in the USA has been targeted by organizers for the

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nonviolence

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movement. Organizations like Earth

First

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!, which originally did not subscribe to the

ideology

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of

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nonviolence

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, have since

then

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adopted that

ideology

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or at least its set of rules for protest and civil disobedience. Yet

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nonviolence

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activists have put little energy into bringing their creed to establishment, reactionary, or openly violent organizations. In

this

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essay it

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essay, it

will be argued that

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nonviolence

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encourages

violence

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by the

state

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and corporations. The

ideology

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of

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nonviolence

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creates effects opposite to what it promises.

As a result

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nonviolence

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ideologists cooperate in the ongoing destruction of the environment, in continued repression of powerless, and in

U

The objective case of we, the persons speaking

us

.S./

corporate

Suggestion

Corporate

attacks on people in foreign nations. To minimize

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violence we

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violence, we

must adopt a pragmatic,

reality

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-based method of operation. I agree that

violence

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, properly defined, is bad. It should, ideally,

not be

Suggestion

is not

was not

wasn't

part of how humans deal with each other. I believe that a

society

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should and can be created where no

state

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, economic entity, or religion uses

violence

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against people. In

such

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a

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society people

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society, people

can achieve their individual and collective goals through voluntary cooperation. But when you scrape the make-up off the face of the

ideology

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of

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Nonviolence

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, there you will find, grinning, the very

violence

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it pretends to oppose. Much of the ability of the corporate

state

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to neutralize its

opposition

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in the USA (and elsewhere) depends on

purposeful confusion

Suggestion

a purposeful confusion

the purposeful confusion

of the language used to discuss the issues. It is important to distinguish exactly what is meant by

violence

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, not being violent, and the

ideology

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of

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Nonviolence

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. Most people have a pretty clear idea of what

violence

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is: hitting people, stabbing them, shooting them,

on

Suggestion

at

of

for

up to incinerating people with napalm or atomic weapons. Not being violent is simply not causing physical harm to someone. But

gray

of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black

grey

areas abound. What about stabbing an animal? What about allowing someone to starve because they cannot find means to pay for food? What about coercing

behavior

manner of acting or controlling yourself

behaviour

through the threat of

violence

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? Through the threat of losing a job?

Violence

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as a dichotomy, with the only choices being

Violence

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or

Non-

Suggestion

Nonviolence

violence

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, is not a very useful basis for political discussion, unless you want to confuse people.

Violence

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, the word, must be modified and illustrated to be useful for discussion. In

this

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essay

violence

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against animals, plants, and inanimate objects will be distinguished from

violence

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against humans.

Violence

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, unmodified, will always mean direct

violence

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, actual bashing of people, and will be distinguished from the threat of

violence

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, as when laws are

passes

Suggestion

passed

with violent penalties attached.

Also

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distinguished will be economic

violence

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, as when economic activity leads to physical harm to humans,

such

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as starvation or disease. Other methods of categorizing

violence

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need to be distinguished,

such

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as

violent

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violent, self

self-

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defense

(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies

defence

against violent predation. The

ideology

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of

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nonviolence

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will from

this

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point on be distinguished from ordinary not-being violent by capitalizing it

thus

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:

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Nonviolence

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. Most people are not-violent most of the time. Even soldiers and policemen spend more time in a not-violent

state

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than actually committing violent acts. Most social-

change

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activists, including environmentalists, have little or no experience with inflicting

violence

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on other people. Yet the

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Nonviolence

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activists target social

change

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activists with their doctrine, rather than teaching it to those policemen, soldiers, politicians and businessmen who do occasionally practice

violence

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.

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Nonviolence

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claims to have found a method to bring

violence

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to an end. The fact that it has not worked at all so far has not deterred the adherents of

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Nonviolence

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from marching onward towards their millennium. If only more people would listen to us, our dreams would come true, they say.

On the other

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hand they

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hand, they

like to claim that non-

violence

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has a remarkable track-record of success, with the gold-

medalists

someone who has won a medal

medallists

of the

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Nonviolence

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Olympics usually being put forward as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

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Nonviolence

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ideology

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states that

violence

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begets

violence

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. Since the goal is a non-violent

society

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, (even if other goals are included

such

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as economic justice, national self-determination, etc.), only nonviolent actions can be used in struggles to

change

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society

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.

