"So, how do we change the world? Persuasion is for liberals, so I’ll leave that to them. Political action is ultimately about force. There’s a continuum of tactics between nonviolence and violence, but they all start with the understanding that institutions only change when pressure is applied. In the immortal words of Frederick Douglas, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.” There’s an underlying truth here as well, that doesn’t get articulated as often as it should.
I learned this from Gene Sharp’s work, especially The Politics of Nonviolent Action, which every activist should immediately, run don’t walk, read. His books are profoundly important. His ideas have been used in liberation struggles all over the world, from South Africa to Eastern Europe. He points out that power depends on obedience, and we don’t have to obey. The moment the oppressed withdraw our consent, the powerful are left with nothing. Sharp identifies a range of tactical approaches, but they break down into two categories: acts of omission and acts of commission. Omission includes things like boycotts, strikes, non-participation in illegitimate governments. Acts of commission would include sit-ins, obstructions, and occupations like the forest defense elves in the trees. But either way, nonviolent action is an attempt to coerce an institution that holds power to change.
There’s a tremendous misconception, particularly in the USA, that nonviolent action is about somehow trying to educate or convert those in power. It’s not. That’s pacifism, not nonviolent action. I mean, does anybody really think that the owners of the bus company in Montgomery, Alabama had a sudden epiphany? We’ve been so terrible to Black people, oh my god, segregation must end! Of course not. The boycott brought them to their knees. There may or may not have been individuals whose consciences were awakened, but that wasn’t the point. People withheld their economic power until the institution—in this case, the bus company—caved in.
I think this is so important because the main divide isn’t between violence and nonviolence. It’s between action and inaction. Properly understood, both militancy and nonviolence are direct confrontations with power, confrontations backed by the threat of force. Both strategies require planning, discipline, and sacrifice. Both kinds of activism will bring the full weight of the wrath of the powerful down upon the actionists. The moment you’re successful, the moment power is threatened, you will pay, sometimes with your lives. The divergence is that proponents of nonviolence chose tactics that don’t physically harm people.
The left in this country has come completely unhitched from any notion of actually being effective. Activism has turned into one big group therapy session. It doesn’t matter what we accomplish—what matters is how we feel about it. The goal of the action isn’t to change the material balance of power, it’s to feel “empowered”. For fuck’s sake, who gives a shit how I feel. Our planet is dying. And radicals are just as guilty of what I call “emotional activism.” It may feel good to smash that Starbucks window, but does it actually do any good? I’m speaking here as someone who’s smashed my share of windows. This rerouting of the goal from political change to inner change is the reaction of both a spoiled, self-absorbed people, and the utterly desperate, desperate to do something, anything.
What any movement needs is an effective strategy. That means identifying two things: where is power weak and where are you strong? The overlap is where you strike. One problem with nonviolence is that it depends on huge numbers of people to be effective. Rosa Parks on her own ended up in jail. Rosa Parks plus the whole Black community of Montgomery ended segregation on the public transportation system. Without a mass movement, the technique doesn’t work.
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