Political violence


Political violence
Political violence (wikipedia.org)

Description

Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-state actors (forced disappearance, psychological warfare, police brutality, targeted assassinations, torture, ethnic cleansing, or genocide), and violence which is used by violent non-state actors against states and civilians (kidnappings, targeted assassinations, terrorist attacks, torture, psychological and/or guerrilla warfare). It can also describe politically motivated violence which is used by violent non-state actors against a state (rebellion, rioting, treason, or coup d'etat) or it can describe violence which is used against other non-state actors and/or civilians. Non-action on the part of a government can also be characterized as a form of political violence, such as refusing to alleviate famine or otherwise denying resources to politically identifiable groups within their territory. Due to the imbalances of power which exist between state and non-state actors, political violence often takes the form of asymmetric warfare where neither side is able to directly assault the other, instead relying on tactics such as guerrilla warfare and terrorism. It can often include attacks on civilian or otherwise non-combatant targets. People may be targeted collectively based on perception of being part of a social, ethnic, religious, or political group; or selectively, targeting specific individuals for actions that are perceived as challenging someone or aiding an opponent. Many politically motivated militant, insurgent, extremist, and/or fundamentalist groups and individuals are convinced that the states and political systems under which they live will never respond to their demands, and they thus believe that the only way to overthrow and/or reshape the government or state accordingly to their political and/or religious worldview is through violent means, which they regard as not only justified but also necessary in order to achieve their political and/or religious objectives. Similarly, many governments around the world believe that they need to use violence in order to intimidate their populaces into acquiescence. At other times, governments use force in order to defend their countries from outside invasions or other threats of force and coerce other governments or conquer territory.
Source: Wikipedia

Counter claim

  1. To suggest that political, religious or other forms of extremism is not justified by history, contemporary reality, logic or law, as did a USA commission on violence in 1969, is plain silly. Many people and governments may believe in liberty, equality and justice but their behaviour is something else. And many people and governments simply do not hold these beliefs. Have not all peaceful demonstrations, sit-ins, freedom rides and marches, defiance campaigns, petitions, letters to editors and legislative representatives been singularly unsuccessful for some people. Have not decades spent, knocking, patiently, moderately and modestly at a closed and barred door been spent by some minorities in vain. The resort to violence to achieve political ends is a tactic that embodies a cry for help; that seeks reforms; that wants attention to grievances and demands; and that demands a response to a deep and abiding sense of iniquity and inequity. There is a point where violence is a necessary and creative response to institutionalized violence; it is saying no, no longer, no more, not again loud enough and clearly enough to be heard. If people are barred from using the sophisticated instruments of the established order for their ends, they will find another way. To the people involved in the riot, the civil war, these are far less lawless and far more representative than the system of arbitrary rules and prescribed channels which they confront every day. These are far less violent than the ongoing brutality of living in a slum, shanty town or backward village maintained by a social and political system geared to maintain the status quo.


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