violence / revolution
Fantasies of political violence are a mistake, in the sense that they are not even advantageous from the perspective of those who hold them. They reflect a likely evolutionary mismatch between our psychological architecture and the modern environment in which we live.
The delusion of political violence
Regimes don’t fall by themselves, and bullies never respond to reason. They can only be defeated by people, events and circumstances they have lost control over.
Once physical elimination is off the table, you still have to share the society you live in with the people you committed violence against. Political violence is typically not the end of a conflict but the start of more tension and violence.
The delusion of political violence
The time to call for nonviolence is when the violence is systemic: when it is slow, quiet, and legal. Waiting until people riot or take up arms to demand “peace” is a luxury of those who were never being harmed in the first place.
The Violence Before the Violence
unterschlägt komplett, dass eine Revolution auch eine Verbesserung des Status Quo bedeuten kann - Wieso wagen wir es nicht, eine bessere Zukunft zu imaginieren?!?!?! Wir haben KEINE Anhaltspunkte dafür, ODER? Ich denke für eine erfolgreiche Revolution ist eine VISION nötig, sonst wird das System immer in alte dysfunktionale Strukturen zurückfallen
We can't change the world by focusing only on dismantling, we have to really build up the alternative and show that it can work in a different way, and radicalize people, not through convincing them of the rightness of an ideology, but through their lived experience of true participation, of the collective power of livelihood in a non-capitalist... See more
Divya Siddarth • Building Capacity for Exit to Community
While disagreements can be deep and fierce, looking for a minimal common ground and peaceful ways to settle conflicts is likely more valuable in the long term.
The delusion of political violence
If we want to steer our civilization on another course, though, it’s not enough to make a few incremental improvements here and there. We need to take a long, hard look at the faulty ideas that have brought us to this place and reimagine them. We need a new worldview – one that is based on sturdy foundations.
Jeremy Lent • The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find our Place in the Universe
To say “violence has no place in politics” while ignoring systemic harm is to defend the status quo, not peace. True nonviolence would mean dismantling the conditions that make desperate, explosive violence seem like the only option left.