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The 25 Lessons of Nonviolence

Written by Mark Van Steenwyk : November 19, 2008

I’m reading Mark Kurlansky’s Non-violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea. Kurlansky is the New York Times Bestselling author of a number of quirky history books about Cod and Salt and whatnot. His book on nonviolence is enjoyable–though it has a few historical inaccuracies here and there. It is a flowing narrative of (mostly) western history through the lense of nonviolence (and war). But throughout the narrative, Kurlansky shares twenty five lessons that history teaches regarding nonviolence:

  1. There is no proactive word for nonviolence.
  2. Nations that build military forces as deterrents will eventually use them.
  3. Practitioners of nonviolence are seen as enemies of the state.
  4. Once a state takes over a religion, the religion loses its nonviolent teachings.
  5. A rebel [especially of the nonviolent sort] can be defanged and co-opted by making him a saint after he is dead.
  6. Somewhere behind every war there are always a few founding lies.
  7. A propaganda machine promoting hatred always has a war waiting in the wings.
  8. People who go to war start to resemble their enemy.
  9. A conflict between a violent and a nonviolent force is a moral argument. If the violent side can provoke the nonviolent side into violence, the violent side has won.
  10. The problem lies not in the nature of man but in the nature of power.
  11. The longer a war lasts, the less popular it becomes.
  12. The state imagines it is impotent without a military because it cannot conceive of power without force.
  13. It is often no the largest but the best organized and most articulate group the prevails.
  14. All debate momentarily ends with an “enforced silence” once the first shots are fired.
  15. A shooting war is not necessary to overthrow an established power but is used to consolidate the revolution itself.
  16. Violence does not resolve. It always leads to more violence.
  17. Warfare produces peace activists. A group of veterans is a likely place to find peace activists.
  18. People motivated by fear do not act well.
  19. While it is perfectly feasible to convince a people faced with brutal repression to rise up in a suicidal attack on their oppressor, it is almost impossible to convince them to meet deadly violence with nonviolent resistance.
  20. Wars do not have to be sold to the general public if they can be carried out by an all-volunteer professional military.
  21. Once you start the business of killing, you just get “deeper and deeper,” without limits.
  22. Violence always comes with a supposedly rational explanation–which is only dismissed as irrational if the violence fails.
  23. Violence is a virus that infects and takes over.
  24. The miracle is that despite all of society’s promotion of warfare, most soldiers find warfare to be a wrenching departure from their own moral values.
  25. The hard world of beginning a movement to end war has already begun.

I realize that some of these lessons require some context to be fully understood, but do you disagree with any of these? Any of them that trigger deep affirmation in your soul? Any that you’d add?

Mark Van Steenwyk is the general editor of Jesus Manifesto. He is a Mennonite pastor (Missio Dei in Minneapolis), writer, speaker, and grassroots educator. He lives in South Minneapolis with his wife (Amy), son (Jonas) and some of their friends.


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Comments

Viewing 14 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    Violence is a virus that infects and takes over.

    This one seems a bit too vague.

    I'm enjoying/processing the rest of them though.
    • ^
    • v
    I find the list true to my own understanding of human history and violent confrontation, but I would disagree with number ten for sure. It is most definitly in the nature of man to abuse power.

    Nicholas Perks
    • ^
    • v
    I would definitely disagree with number 10 as well.
    Power has no soul, man does.

    But the rest of the point are wonderful!
    • ^
    • v
    "There is no proactive word for nonviolence."

    Ugh...it's called love.
    • ^
    • v
    "A shooting war is not necessary to overthrow an established power but is used to consolidate the revolution itself."

    This one's quite intriguing....very few things garner unity amongst rebels like a common enemy.
    • ^
    • v
    Charles H. Featherstone 2 weeks ago
    Yeah, number 10 -- The problem lies not in the nature of man but in the nature of power -- is a problem, because there is no power without human beings, human desire and human sinfulness.
    • ^
    • v
    Thanks for this list, it sounds like a great book.
    • ^
    • v
    I agree with all the points I understand (well, I'm Swedish), and especially nr 9, 17 and 18 hit my heart. Indeed, our mission is to create peace, but what have we become if we use war to bring peace? What happened to the almighty God whom nothing is impossible for? And indeed, it is those who have lived through war that really knows how it is, and therefore peace actvists are among them (after nearly every war USA has performed, groups like "Vietnamn veterans against the war" and "Iraq veterans against the war" occours...) And indeed, fear is the thing that make people tp kill each other. Therefore Jesus said that we don't have anything to be afraid of (Luke 12). We have a Father who cares for us and free us from death. And notice that just before Jesus teaches us His golden rula, He talks about that God always hear our prayer and give us what we pray for... a trust in God and nonviolence comes together.
    • ^
    • v
    "People who go to war start to resemble their enemy." I heard somewhere that the people who annoy us the most are the ones with faults just like ours.

    "Once you start the business of killing, you just get “deeper and deeper,” without limits." This is why we have governments and legal systems: to set limits on the business of killing.

    "A conflict between a violent and a nonviolent force is a moral argument. If the violent side can provoke the nonviolent side into violence, the violent side has won." I find this comment most interesting. It really starts to make a person think about their definitions and boundaries. At what point does force change from being nonviolent to violent. Is it only physical force that we're trying to set limits on?
    • ^
    • v
    Actually, I have written a text called "Early Christian Pacifism and Nonviolence" with qoutes from 11 different early church fathers and has some Bible studies (including Romans 13 and the OT wars). Maybe you want to see it? I can't find your e-mail or something though ("Contact us" and "Submit your article" doesn't work) so if you see this and are interested, contact me on micael@grenholm.net
    • ^
    • v
    #15 "A shooting war is not necessary to overthrow an established power but is used to consolidate the revolution itself", reminds me of the American Revolution. According to one author, the colonists had so defeated the British Governors that even the Governors themselves recognized that no one paid any attention to their orders. What we call the American Revolution is the newly victorious colonists defending themselves against the British Army attempt to conquer them AFTER they had nonviolently beaten the British Governors.
    • ^
    • v
    Great stuff. you might be interested in a blog called Inhabitatio Dei
    Halden Doerge.
    • ^
    • v
    "Somewhere behind every war there are always a few founding lies."

    "Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle."
    Alexander Solzhenitsyn

    "All war is based on deception."
    Sun Tzu

    Nothing new here, but it is good to remind us of this fact. Remember the Maine!
    • ^
    • v
    Nagler's UC Berkeley courses on Nonviolence are available for free download:

    http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?...
    http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?...

    I've been listening to them on my iPod and these lectures are awesome.
 

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