Thus

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one may argue (politely), publish, vote, and assemble in protest. At the extreme edge of

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Nonviolence

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ideology

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lies the Holy Grail: non-violent civil disobedience.

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Nonviolence

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has but one prescription for all social diseases. It prescribes Gandhi-brand aspirin for everything from a headache to terminal cancer. But the social diseases of the real

world

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are complex, not simple. To gain a proper perspective on what political tools are best used to cure which social diseases you need to be well-informed of the nature of

society

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and of the variety of political tools that are available. It should not surprise anyone that given the complex (and advanced) natures of our social diseases, a one-size fits all political solution is not likely to succeed. To put

this

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is less

colorful

having striking color

colourful

terms, to

change

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reality

Suggestion

the reality

you must know

reality

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. You cannot pretend that

aspects

Suggestion

aspect

of

reality

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do not exist just because there is nowhere to put them in your ideological box. It does not matter whether your

ideology

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is

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Nonviolence

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, or Marxism, or Free-Market Capitalism;

reality

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will do what it wants to do. So let us examine some aspects of

reality

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. The goal to keep in mind is the minimization of global

violence

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(the total amount of

violence

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against humans on earth. Preferably including economic

violence

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and even threats of

violence

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). The failure to oppose

violence

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encourages or allows

violence

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, and the effectiveness of

opposition

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directly correlates with the level of discouragement of

violence

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. But the

opposition

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needed to stop the rape of a woman may vary greatly according to circumstances (particularly, the personality and experience of the rapist).

Such

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situations can be only of metaphorical use in

analyzing

consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning

analysing

the

opposition

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needed to stop a sugar corporation from bribing presidents and congressmen to order the US Army to murder 2 million peasants in order to take their land (as happened when the US grabbed the Philippines in 1898). Since

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Nonviolence

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has only one solution to all problems, it can only offer degrees of Nonviolent action for any given situation. For rape I suppose you are supposed to Nonviolently interpose yourself between the rapist and the intended victim. If the rapist has a history of rapes, you can talk to him and tell him about how much better his life would be if he adopted

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Nonviolence

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as a way of living. For

war

Suggestion

the war

against

third

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world

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peasants you can Up the Level of

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Nonviolence

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. You can call for

Massive Nonviolent Protest

Suggestion

a Massive Nonviolent Protest

. You can sit in front of a Federal Building for a few minutes before being hauled away by the police, most probably being released after being given a ticket. I should point out here that I have chosen two examples that I know cause ordinary people and even people who believe in

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Nonviolence

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to question its effectiveness.

That is

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to make clear that

violence

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as an automatic solution to social problems is just as out of touch with

reality

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as

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Nonviolence

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. But I must emphasize that

violence

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is

counter-productive

tending to hinder the achievement of a goal

counterproductive

in most situations. Situations that are about to escalate into

violence

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can often be diffused by wise intervention, by talking or physically placing oneself between antagonists. In bar-room fights on TV usually once two people start fighting the entire bar crowd starts throwing chairs around, but in

reality

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in most bars friends of the drunken boxers pull them apart until they can calm down. At all levels of

society

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self-

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defense

(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies

defence

discourages aggression, and is a far better principle (when extended to the idea of community

defense

(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies

defence

and

defense

(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies

defence

of Mother Earth) to use as a starting point than

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Nonviolence

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. The normal interpretation of self and community

defense

(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies

defence

, arrived at after millennia of experimentation by almost all societies on earth, is that you can use as much

violence

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as is necessary to bring an end to the current attack. Of course,

this

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is a matter of judgement. It is

also

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a

favorite

something regarded with special favor or liking

favourite

plea of hypocrites. The Romans used

self-

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defense

(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies

defence

as a pretext for their village to conquer and rule a territory extending from England to Judea. The “American People” have self-defended themselves from the villages of Roanoke and Plymouth across

this

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continent to the Pacific and on to Hawaii and the Philippines.

Nevertheless

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,

self-

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defense

(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies

defence

is not only a right, but a duty. A community that refuses to defend itself against aggression encourages

further

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aggression. Under the rules of

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Nonviolence

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aggressors always win. There is nothing to stop them from marching around the

world

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, taking what they want, killing those who are inconvenient, and congratulating themselves.