Political
Violence
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Amritsar, India, April 13, 1919:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8gw
gZPIi8E
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Syria, 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CjK
LAa484A
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“The Warsaw Song”
Anthem of Russian revolutionaries, 1917 (listen to audio)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2UlNtNU-Tc
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“Hostile storms are raging over our heads.
Dark forces are viciously oppressing us.
We have engaged our enemies in a fateful battle,
And our destinies are not to be known.
But we shall raise, proudly and bravely,
The banner of the struggle for the workers’ cause
The banner of the great struggle of all nations
For a better world, for sacred freedom!
Refrain
Onward to bloody battle, holy and righteous!
March, march onward, working people!”
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“We hate the tyrants’ crowns.
We will break the chains holding the suffering people.
We will redden the thrones, covered with the people’s blood,
With the blood of our enemies.
Death without mercy to all tyrants!
To all parasites feeding off the working masses!
Vengeful death to all plutocratic rulers!
The glorious hour of victory is near!
Refrain
Onward to bloody battle, holy and righteous!
March, march onward, working people!”
“A stone is a worker’s weapon”, by Russian sculptor A. Shadr
Russia,
1905:
Mutuny on
the
battleship
“Potemkin”
Armed citizen militia replaces the police in the Russian revolution of 1917
Chinese Communist poster from the 1950s: Mao Zedong calling for revolutionary war
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“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure.”
 Thomas Jefferson
“Violence is the midwife of history.”
 Karl Marx
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Political violence is the use of force for political ends
Force is one of the tools of power
People use force in:
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Extreme means
Justifications of political violence
Claiming the right to use force – in the name of:
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Exercise of power
Struggle for power
Survival, self-defence
Order
Justice
Freedom
Possession of resources (land, water, people, etc.)?
Access to markets?
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Violence is abhorrent
But can there be politics without violence?
Exercise of power
 The state has a legitimate monopoly on the use of force
 The use of force is supposed to be regulated by law
 Lawful use of force
 Unlawful use of force
 How precise is the distinction?
 Who defines it?
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Those in power have advantages in defining when they
may lawfully use force – internally or externally
 Capturing and punishing criminals – those who violate
the rights of others
 Protecting the existing order
 Defending the country from aggression
 Attacking other countries
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Each of these actions of a state is a matter of contestation
Those in power may be wrong on any of these issues from
the point of view of those who are out of power
Which is uppermost:
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the state’s monopoly on the use of force?
or the existing constitution?
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Political regimes differ in the degree to which they resort to
violence
Democracy is supposed to require the least amount of
violence
Totalitarian regimes are defined by their ready resort to
state terror – they are terrorist regimes
Most politics today is between those extremes:
 Violence as a last resort
 Non-violent means of social control predominate
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Use of force in international relations
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Imperialism, aggression
Self-defence, wars of national liberation
Legitimation
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Having the power to use force
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vs.
Having the right to use force
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What about nuclear weapons?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vYZFhldDM&feature=fvwrel
There are 25,000 nuclear weapons in the world today
Most of them are in the hands of democratic states
They can be used by the order of a president – with
devastating consequences
Whatever the political rationale, should any government be
allowed to possess - and use - such destructive power?
Struggle for power
 Use of force in politics by those out of power is outlawed
 The maximum tolerance of dissent and opposition by the
state: allowing non-violent struggles form power
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Rationalizations of the use of force against the state:
 Struggle for national independence
 Resistance to the use of force by the state
 Struggle for changes in state policy
 Struggle for reorganization of the state
 Struggle for political democracy
 Struggle for social change
REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE
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Why use violent means as a tool in these struggles? Why
not use peaceful means?
Answers usually given:
 Peaceful means may not be available
 Peaceful means may be available, but not effective
Why not effective?
 One may not have enough support in society
 The existing political rules may be rigged in favour of the
status quo
 One may despise peaceful means and glorify political
violence
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Civil violence: use of force by groups of citizens against
each other
 Communal, ethnic, religious, political
The state is supposed to prevent it from happening
But it may be unable – or unwilling to do so
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What does historical experience suggest?
Use of force is a legal prerogative of the state, but it can be
counterproductive
Use of force by citizens against the state may be justified in
extreme circumstances, but even when it can be morally
justified, it can be counterproductive, too
The Communist experience
 Revolutionary dictatorship, terror against opposition
 Violations of human rights
 Self-perpetuating rule by the bureaucracy
The end does not justify the means
Mahatma
Gandhi
(1869-1948),
leader of the
movement for
India’s
independence
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Gandhi on Non-Violence
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“The first principle of non-violence is the non-compliance with
everything that is humiliating.”
“Mankind has to get out of violence only through non-violence.
Hatred can be overcome only by love. Counter-hatred only
increases the surface as well as the depth of hatred.”
“Human dignity is best preserved not by developing the
capacity to deal destruction but by refusing to retaliate. If it is
possible to train millions in the black art of violence, which is
the law of the Beast, it is more possible to train them in the
white art of non-violence, which is the law of regenerate man.”
“The power at the disposal of a non-violent person is always
greater than he would have if he were violent.”
“There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence.”
“So long as one wants to retain one's sword, one has not
attained complete fearlessness.”
1930: Gandhi leads a non-violent march to protest British salt monopoly
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Buying a gun in Japan:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFb5Qgrn9ns
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The surprising decline of violence – Steven Pinker:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/07/21/steven-pinker-on-thedecline-of-violence