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animal rights campaigners jailed
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handofdave
handofdave
3515 posts

Re: animal rights campaigners jailed
Jan 23, 2009, 15:28
stray wrote:
handofdave wrote:

People rushing around without a head breaking things... I'm not dismissing that the anger is justified, I'm saying that the anger, if channeled with clarity, helps to both preserve the integrity of the movement and the respect of those outside it who's support may hinge on how they perceive the movement.


People don't have that clarity at the time. They may look back and say damn, what on earth was I thinking after the event, so ? Yes, non violence is preferable, but you have to understand why it arises sometime and seriously, you shouldn't be arguing to condemn it out of hand entirely.

Increasingly in these times non violent protest is becoming less and less sucessful, as a direct result of that people are becoming more isolated and more prone to violence as non-violent outlets for protest are becoming more ignored.


That's a pretty depressing analysis.

Perhaps I'm not explaining myself very well. I condemn how unfocused riots burn down neighborhoods and drive businesses away, bringing further pain to the very people who live there. I'm not condemning the rioters very human need to rage out... I'm saying that too often riots don't hurt the people they intend to hurt, but blow back upon the people who are being oppressed.

I don't know if there's much point to embracing violence if a movement is so isolated and fragmented it can't get it together enough to become a cohesive, effective force, tho.

Jumping threads a bit here, take the Palestinians as an example. Right now Hamas is declaring victory, but I don't know what that means in the context of so much destruction and death. They've not only taken massive damage (and inflicted almost none) with their random rocket attacks, but they still remain alone and at odds with the other Palestinian political groups. It's an odd definition of victory, to be sitting in rubble with few real friends in the world. Now that is isolation.

Certainly, Hamas was not ignored, but the sort of attention they've drawn upon themselves remains in question if measured according to what they set out to achieve and what was achieved. They certainly are no closer to exterminating the state of Israel or gaining more freedom for their civilian population.
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