Why non-violence is a superior, effective tool for political change

Non-violent protests seem to be erupting all over the place. Martin Luther King would be happy. So would Mahatma Gandhi. In Russia in the eastern city of Khabarovsk marchers each Sunday for the last three months have been protesting the arrest of their governor. In Belarus even larger numbers protesting the recent manipulated presidential election are still marching every weekend. In the United Kingdom the anti-Brexit marches last year were mammoth. Also that year and this, Extinction Rebellion, sparked in part by the protests of the Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, are protesting laggardness on countering climate change and demanding the preservation of the environment. They have inspired many people to take the issues more seriously. In Hong Kong for months demonstrators kept at it at great danger to themselves- leaders were imprisoned and many beaten. At the moment it looks as if they have been defeated since China forced the authorities to introduce and implement repressive legislation. But the mood of resistance hasn’t changed and now Beijing knows it’s ruling over a hot underground of feeling and unless it wants to see Hong Kong’s role as Asia’s premier financial centre undermined it can’t go much further- it is interesting to see that only one person has so far been put on trial because of the new security law. Maybe China has gone about as far as it judges expedient. In the US, Black Lives Matter has organised hundreds of demonstrations. There has been violence on the fringes, but BLM organisers have been able to dampen these down, persuading most of the ultra-militants that this is counterproductive if they want the country to vote Donald Trump out of the White House.

Never, I think, have there been so many non-violent protests in different parts of the world at the same time. But they have been going on here and there for decades. We mustn’t forget the Velvet Revolution with half a million participants in Czechoslovakia in 1989 that helped undermine the authority and confidence of the 41-year long communist government. As one country after the other in the Eastern bloc overthrew its government, after Mikhail Gorbachev had came to power in Moscow, barely one shot was fired. Gorbachev himself for the most part abjured violence despite the advice of much of his entourage. Non-violence ruled supreme. Likewise half forgotten is when in 1986 millions of Filipinos took to the streets in Manila in peaceful protest and prayer and the dictatorial regime of Marcos was toppled on the fourth day. In 2003 Georgians ousted the soured regime of Eduard Shevardnadze in the Rose Revolution. Protestors stormed the parliament building with flowers in their hands. In 2019 the presidents of Algeria and Sudan announced they would step aside after decades in office thanks to peaceful campaigns of resistance.

Why non-violence is a superior, effective tool for political change

Latest

VP gets successor at Energy docket as former TRC boss gets ministerial post

Yanga, Simba share scoring burden as fierce derby looms

Joel Lwaga’s Diamond collaboration sparks gospel debate

Kenyans shine at CEOs Luxury Retreat golf tournament

El Niño continues to strengthen, set to peak in Tanzania in November and December

Finland lessons reshape Tanzania’s startup and digital innovation agenda

In the headlines

VP gets successor at Energy docket as former TRC boss gets ministerial post

El Niño continues to strengthen, set to peak in Tanzania in November and December

Tanzania moves closer to cable transport services

National exams brought forward over El Niño threat

Why the informal economy is essential to East Africa’s economy

A seed company that produces 50 percent of ‘ITS’ requirements

VP gets successor at Energy docket as former TRC boss gets ministerial post

Yanga, Simba share scoring burden as fierce derby looms

Joel Lwaga’s Diamond collaboration sparks gospel debate

Kenyans shine at CEOs Luxury Retreat golf tournament

El Niño continues to strengthen, set to peak in Tanzania in November and December

Finland lessons reshape Tanzania’s startup and digital innovation agenda

VP gets successor at Energy docket as former TRC boss gets ministerial post

El Niño continues to strengthen, set to peak in Tanzania in November and December

Tanzania moves closer to cable transport services

National exams brought forward over El Niño threat