Is Violence an Acceptable Political Tool?

The use of violence as a political tool is highly controversial. A persisting tradition of non-violence, particularly in environmental movements, sees violence of any sort as undermining, reducing their legitimacy and ability to effect change. In contrast, sabotage as a form of direct action has been used by a variety of historical social movements, such as the suffragettes and civil rights movements. And violence isn’t always a choice, sometimes it is means of surviving and resisting the existing social construct, which routinely enacts violence upon the people living within it.

Further reading suggestions from contributors:

Theo Stephenson: Sakine Cansiz - My Whole Life was a Struggle

George Jackson - Blood In My Eye

Sarah Hall - The Carhullan Army (fiction)

Malcolm X - Ballot or Bullet (speech) - can be found on YouTube

Frantz Fanon - The Wretched of the Earth/Concerning Violence (2014 film)

Commander Arian (2018 film)