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If the model is that nonviolent protest is always effective if we cross a certain threshold, but that every citizen of Hong Kong could be in the streets without
by maxbond 4y ago
If the model is that nonviolent protest is always effective if we cross a certain threshold, but that every citizen of Hong Kong could be in the streets without crossing that threshold, this model is meaningless.
Nonviolent protests are critical and can absolutely bring about change, but it is a brutal and drawn out process and not some kind of magic bullet.
- s1artibartfast 4y agoBy 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.
- maxbond 4y agoI 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.