zlacker

I’ll just play the devil’s advocate, but when have peaceful protests ever helped the cause? Those are forgotten as soon as they are over.

>>asutek+(OP)
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gandhi-leads-civ... https://time.com/5101740/martin-luther-king-peaceful-protest...

>>asutek+(OP)
Indian independence? Martin Luther King?

>>asutek+(OP)
Poland, Gdansk, Lech Walesa

>>asutek+(OP)
Of all the civil rights leaders, I’d say people remember Martin Luther King Jr the best.

It’s probably also worth asking: when have violent protests ever helped the cause?

I think that the violence of the protests helped to get Derek Chauvin arrested. But I’m not sure that continued violence will help the broader movement.

>>jbay80+G
In both cases, the protestors were violently attacked over and over. Also, both Ghandi and MLK were murdered for their efforts.

>>jbay80+G
Ghandi is the face of that movement but was just the tip of what was a very bloody revolution. It is important that we think the movement was "non-violent" such that we can point to it to dissuade people from challenging the status quo in a material way.

>>ixtli+I2
Gandhi was also not a pacifist. He strongly believed in the right of self-defense.

>>jude-+z1
Yes, a peaceful protest can be violently attacked and still be a peaceful protest.

It's not required that the police be peaceful, only the protesters.

>>ixtli+I2
Would you say that his protests didn't change anything and were forgotten as soon as they were over?

>>quickl+x1
"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” "

MLK, Letter From a Birmingham Jail

>>throwa+ve
I actually agree with the protestors, not just in their goal but also in their methods thus far. Like I said in my earlier post, I think this helped get the police officer fired and arrested.

I hope this doesn’t get me labeled as “white” or “moderate” (I am neither).

>>jbay80+9d
And that is exactly why they were successful. When governments/police crack down on peaceful protests, it shines the light on the oppressor's behavior and creates a strong sympathetic reaction. That reaction is what evokes the change.

>>jbay80+nd
No, the history taught about ghandi carefully selects instances of "non-violence". I don't think ghandi is responsible for how we learn about ghandi in the west.

Just like MLK is regarded as "peaceful" when in fact he and others spoke quite a bit about the fact that there was never any response from white people unless property was attacked.