Forum Post: The members of the movement are smart and have tremendous resolve. We know that, among other things, we are engaged in a battle for the hearts and minds of the American people and proven non-violent direct action tactics are our best weapon. Here's why..
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 27, 2011, 6:52 a.m. EST by therising
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Many people are predicting the movement will turn violent. They're wrong. People who say this underestimate our resolve and our intelligence.
We will remain non-violent. That is where our power is and we know it. We didn't invent this. We are following it because we know forceful provocative non-violent non-resistance works. These are proven tactics. King, Gandhi, Gene Sharp and others have all pointed the way and we are following their tactics. We know Gandhi beat the British wearing simple robes and he and his supporters had no weapons. We know King and his supporters won civil rights for millions using active non-violent resistance.
It is interesting that a few folks are defending the right of the 1% to order the police to go into a park with violence against peaceful protesters. Remember, the police shot a marine (someone who'd done 2 tours in Iraq) in the head with a tear gas cylinder giving him a fractured skull. While a dozen young people came to his aid, the police fired projectiles and tear gas at them. See this video and it's plain as day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZLyUK0t0vQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player .
A few are defending the fact that the Oakland police fired tear has canisters at a disabled man in a wheelchair. It's indefensible. And the 1% made a huge tactical error with all this violence on their part against peaceful protester in a park.. 40 - 60% of the American public supported the movement before this tragedy. Now the American public will support the movement even more.
The 1% ordered the police to come into the park full of peaceful protesters with violence because they want the protesters to become violent. It didn't work. We know that American people will be turned off by violence and we know that this is a clear battle for the hearts and minds of the American public. The 1% are slowly losing their grip on these hearts and minds and the movement is winning hearts an minds. You will see the 1% try like heck now to get the 99% to get violent. But we won't go for it. We won't take the bait.
We're in this to win it non-violently. We won't take the bait.
Bongo Jerry, Rastafarian poet, explains why we will prevail:
"Sooner or later but mus' the dam going to bus' And every person will break out Who will stop them? The force? What force can stop a river of people who know their course?"
This is a struggle OWS cannot win with violence of any sort. It is simple: the opponents have all the control over violent acts. The system in control of the populace is nearly indestructible via violent measures because government has been planning for these events for a long time. But that does not mean it cannot be brought down. What is required is a change in tactics. And that is something the populace can do quickly and government cannot. Historically the purpose of a violent revolution was to stop the abuse coming from those in power. That abuse can still be stopped, but not by violent means. What is necessary is to understand what maintains the system in place. First and foremost is Fear and that eliminates many people from doing anything except protesting in the streets. However, those same people are capable of using passive aggressive behavior such as joining a Boycott of credit card purchases. A 24 hour moratorium across the nation on credit purchases will demonstrate that the populace is not without power. A one week moratorium well create havoc for the banking system which funds all of government. A non ending moratorium on credit card purchases will collapse the entire system in less than a month.
It's time to rise up. Non-violently. We need to replace every protester who is sent to jail with.2 more protesting non-violently in the street.
What force can stop a river of people who know their course?
Rise and shine
They will plant agents just like they did to get the Citibank patrons arrested. Stay vigilant, my friends. Here's a link speaking of the effectiveness of nonviolent protest. It's a bit wordy but worth the read: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/16/revolution_u?page=full
The people united and nonviolent can never be defeated.
Once we the 99% realize that we have more things in common than we have separating us, we will be able to make decisions from a position of unified power rather than demands from a position of divided weakness.
Rise up!
Let's roll.... nonviolently.
we can have a non violent revolution in under two months if we just pull together some real organization and occupy pulls its head out of its ass.
otherwise it will fail over lack of organization.
I have been active here since the very beginning, and since the very beginning I have been trying to make some core points. These points clearly have not been digested or fully understood by the mob, and so I'm going to try to make a further attempt here again.
For these reasons, I beg of you to please immediately join me on the wiki. We need to have all of these details and all of these ideas put together in an organized fashion, rather than posted in a long scrawl which will never be read.
http://occupythiswiki.org/wiki/THE_99%25_POLITICAL_PARTY
http://occupythiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.followthemoney.org/?gclid=CMbY87bB-qsCFUPt7Qod9HE8mQ
http://maplight.org/us-congress/guide/data/money?9gtype=search&9gkw=list%20of%20campaign%20donations&9gad=6213192521.1&9gag=1786513361&gclid=CP61oYbB-qsCFQFZ7AodcTF0jw
http://www.opensecrets.org/
http://occupywallst.org/forum/our-new-wiki/
http://occupywallst.org/forum/non-violence-evolution-by-paradigm-shift/
Rise and shine.
Great post! Absolutely true.
Every act of police brutality will go viral and only continue to build the momentum of OWS - more Americans will be won over to the movement as they see the protestors being nonviolent, expressing their first amendment rights, and then they see police brutalizing them.
Hi Therising, Goodpost. Best Regards, Nevada
Hope you're doing well
Hi therising, Doing well. Hope same for you.
Rise and shine!
Let's make our reaction massive, forceful, tactical, beautiful and non-violent. Let's not do what U.S. did reflexively after 9/11 when we squandered the good will of the world. They are behind us now. Let's honor that with non-violent direct action. Forceful but non-violent.
Watch for saboteurs who will try to incite violence. We need to practice for when this occurs (we can't stop it but we can control our reaction). Best course of action if saboteur starts using violence is to sit down immediately wherever you are and calmly but loudly say " This person is not part of our group. We are non-violent. Then the image that night on the nightly news is of this line guy standing there looking ridiculous. The key is practicing it. Understanding it is not enough. We need to develop the habit so it kicks in automatically when emotions run high.
Well said as usual :)