SOCI370/King

The Power of Nonviolent Action - Martin Luther King Jr.

Paragraphs 1-4: Lili Wentworth

This passage by Martin Luther King Jr. is a first person description of how he came to understand nonviolent action as a method of action during the Civil Rights Movement from Gandhi and Niebuhr. He describes how prior to hearing about Gandhi message of nonviolence, he'd always followed the Christian message of turning the other cheek and loving your enemies, but hadn't understood that it could be applied to a collective and national scale as opposed to an individual one. If we tie this to Marx, we could think of nonviolent action as a sort of consciousness that when large enough and strong enough, can lead to an intellectual revolution. King also introduced Gandhi's concept of satyagraha, meaning love force and truth leading to force. In a capitalist society, according to Marx, the bourgeoisie takes control over the production and materials of production and therefore the creativity of the proletariat. They cease to have a mind of their own and power over their own thought. In the same way that class consciousness permits them to regain their creativity and agency, satyagraha can also be seen as a way of regaining one's agency in the face of conflict and domination by the White population.

This idea of nonviolent action can be applied to contemporary society when we think of the Dakota Access Pipeline and how demonstrators from across the United States (and the world) have gathered together to protest its construction. Through prayer and solidarity, they demand change. According to King, nonviolent action is one of the most important tools that could be used by oppressed groups. An interesting thing to think about and elaborate on is the effectiveness of nonviolent action on a larger scale. We know from reading the passage by Newton and Seale that nonviolence as a method of action during the Civil Rights Movement was beginning to lose its appeal and it was seen as less effective than using violence in some cases. In what ways would nonviolent action be more and less effective? Have modern tools like social media made nonviolent action easier?

Paragraphs 7-8: Madeleine Weir

Societies in monologue: The limits of violence In Martin Luther King's discussion of non-violence he addresses why he believes that violence is an unfruitful way to achieve social change. King states that "violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral" and that it "destroys communities and makes brotherhood impossible...leav[ing] society in monologue rather than dialogue" (p. 274, col. 1, par. 2). Here King draws our attention to the ways in which violent resistance and attempts at social revolution continue to foster misunderstanding between groups and focuses on destroying rather than converting oppressors. King argues that "success" with such an approach will lead to bitter and brutal social relations whereby nothing is improved, only shifted from one form of domination to another.

I believe that a version of this process whereby societies are left in monologue rather than dialogue can be seen in the current Israeli and Palestinian relations. The Jewish people who relocated from Europe to present day Israel had been subject to abhorrent forms of religious and racial discrimination, however, their overall treatment of the Palestinian population has also followed the path of violence and segregation. Palestinians have been forced off their lands and into patrolled areas with significantly less access to resources than the Israeli population. When I was in Israel two years ago I found that the dialogue surrounding Israeli-Palestinian relations was almost entirely a monologue. The majority of the Israeli youth who I met had been presented with a certain vision of their situation during their army service and did not seek or allow space for the Palestinian view of what was occurring. Although I am by no means condemning the Israeli population, I understand that there are a great deal of serious factors that they have to contend with, I do believe that their relations with their Palestinian neighbours is an example of an attempt at justice, to claim a homeland after dispersion and genocide, that has lead to the eradication of opportunities to foster community and understanding between the two peoples.

Paragraphs 9-10: Diana Choi

King discusses that in order to search for freedom, nonviolence resistance is a promising method. It is a way to make peace between the two opponents, while maintaining their moral standards. Nonviolent resistance is the best of both worlds because violence is not needed yet, it is still viable method of demonstrating opposition. King suggests that Blacks continue with this method in order to overthrow the discriminatory system and work harmoniously as a citizen. King highlights that it is crucial that they do not show any signs of subordination, malevolence and untruthfulness to be able to gain equality.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a "I Have a Dream" speech to call for an end to racism in hopes to gain civil and economic rights and advocate racial harmony. This is an example of nonviolent resistance by making political and societal changes through the power of words - It is done not to humiliate the opponents, but rather reconciling with the community.

Comment by Rita(Qiao) Li: In my opinion, I believe the nonviolence resistance is somehow better than the violent one. I think if two opponents think the violent way would solve the problems between them or provide one of them with more power, a bigger and more serious issue would then come out. In this way, their problems will not be solved but rather being intensified. In order for Blacks to overthrow the discriminatory system, the key is to gain equal rights, not to "show their power" and harm other people (Whites). They must work out a way to virtually integrate into the society and let other people recognize them. Also, I think Diana gave a great example of how nonviolence method works. It is more efficient in this way for Blacks to have what they want with more moral-standardized method.

Paragraphs 11-13: Chantelle Ahn

King talks about the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance in "enlist[ing] all men of good will in his struggle for equality." (274) Since the ultimate goal of the resistance movement is to bring equality and justice for all members within the society--both for whites and blacks--, not to create more tension or hostility between the two groups, King discusses the importance of correctly and tactfully identifying the real problem. In order to do so, King emphasizes the critical importance to realize that the struggle is not between people but between justice and injustice and that the aim of the struggle is not the oppressors but the oppression itself. Another interesting point King makes is that nonviolent resistance especially proves its potency when met with violence from the opposition as "public support is magnetically attracted to the advocates of nonviolence, while those who employ violence are literally disarmed by overwhelming sentiment against their stand." (274) By understanding the characteristic of the general public and by cleverly borrowing the power of the public support, advocates of nonviolence can reach closer to their goal without shedding any blood in the process.

