Having an Opponent May Not Be to Your Benefit

If I seem to be starting in the middle of a topic it's because I have posted about nonviolent action before, and am continuing now.

Nonviolence action is a way to sanction opponents without using physical violence. That is it's a way to apply strong ethical, moral, or social pressure to penalize an opponent for noncompliance with your wishes.


In order to have an opponent you need be against another.

It may not be necessary to be against someone to bring about social or group changes. It may be counter effective to make others opponents or enemies. There are many ways I may choose to to help a person to understand my position before I choose to oppose her directly. For example I could present my take on one of his positions. Explanations, reasoning,, informing, honest truth telling may lead to positive change. Education and art may help. Efforts to understand the other's belief, value, or assumption may provide me with useful insights helpful in my attempts to change hes behavior There are many actions I may use use before resorting to violent or nonviolent opposition. I might even find a way to cooperate.


Nonviolent action seems best used as mass action and often takes the form of noncooperation. Nonviolent action of any kind is a forceful rejection of passivity and submission. Taking nonviolent action is to wage a conflict without violence. Nonviolence is definitely not a way to avoid conflict. Nonviolent action is a direct matching of forces in conflict and not to be entered into lightly.


If you are considering taking nonviolent action it is good to remember that it has sometimes proven to be a step toward violent action. If you have nonviolent action in mind it may be a good idea to consider what others have learned about it.  It may also be a very good idea to begin to list that which you may do before becoming oppositional.It may be good to remember that non violent action has been used as a tool for 'bad' too. In nonviolent action you are usually forcing others to do something they don't want to do.