I just wanted to post up a small discussion regarding protesting that has great relelvance right now in light of the #Occupy movements including the #OccupyLsx movement currently active in the UK.
Non-violent action by ordinary people is vital to the success of the movement for very simple reasons. There are still a great many people in the country who are not yet persuaded that the government is merely a proxy for corporate UK and are ensnared by the propaganda of corporations that pervade their TV screens and newspapers. Violence by protesters legitimizes violence by the state in the eyes of these as yet unconvinced observers, thus violence by the state is sure to follow and the cycle leads ultimately to the destruction of the movement. However, if the movement remains non-violent then violence by the state will be viewed unsympathetically by our fellow citizens, notwithstanding deceitful editing and misrepresentative reporting.
Strategies for addressing the media deficit of representation of ordinary people and NGOs will have to be a topic for discussion in another post.
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