Transcription:
- Feet on the Ground
- Fists in the Air
- Eyes on the State
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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If enough people show that they will not comply with the regime, it will cause problems for them.
Eventually, even if a protest is peaceful and non-disruptive, the regime will be forced to act against the demonstration and cause a disruption where the regime shows both their brutality and their lack of true power.
Think of what your reaction would be if you saw a parent striking a 5 year old in public. Would you think that parent is in control of the situation?
Ultimately, once the regime starts to use violence against non-violent resisters, that's when the resistance gains power. And if the resisters continue to use non-violence despite the brutality, they will gain sympathy from anyone on the fence.
At some point, they will even gain support of the military and law enforcement which has been applying the brutal crackdowns under order of the regime. And those enforcers might even refuse orders and that's when the regime begins to topple.
This has been a proven strategy to fight authoritarian regimes in history. If you are interested, please read one of the books above in the comments.
It has almost NEVER worked against any regime. Not at any point in history.
Also, 100,000,000 people in a peaceful protest to express not being happy about the regime doesn't make the regime go away or hurt them. You haven't gave them less power, less money, less control, or more fear.
You got in a pile to let them know you were unhappy, and then you went back to work.
The closest thing that I can recall a truly peaceful thing changing the minds of a regime was all the way back when Mr. Roger's got our government to continue funding public television....We couldn't even get a 40 hour work week without bombs and like 100 people dying.
There most certainly have been successful overthrows of authoritarian regimes throughout history. The most well known one is when India made the British give them independence.
30+ Examples of nonviolent campaigns and how they were successful
Mightier than the sword: The unexpected effectiveness of nonviolent resistance
I'm not an expert, or even a pacifist, but I do want to limit death as much as possible.
Just because some historical events used violence, that does not mean that all must. In fact if we engage an authoritarian regime militarily, we are attacking the regimes strongest advantage. Instead, it is the regime's weak points that should be taken advantage of.
Did you read your link of 30 examples? They weren't peaceful protests. They were strikes and work stoppages. They were causing financial collapse. They weren't a day of protests while the gears kept turning. They caused disruption.
I've only ever talked about non violent resistance. Of which there are many methods which can absolutely cause a disruption.