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Forum Post: Is Violence The Answer

Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 15, 2011, 3:17 p.m. EST by WeWillOccupy (0)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

After hearing all these reports about how our movements people getting beat around on are we appraoching this right. I mean our people are getting arrested for doing nothing so you might as well give them a reason. I think war has already been declared on our movement, heard national guards are getting moved to NY city to help combat the problem.

28 Comments

28 Comments


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[-] 2 points by runitus (3) from Sacramento, CA 13 years ago

PEACEFUL PROTEST IS THE ANSWER We need to be specific who risk losing this opportunity. I believe a simple message like that listed below will suffice to cover all greviences as much as possible. Corps and Banks are not evil, they want to make money, but they control the politicians who are really the ones doing the evil.

  1. Get the money out of politics
  2. Corporations are not people
  3. Make it easy to vote
  4. Then VOTE out the people who are putting corporations and special interests before the people, those who would sacrifice our clean air and water and move our jobs overseas.
[-] 1 points by akibubba1 (3) 13 years ago

mostly agreed, but if corps are not people, then who is working for them to do thier bidding !?

[-] 1 points by mimthefree (192) from Biggar, Scotland 13 years ago

john lennon said: governments only know how to respond with violence. If you resort to violence, you are playing their game and you will inevitably lose. Fight them with peace and they are at a loss, they don't know what to do.

funny that he was shot dead. that seems to happen to most people who call for non-violence. What does that say about our society?

KILL PEACE!!!!

[-] 1 points by Space (79) 13 years ago

unfortunately, when all the economic shit hits the fan we are in for allot of violence, it's going to be war. I'm hoping that we are not there yet.

Best case scenario is that we have enough people wake up here in the US and take the painful steps to restore the Republic. We need to abolish the Fed, let congress control the currency, and put in some protectionist policies. Sure we are going to go through a period of high inflation and high unemployment, but we come out stronger, and Independent. OWS is doing a good job of making people think, no need to turn violent, someone else is going to start that.

Worst case scenario is that when the dust settles we have lost our sovereignty.

[-] 1 points by blacklisted4life (33) 13 years ago

Hypothetical situation:

Suppose the protesters maintain their composure and exercise exemplary restraint for now. Over the next few months, the movement swells in number but remains disorganized. The crowds of people in the city streets create significant disruptions to travel and local business. They also create sanitation hazards, and non-participating citizens of OWS begin to complain. The police/national guard/military begin to use violence against protestors - anything from batons and pepper spray to the newly introduced active denial system. The protestors still remain adamant, but refuse to commit violence. Now... let's say there are 50 or so deaths that result from police brutality. Lawsuits against state and federal law enforcement agencies are filed on the victims' behalf, but ignored by a dismissive court system and basically left in legal limbo. With increasing masses of people being beaten by the authorities, the City of New York has announced that the national guard will be called in to enforce curfews. Martial law is now a serious consideration. Now... under these circumstances, do you think that there will be violence? Or will the protestors give up and go home?

[-] 1 points by HPolloi (74) 13 years ago

No, Never, Not Once, Not Ever

[-] 1 points by JeffCallahan (216) 13 years ago

The Corporate media already lies and misleads on any little bit of coverage they give this movement. It's only a matter of time until the media starts spreading lies against this movement and those lies. Everyone here needs to watch the documentary about Chavez. The media clipped footage together to make it look like his people opened fire on his citizens. That never happened when your average American looks at media footage it never occurs to them to consider weather or not that footage was clipped together to tell a lye.

[-] 1 points by akibubba1 (3) 13 years ago

we can get ourselves into office in 2012,2016,etc...and make peaceful,wise,effective,intelligent change because we will hand-pick those who vow to NEVER lose sight of where they came from - it is all about understanding that WE are now in power and will never allow the atrocities of the past 30 years to happen again !

