![]() ![]() Within these dynamics caused by the knee-jerk isolation of those who do not conform to nonviolence, there is no possibility for a healthy or critical discourse to evaluate our chosen strategies. Once isolated, militants lose access to resources, and they lose protection from being scapegoated by the media or criminalized by the government. Anti-authoritarians and anti-capitalists who suggest or practice militancy suddenly find themselves abandoned by the same pacifists they’ve just marched with at the latest protest. Nonviolence is maintained as an article of faith, and as a key to full inclusion within the movement. But the facilitator, who was also a conference organizer, and on top of that a panelist, decided against this approach.īecause of the hegemony advocates of nonviolence exert, criticisms of nonviolence are excluded from the major periodicals, alternative media, and other forums accessed by anti-authoritarians. I had hoped that each panelist would be given a substantial amount of time to speak in order to present our ideas in depth and to limit the likely alternative of a back-and-forth volley of clichéd arguments. ![]() Predictably, the discussion turned into an unproductive and competitive debate. ![]() In August 2004, at the North American Anarchist Convergence in Athens, Ohio, I participated in a panel discussing the topic of nonviolence versus violence. ![]()
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