The Black Lives Matter movement is a good example demonstrating the power and effectiveness of nonviolent resistance in contemporary society. Considering that the movement really started to gain its momentum following unnecessary violence employed by the U.S. police force towards African-Americans, a powerful but nonviolent resistance seems to gain the public support by differentiating the advocates of nonviolence from the perpetrators of violence and injustice. In a sense, the nonviolent attitude and means implemented seem to well-represent the ultimate society of peace, justice, and equality that the participants of the movement are striving for.

Paragraphs 14-17: Kami Tsukahara

In this part of the passage, King continues to argue the importance of nonviolent-ness in order for the people of color to achieve their goal of diminishing segregation. Here he says “mass and militant” is key since the “Negros” have gained enough power (political, economical, physical etc) that the White community fear them repaying for the past. Violence will just lead the public to support the non-violence advocates and further separate the groups. The “Negros” must pursue their goal in a way that will not stimulate the white and ask them to understand that all they want is “justice for both himself[themselves], and the white men”. With this propaganda of non-violence, King says we can maintain discipline within a society. Nonviolence can work together with law to keep peace.

A contemporary social issue that ties into this idea is the protesting of the Dakota access pipeline in North Dakota. People were protesting against this in order to protect their health. Because the police were armed and media broadcasted the protest to be peaceful activists gained lots of support from the public. Actress Shailene Woodley's arrest also spread the news. However, different from the “Negros” and “the white community” here the two groups are the activists and the police/law. So there is a natural power relationship that comes from how our society’s structured. Therefore, we cannot simply say that for these two groups to come to an agreement the police should put down their weapons. This is where balancing the use of weaponry becomes important. Especially since media broadcasts these issues and influences the opinions of a huge number of people. As King says, advocating non-violence is a way to gain public’s support and achieve the goal.

Paragraphs 18-19: Diana Choi

King emphasizes that nonviolent resistance is a way of convincing the opponent in order to bring changes against the unjust law system. He argues that we should resist injustice through steadfast nonviolence. Nonviolent resistance is a symbolic act where protest is done peacefully through verbal persuasion because the ultimate goal is to create racial harmony amongst communities. He states that they are wiling to suffer and risk their lives until they experience a reconciliation between men of different races and classes.

In relation to current social phenomena, an art installation called "Walking With Our Sisters" illustrates a form of peaceful protest. It is art installations across the streets of USA and Canada to represent missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada. The art installations encompass pairs of vamps, each representing one missing and murdered indigenous women. It is a way to paying respect to their lives and existence on Earth, as well as to raise awareness that Aboriginal women have been battling with negative stereotypes (e.g. uneducated, erotic, sexualized etc.). First Nations women are exposed to sexual and violent threats as a result of these stereotypes and such peaceful protest and art installation was created to gain human rights. As King emphasizes, this form of nonviolent resistance does not create any further tension, but rather borrow the power of public support to raise awareness of human rights of First Nations women.

Comment: King is widely celebrated for his insightful ideas, but it's still the case that his insights are vastly underrated. How often do people remember that love is the answer? Being the peacemaker that I am, I feel compelled to support these insights. I think one way to really absorb King's insights is through the practice of self-reflection. So I may ask myself: Why is it that sometimes I act as if I don't know, understand or believe King's insights? To what extent am I not ready to embody them? Sometimes I get a little upset when I think that someone is being rude to me. Perhaps the answer lies in remembering that that person is expressing an unmet need, albeit somewhat tragically, and then I myself often express my needs through tragic means as well. Perhaps this person is in some kind of pain. And if I offered empathy they may be more likely to offer it back to me. But in this case I am remaining engaged. I am not backing down or running away. Except I do run away sometimes. But running away isn't King's answer. Why am I not always ready to embody King's insights? Maybe it's a kind of skill that requires practice and development and which eventually leads to mastery. Sometimes I run away because I need to process my own thoughts and emotions because I want to decide on what the best thing to say is, what the best response for me to put out there is. So if I run away but I return then I can still put King's insights to use. We can also reflect on King's insights as they pertain to group conflict. I think King's insights are crucial because they remind us that without non-violent resistence we merely increase the amount of violence in the world. I like the way this insight is echoed by Charles Eisenstein:

"No doubt, most hard-core activists have mixed motives of genuine service and self-righteousness both. To the extent that the latter motive is present, the results will reflect it. You will achieve your goal—to look good and be right and make your opponents look evil. And you will increase the amount of hate in the world. Your sympathizers will hate and rage against the evildoers. I suppose the unstated hope is that if this rage builds up enough, we will all rise up and topple the elites. But what will we create in their stead, suffused as we are with self-righteousness and the ideology of war?"

-Jose