"YOU PUT THE FIST IN PACIFIST" Miriam Toews
What an awesome quote for a teenager’s bedroom wall. And yet, not taking our freedom and rights for granted is something the so-called “developed world” has learnt in the last few years. A pandemic, a war a few kilometres away from the heart of Europe, an assault on the congress after the elections in USA, the Me Too, the Black Lives Matter and so the list goes on. Maybe we should consider putting this quote in our living rooms instead.
Life can be so different depending on where you happened to be born. Consider yourself lucky if you were born in most of the countries in the northern part of the globe. Nonetheless, even here, our society faces situations we can regard as unfair or rights that are not protected enough by our governments. The climate crisis, women’s bodily autonomy, housing crisis, animal rights, bank ruling, big fortunes tax system are among these and no doubt these have touched you in some way.
What can we do? Violence is never the answer, but neither is doing nothing. Many times, unfortunately, the legal instruments our democracies give us are not enough to protect or fight for our beliefs. It’s here where social movements appear. NGOs, community groups, debate and book clubs, independent media, and free thinkers of all sorts are the fist of the non-violent revolution. Culture is again the solution. Against oppression, education opens the door to freedom.
All these social movements act in different ways, from the most engaged activists to more individual ones that nourish free minds. Not everyone has to be a hero, but support to any extent is what makes things move. World rulers want us in many cases to remain docile and groupthink. Don’t let age transform you into a settler. Think for yourself and don’t hesitate to put your fist on the table if you disagree.
However, in places where social conditions are extreme, like dictatorships or where human rights are violated, these social movements can become radical flanks that lead to street riots or even stronger forms of violence. Is it justified? Absolutely not. Can we blame them? It’s questionable. How would you act if your family was in a life-threatening situation? What would you do if you were starving to death every single day? How would you react if your inner freedom was suddenly snatched away? Those are situations people from Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, DR Congo, again the list goes on, endure for years.
If we try to dissect these situations from the comfort of our couch, we see two options: adhere to Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance principles or join Che Guevara and his armed struggle ideas. Whatever option we choose, ethics are savagely replaced by a survival instinct. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs base are physiological needs followed by safety. Even if we agree violence is not the solution, we can’t naively think we wouldn’t use it in an extreme situation either.
To wrap up and shake up the rebel in you, here is another punk quote from the essay “Discourse of Voluntary Servitude”(1576) by Etienne de la Boetie: They rule today… because you obey.
Want more? you can read “The Good Terrorist” by the Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to Doris Lessing
