Comment by s1artibartfast
3 years ago
By that same metric, the same holds true for violent protests.
Some protests are doomed regardless of if they are violent or not. Some can only succeed if they are violent, some can only succeed if they are nonviolent.
I am not aware of any successful violent protests. I know of some violent revolutions, but if you go there, you better make sure you can actually compete with the opposition.
I must have expressed myself badly. I believe that, if you're engaged in a violent revolution, you have already failed; you will recapitulate the status quo, should you gain control of society. This is why I described nonviolent protest as critical. When I said the process was brutal, it was because nonviolent movements will be opposed brutally, not because brutality is any sort of virtue.
I was making a more nuanced point about this particular conversation, perhaps one that didn't really need to be made.