this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025
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503
LA Protesters Aren’t Inviting Violent Authoritarianism, They’re Mobilizing to Stop It (theintercept.com)
submitted 4 hours ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world
46 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

WHEN PRESIDENT DONALD Trump announced on Saturday night that he would send the National Guard to Los Angeles to crush protests, a narrative emerged on social media that demonstrators had somehow given a gift to the authoritarian president by escalating confrontations with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

“Los Angeles — violence is never the answer. Assaulting law enforcement is never ok,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., posted on Sunday. “Indeed, doing so plays directly into the hands of those who seek to antagonize and weaponize the situation for their own gain. Don’t let them succeed.”

In reality, the protesters throwing rocks at heavily armed security forces or attempting to damage the vehicles used to kidnap their immigrant neighbors did not introduce violence. They are instead acting in militant community defense.

After all, would the situation somehow be less violent were ICE left to snatch and disappear people without impediment? Does Schiff imagine either his pronouncements or the empty condemnations of his Democratic Party colleagues will slow down the deportation of our neighbors?

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[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 42 points 4 hours ago (19 children)

Man, Schiff is such a fucking limpdick. Sometimes, violence is the answer. Otherwise, we’d all be speaking German and Japanese.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 20 points 4 hours ago (18 children)

Don’t believe the doubters: protest still has power

Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.

There are, of course, many ethical reasons to use nonviolent strategies. But compelling research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, confirms that civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way.

Looking at hundreds of campaigns over the last century, Chenoweth found that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns. And although the exact dynamics will depend on many factors, she has shown it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.

Working with Maria Stephan, a researcher at the ICNC, Chenoweth performed an extensive review of the literature on civil resistance and social movements from 1900 to 2006 – a data set then corroborated with other experts in the field. They primarily considered attempts to bring about regime change. A movement was considered a success if it fully achieved its goals both within a year of its peak engagement and as a direct result of its activities. A regime change resulting from foreign military intervention would not be considered a success, for instance. A campaign was considered violent, meanwhile, if it involved bombings, kidnappings, the destruction of infrastructure – or any other physical harm to people or property.

Source in article from 2019

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 39 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (12 children)

I’m not saying protest doesn’t have power. But the power of nonviolent protest diminishes sharply if there’s no implicit threat of violent protest if matters get pushed too far. One of the primary reasons MLK succeeded was because Malcom X was waiting in the wings.

Nonviolent protest against a status quo ante is one thing; nonviolent protest against an aggressively authoritarian regime that’s grabbing more power by the day is quite another. It is a very, very different context.

[–] brandon@piefed.social 23 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

As an additional point to add to yours, every single political protest movement in history has included violent elements. It's unavoidable. When these political "moderates" start pearl clutching about some windows being broken or whatever it is an attempt to de-legitimize the entire movement, and draw the focus away from the actual source of the majority of violence, the cops (including ICE).

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works -2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I think I need to be clear, I don't give a shit if windows are broken or they throw scooters off bridges onto cop cars, I'm talking about violence against humans. TBH, the looting sends the wrong message of greed instead of being for a cause, but not because they're damaging shit.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I don’t even need to reach into the past for a very clear counterexample: do you really think Zelenskyy could have asked Putin nicely to not invade his country anymore, and it would have made a damn bit of difference?

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

This is not an invasion of our land, these are democratic protests. There is a huge difference between Russia sending bombs to bomb LA and Americans protesting. If Russia sends bombs, fuck them up.

[–] GuyFawkes@midwest.social 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

And if America sends bombs to LA?

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 hour ago

Okay, then violence is a good response, since it's a defense.

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