Part II -- Shamelessly cribbed from Gene Sharp
by Sadie B.
Previously I shared my thoughts with you on the necessity of resistance in the face of injustice and tyranny. At this point I would like to narrow that down, and talk about one form of resistance, the form that is most interesting to me – nonviolent resistance.
Nonviolence is based on a particular theory of power and the understanding that that power can be undone.
What is power? For simplicity’s sake I will go with a very basic definition, “Power is the ability to make people do what you want, to call forth obedience.”
So where does this obedience come from? Why do people obey?
There are many reasons but most of them can be boiled down into one of the following:
1) Habit (one of the strongest forces in the known universe)
2) Sense of Moral Obligation (usually buttressed by religion, culture, and socialization)
3) Self-Interest
4) Sense of Identification with the Ruler
5) Zones of Indifference (as long as rules are reasonable, there is no good reason to break them)
6) Absence of Self-Confidence (this creates an avoidance of responsibility, a tendency to delegate decision-making upwards)
7) Fear of Punishment
Looking at this list, it’s easy to see that most of these reasons are slippery, they can change over time and especially under pressure.
But what about the last reason, fear of punishment? People who believe in the efficacy of violence believe punishment can always manufacture obedience, but let’s look at it more closely. To punish someone requires three elements.
1. The ruler, the one who gives the orders
2. The agent, who carries out the orders
3. The object, the one is acted upon
It may be in fact that the ruler is the least important element of the three. Why? Not even the most single-minded, vigorous tyrant can do it all alone. Someone has to drive the trucks, file the paperwork, hose the cell floors and tap the wires. A tyrant needs loyalists. And what motivates loyalists? Generally speaking, loyalists are motivated by reasons 1-6. If they are only doing their jobs because they are scared not to, then they aren’t really loyalists. And reasons 1-6 are again, “slippery.” A loyalist follows orders because, for example, he believes the cause is just. Once he loses that belief, he may not follow orders with as much enthusiasm. Or a loyalist follows orders because she believes her superiors know better than she does. If for some reason she comes to realize that her own moral compass is superior to theirs, she might quit following their orders altogether.
And what of the object? It is assumed that if only enough pain is brought to bear on an individual, compliance will automatically follow, but is this always true? Ever watch football, or boxing?
The point I am trying to make here is that, when it comes to people’s motivations for obedience, even the fear of punishment is not air-tight. It is vulnerable at two key points – the agent and the object. The ruler gives an order, and the agent may or may not carry it out. The object may or may not change their behavior.
I told you nonviolence is based on a theory of power, and this is it – that obedience is voluntary. From this it follows that power is something a group of people entrust to a ruler, conditionally, to be revoked when necessary.
How is that power revoked? Tune in next time ……
Previous Post: A Brief Intro to Non-Violent Resistance I
Non-Violent Resistance Tyranny Dictatorship
posted by egalia for Sadie B.
