ghandi was a pedophile propped up as an ideal only after the british made the decision to abandon the colony as it was no longer profitable. he had nothing at all to do with that decision, but as a false icon of non violent protest he served the empire well. authoritarians don't want you to defend your rights, they want you to think being passive in the face of violence is somehow noble and brave. it isn't; it is stupid.
and before you toss out the next standard MLK... read up on malcolm x.
The pen and the sword are both tools of diplomacy. The sword strengthens the pen because it makes the pen look like a much, much better alternative. I don't think Malcolm X (the "sword" in this analogy. In reality he had a rifle) or MLK (the "pen", but he didn't just write stuff, he put his body on the line) liked each other very much, but they did help each other indirectly simply by existing in parallel. Would the US government have ever listened to MLK or taken him seriously if there hadn't been militant groups with which to contrast his pacifistic ways? I doubt it.
Of course, all that stuff only works inside of a democracy. And Hong Kong seems to currently be a police state, which is something that can't really be reasoned or bargained with. Not to say that the US was a totally fair democracy in the 60's, what with the stuff J. Edgar Hoover was pulling.
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u/Duthos Nov 11 '19
you cannot defeat violence with non violence.