If Ever There Were a Time for Creative Nonviolence
Nico Pitney, who's been splendidly liveblogging Iran news, links to an important AP dispatch by Sebastian Abbot and Katarina Kratovac, concerning extensive downloading of the nonviolent systematizer Gene Sharp's manual, "From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework," in Farsi translation. "The more [Iranian rebels] learn that there is a nonviolent alternative to both violence and passive submission, the more chances they are to take a wise course of action rather than a stupid one," Sharp told the reporters.
I read Sharp's manual after a visit to Belgrade, commemorating the student movement against Milosevic, a couple of years ago. It's extraordinarily sophisticated and methodical. It seems to have played a part in the so-called Color Revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia. Which is not to say one size fits all colors. One of Sharp's leading advocates, Srdja Popovic, one of the Serb nonviolent leaders, now in charge of the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies, or Canvas, cautions: "You can't export nonviolent struggles against non-democratic regimes. Cultural and situational environments are too different. But the principles are the same."
Canvas, and Otpor, the student movement that preceded it, have been tellingly criticized for failing to address Serb war crimes during the fight against Milosevic. I respect the criticism. I'm no expert. Nonviolent movements, like others, have their limits. The Iranian regime is far more brutal than anything encountered in Georgia or Ukraine. But I find it stirring that a sort of Nonviolent International is stirring into existence.
Suppose you lived in a "democracy" where 72% of the citizens want a form of single payer health care, with health care deemed to be a universal right of all citizens. And, suppose your elected government refused to provide that, because to do so would reduce the profit margins for the industries that contribute to their campaign funds. Wouldn't you recommend that those citizens pull out all of the stops and engage in some furious non-violence to force their elected government to respond to their needs over those of the wealthy stock holders and executives of the health care industry?
Let's see if anyone can figure out what "democracy" I am referring to here.
Oh, by the way, since I feel sure you would recommend a massive bit of non-violence for those citizens, why not do so? Now?
June 27, 2009 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gitlin: " The Iranian regime is far more brutal than anything encountered in Georgia or Ukraine."
Yes, but less brutal than Egypt whom Obama called a stabilizing force in the ME.
BTW, how many Iranian refugees are there living in American-occupied and "liberated" Iraq?
June 27, 2009 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
You call Nico's deliberate incitement to riotous confrontation with security forces "splendid"!
Folks should check out some facts:
AJAX REDUX: US Heavy Meddle in Iran
http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2009/06/ajax-redux-us-heavy-meddle-in-iran.html
And
Iran Election Coverage:
By Lion Tamers, Trapeze Artists, and Clowns
http://www.bibijon.org/iranimage/articles/Iran-election.htm
June 27, 2009 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink