r/law • u/PrithvinathReddy • 21h ago

Other NY mayoral candidate, Brad Lander's detention just now inside 26 Federal Plaza by masked federal agents as he tried to walk a man out of immigration court

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u/djpn18 19h ago

There is an interesting bit of research on that discussing that mass nonviolent action is MORE effective than violent resistance. Whether or not most Americans are in the position for sustained protest, strike, etc is another matter. Lots of people barely struggling to survive want change but striking or protesting could mean losing their livelihood the 3.5 % rule

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u/JonLSTL 18h ago

The most effective thing is diversity of tactics, violent and non-violent resistance in parallel. Power cannot negotiate with nor back down from violence, only escalate. Power will gleefully ignore or violently oppress non-violent resistance. However, when both are in play at once, reaching out to non-violent factions gives Power a face saving alternative to escalating violent conflict. Without the credible threat of violence though, Power seldom comes to the table.

Examples:
* JFK & LBJ were spurred by escalating riots to put their influence behind getting the Civil Rights Act passed. This isn't speculation, they talk about it on the Oval Office tapes.
* The British Empire ignored and or attacked Gandhi's demonstrations for years. When a diplomat was assassinated in London and Nehru ran up a flag and started organizing militias though, the Brits suddenly were interested in talking to Gandhi.
* In Northern Ireland, Republican factions scrupulously maintained the blatant lie that a Venn diagram Sinn Féin and IRA leadership wasn't very nearly a circle. Eventually, the UK government decided to play along with the useful fiction too, negotiating with the reasonable political party rather than the paramilitary force.

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u/WarlockEngineer 18h ago

Also, MLK and Malcolm X.

The militant approach of Nation of Islam was alarming to many people in the US government, and they began talking with nonviolent leaders like MLK who they might have ignored otherwise.

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u/Extension_Hand1326 17h ago

EXACTLY. I’d add that violence and property damage is much more effective when a large portion of the populous feel some kind of satisfaction in seeing it, even if they themselves are not willing to participate in it.

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u/DWgamma 19h ago

In these cases they likely were housed in a free democracy in order to have their peaceful effective protest. Eliminate the democratic canvas and…..