The Good News: Nonviolent Revolutions are usually more successful than Violent Ones

[SamAdams]

[mesyn191]

Re: The Good News: Nonviolent Revolutions are usually more successful than Violent Ones

Would love for a nonviolent revolution to work, but I doubt it will.

If you've seen how even non violent protests that are anti establishment are handled, and the new "low lethality" weapons that are employed by the police, I'd think you'd be pretty pessimistic too. The people in charge learned a lot since Kent State and probably won't shoot people in the street anymore...but beat people near to death, gas them, shoot them with baton or bag bullets? Sure they'll do all that and worse and most won't bat an eye since no one got killed right?




Stuff like that happens all the time in the US but it hardly ever gets any real news play and most people just say "well they must've been doing something wrong". The police and powers that be are most always assumed to be in the right. Note, these are poll results concerning rioters but with judicious use of agents provocetuer any non violent protest can easily be turned into a riot or least close enough to one where it would be presented as such on the news. The US government has quite the history of doing this both in decades past and recently too.

[bpr]

Re: The Good News: Nonviolent Revolutions are usually more successful than Violent Ones

...The people in charge learned a lot since Kent State and probably won't shoot people in the street anymore...

Wow, never thought of it this way. I hope you're wrong and that there's a less bloody way to make change happen than killing four or even one.

[SamAdams]

Re: The Good News: Nonviolent Revolutions are usually more successful than Violent Ones

Would love for a nonviolent revolution to work, but I doubt it will.

If you've seen how even non violent protests that are anti establishment are handled, and the new "low lethality" weapons that are employed by the police, I'd think you'd be pretty pessimistic too. The people in charge learned a lot since Kent State and probably won't shoot people in the street anymore...but beat people near to death, gas them, shoot them with baton or bag bullets? Sure they'll do all that and worse and most won't bat an eye since no one got killed right?




Stuff like that happens all the time in the US but it hardly ever gets any real news play and most people just say "well they must've been doing something wrong". The police and powers that be are most always assumed to be in the right. Note, these are poll results concerning rioters but with judicious use of agents provocetuer any non violent protest can easily be turned into a riot or least close enough to one where it would be presented as such on the news. The US government has quite the history of doing this both in decades past and recently too.

Perhaps. However the study suggests that using non lethal means to combat protest will only embolden protesters and their supporters in the long run. People get much more brave when they only risk bruising.

[shiny!]

Re: The Good News: Nonviolent Revolutions are usually more successful than Violent Ones

Perhaps. However the study suggests that using non lethal means to combat protest will only embolden protesters and their supporters in the long run. People get much more brave when they only risk bruising.

Police are also emboldened when using plastic bullets. I read a study many years ago about the use of "non-lethal" plastic bullets for riot control, that showed that police armed with "non-lethal" plastic bullets are more likely to fire upon civilians than police armed with real bullets.

Plastic bullets cause wounds similar to wounds caused by civilian handguns. Here's a link to a paper with surgical and ballistic data about plastic bullets.

Gunshot injuries with plastic bullets: http://www.ippnw.org/pdf/mgs/psr-2-1-schnitzer.pdf

[mesyn191]

Re: The Good News: Nonviolent Revolutions are usually more successful than Violent Ones

Yes the police are more likely to use non or low lethals once they have them as an "off" button for any situation they don't like.