[-] 1 points by madeinusa (393) 13 years ago

It's Time to GET MONEY OUT of politics:

http://www.getmoneyout.com/

[-] 1 points by JeffCallahan (216) 13 years ago

I don't think it is. And I hope it never comes to that. However, it ways heavy on my mind that it took a great deal of violence to found this country. Hopefully the 1% will give in before it comes to that, but the ultra rich, and the politicians, feel entitled, they see the rest of us us as their slaves, we're trash to them they only keep us around to do the heavy lifting and with that mind set it's looks bleak.

[-] 1 points by anotherone773 (734) from Carlyle, IL 13 years ago

We are non violent. We do not condone violence in any form and kick those out that promote it as far as i know.

[-] 1 points by runitus (3) from Sacramento, CA 13 years ago

PEACEFUL PROTEST IS THE ANSWER We need to be specific who risk losing this opportunity. I believe a simple message like that listed below will suffice to cover all greviences as much as possible. Corps and Banks are not evil, they want to make money, but they control the politicians who are really the ones doing the evil.

  1. Get the money out of politics
  2. Corporations are not people
  3. Make it easy to vote
  4. Then VOTE out the people who are putting corporations and special interests before the people, those who would sacrifice our clean air and water and move our jobs overseas.
[-] 1 points by LOVEPEACE (199) 13 years ago

No. PEACE is the only solution. Peace is Prosperity

[-] 1 points by tr289 (916) from Chicago, IL 13 years ago

You can not outgun them. The only option is Peace. They want us to turn violent because It plays to their strength. They can easily call in the national Guard or just use the police to squash these protests, and they will if we get violent.

If we stay peaceful any action they take against us turns more people against them and more will support the Occupy movement.

[-] 1 points by akibubba1 (3) 13 years ago

smart thinking, but if the Guard,etc. actually start killing protestors, do we all just pull a"Ghandi" , or will we be forced into guerilla warfare to fight for what is right ? I love smart thinking, but HATE getting physically stepped on by morons - it seems to be a double-edged sword...

[-] 1 points by gawdoftruth (3698) from Santa Barbara, CA 13 years ago

if they start killing protesters, yes, we must act swiftly and absolutely to remove + kill the oligarchs. until then, we must behave with absolute restraint and take mere beatings. Such a war would have to be coordinated off the streets and not be a protest, but a simple assassination war.

[-] 1 points by tr289 (916) from Chicago, IL 13 years ago

The situation always dictates the response. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that violence becomes the only way. That being said, It's not now and wont be for a very long time. If they do kill a protester, that will turn millions against the government. If they kill lot's of protesters, that will turn the entire country against the government... So much so that they might not have any one to fight for them. Think about it, What will they do if our troops refuse to kill their Mothers, Fathers, Brothers and sisters ? Do you think our politicians will come out and fight ? Maybe the Rich ? lol

[-] 1 points by lancemonotone (12) from Pittsfield, MA 13 years ago

Violence is NOT the answer yet. Our non-violence in the face of intimidation will resound around the world. Responding with violence of our own will only paint the Occupation in a bad light and cast doubt on our motives. Please remember why you are here. Peace.

[-] 1 points by sudoname (1001) from Berkeley, CA 13 years ago

No, in fact, the movement puts down anyone who incites violence like this. This is a tenet of OWS. Any violence would be independent of OWS.

[-] 1 points by DCResident (70) 13 years ago

Violence discredits the movement. It gives MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, WSJ, NY Times, etc., an opportunity to run huge headline stories about the property destruction and violence committed by protesters. Instead of focusing on the thousands of peaceful protesters, they will focus on the handful of broken windows and spray-painted signs until the majority of Americans think the movement is comprised of nothing more than dangerous thugs.

That's exactly what happened in England's huge student protests a few months back. Tens of thousands were peaceful, but about 25 were destructive. And the British and America almost exclusively covered those 25 people.

Movements are all about perceptions and convincing passive observers to support your side. We would defeat ourselves by resorting to violence.

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[-] -2 points by NeoEconomist (19) 13 years ago

What violence? The police whould have used rubber bullets at the very least... There's no right to abusively occupy the streets, block the traffic and so on... If these lazy and filthy commies dare to become violent, real ammunition should be used...

[-] 1 points by sudoname (1001) from Berkeley, CA 13 years ago

What commies?