@Goldsword 428106 wrote:
No it is you who is an idiot if you think that violence never works? How the hell did Ireland win its independence from Britain in the 1920s then by holding peaceful marches from A to B? And have you ever heard of the Northern Irish troubles in the 1970s and 1980s. The Northern Irish Republican movement nearly succeeded in forcing Britain out of Northern Ireland by using mass street violence. They didn’t succeed but at least they had the guts to try!
The start of the Northern Ireland troubles in 1969: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re2CFxouDS4
Yes I have heard of them thanks, and I completely disagree with the use of violence. And you simply cannot relate Irish independence to public funding cuts, or disagreement with capitalism in general (and despite their extreme and prolonged use of violence it hasn’t worked for Northern Ireland).
If this was their attempt to overthrow the capitalist system, then surely what is more likely to happen is the Daily Fail and co. focus on the violence, the bulk of the general public become increasingly annoyed at it and are more likely to vote Conservative in the future. Thus a step backwards. Instead, mass peaceful protest that people can morally accept whilst educating people and fighting on every civilised level actually has the potential to bring about cultural, social and therefore political progression.
Only going from A to B may not make a massive difference, but this doesn’t mean you need to be violent. I fully support the creative use of protest by groups like UK Uncut e.g. occupying Boots stores and turning them into temporary hospitals, staging sit down protests and positively engaging with people. This makes a statement in a way that is entertaining and informative for people, and has been very successful in gaining rapidly increased support. As I said, we live in a democracy and you need support.
Violence as an expression of uncontrolled anger is simply an emotive, irrational and primitive reaction (this reminds of the recent study by UCL which suggested right wing voters used more of the emotive part of their brains, and left wing voters more of the logical parts – how ironic!)
Violence is wrong on the most fundamental level, and unfortunately for you is only accepted by a very small minority of people.
