Quote:
Originally Posted by rubecube
Nah, I've argued before on this forum that peaceful demonstration on its own is almost completely ineffective. You don't necessarily have to go brownshirt and violent, but there generally has to be some measure of civil disobedience involved to actually affect any kind of change.
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I think you're wrong about peaceful demonstration being completely ineffective... especially if the response to it is disproportionate. These guys, for example, gained an awful lot of attention and sympathy.
That being said, I'm with you, to a point. I'm actually pretty okay if you want to block a bridge, or stage a sit in on private property, provided that you don't actually damage property or hurt anyone. Of course, you should be arrested if you break the law, but that's part of the process. As annoying as the Trans Mountain protestors are likely to be, if they want to go to jail for what they believe, I have to admit that though they're morons, that's not only acceptable but really pretty commendable.
But attacking people, terrorizing them, burning #### and vandalising property isn't acceptable, no matter how sure you are that you're right, and it's not effective either. If, instead of sitting down peacefully, those kids had been pepper sprayed after throwing rocks at that cop, no one would particularly care about what they believed in that led them to do it. They'd have had it coming.