Ash writes: "The power of non-violent action is that it achieves change while refusing to empower the forces of oppression and injustice."
Martin Luther King Jr., center flanked by John Lewis to his right and Ralph D. Abernathy to his left march near Selma, Alabama on March 22, 1965. (photo: Anonymous/AP)
02 September 20
he power of non-violent action is that it achieves change while refusing to empower the forces of oppression and injustice. Oppression and injustice are manifestations of violence. Those who engage in non-violent action are effective when they do not, and because they do not, surrender to violence, thus becoming no better than those who perpetrate the oppression and injustice.
Right-wing provocateurs are going to Black Lives Matter rallies because they know that the rallies are becoming effective at bringing about meaningful change. That is something the American right seeks to stop. When peaceful protest turns violent, those who adhere to violent methods have won.
Kyle Rittenhouse has won a great victory, not because he killed two men with a gun, but because one of his supporters was then killed by an opposition member with a gun. At the moment a gun is used the greater purpose is abandoned.
What King Learned from Gandhi and Taught America
The core principle of non-violent action is to make injustice visible, to draw the oppressors and their tactics out of the shadows and into the light of day where all can see their true nature. This was Gandhi’s core principle. Dr. King learned this from Gandhi and used it to great effect during the Civil Rights Era.
Non-violent action is an incredibly powerful force, but it requires one thing above all else, discipline. Gandhi and King both well understood that they would have to suffer 1,000 blows without striking a single blow in return to succeed. They did suffer those blows and did not strike back, and in doing so they defeated enormous oppression and injustice.
Simply going aimlessly out into the street night after night creates a chaotic and unproductive atmosphere and opens the door for unforeseen events to undermine the movement’s objectives.
Both Gandhi and King chose and planned well-organized marches as the preferred method of action. A march of 100,000 peaceful protesters from Milwaukee to Kenosha would put tremendous pressure on the violent authorities in Kenosha. Supportive civic leaders would march in such an event.
Careful, purposeful organizing and discipline are the key to powerful, non-violent action.
Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
