What's the breaking point?

[alonso ramoran]

The bend toward justice may be agonizingly slow, but non-violence is still the correct path forward.

A convenient truth regurgitated by the capitalist class. Why on earth would they preach to the American population through films and books and whatnot that George Jackson’s way was the way to a better world? It works much better to the advantage of the capitalist class to say it is actually morally correct to peacefully protest, to wait for change and simply vote for the right candidates while they plunder the earth and exploit the people.

You sound like someone who holds some amount of power in our society, so it would make sense that you’d be saying nonviolence is the correct way to enact change. If I'm wrong and you’re not someone with any power that was earned via the violence of your forebears, I can still understand why you’d think that nonviolence is the way. Violence only begets more violence. It’s only an endless cycle and we should simply stop being violent. I understand. I used to believe wholeheartedly that this was true in all cases no matter what.

Today though my position on violence isn’t one of being reckless and seeking it in every situation where there is opposition, but recognizing it’s utility in the fight for liberation, just as nonviolent tactics are useful. Guerrilla warfare and building free clinics are both violent and nonviolent methods for building revolution, but they’re both equally necessary. You're free to think that the violent methods discredit the nonviolent methods, but if that's the case you must be consistent. Your nonviolent ways of going with the system and trusting that it will "bend towards justice" in the long run is discredited by the violence of institutions like the military, assuming you come from a Western country.

I personally don't care if one method discredits the other because it's violent. I only pay attention to the goals of these methods. The goal of one is to serve capital, the other is to serve the people.