(Why) Do you believe #Occupy has to become a violent revolution?

[Fire Walk With Me]

The way things are going right now are peaceful (on our part), and are making very noticeable strides against the banks and are awakening government that the status quo has changed.

It does not have to be uncomfortable at all. It is a thing of peace and beauty. The will of the majority is absolute, when the majority flex their will. That is what we are doing. All you have to do is say NO! to the economic problems, say NO! to the political problems.

This is a form of voting, directly.

They are nowhere near as strong as they'd have you believe. We are already changing the world by simply saying NO! loudly enough to be heard. You can move to a credit union. You can post a supportive word. It's that comfortable, it's that simple!
Peace!

[Aerows]

1. No, but many would like for it to become violent

Agent Provocateurs are getting into it because it couldn't be shut down quickly. It's disgusting how many fall for it becoming "violent" instead of realizing that it's provocation. Resist, peacefully.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Reports from Oakland last night say that those doing graffitti were quickly called out and shunned

and #Occupiers quickly got in there and started removing it. There were shouts to be peaceful and to not throw things during the live stream after cops had gassed them two or three times. It's important to spread the truth about this and to not allow the MSM to poison people with this fear.

[Aerows]

7. Always cover their faces

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CC4QtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSt1-WTc1kow&ei=ZeuyTvaJHe3gsQL8pZnxAw&usg=AFQjCNGa-IcTdHkEDQ-HfJvDssqdyC0FXg&sig2=wR3buRq2bP-u7JEXCqSR2Q

Lest they get recognized. Here's how a Canadian Union dealt with it.

[doc03]

24. +1000 If they are trying to hide their identity toss their ass

out. I know were I live it is illegal to wear a mask on the street and I suppose it is in other places. We had a strike here a few years ago and a guy dressed up in a rat costume in front of the company headquarters and he was arrested. It turned out he was a union member but he may have been a stooge for the company, who knows.

[meegbear]

2. No, it needs to be what it is ... a SOCIAL revolution

[atreides1]

3. I don't

But what happens if the other side convinces itself that using violence is the only way to remain on top?

Who gets to reenact the scene at Tianamen Square, who gets to stand up in front of the tank?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Yesterday the band played on

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2236588

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Never mind

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2235509

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. I would. I'd be scared as hell, but I would.

I hope it's never put to the test because I hate violence, but all you need are one, two, five, ten people who would, and you have a peaceful revolution.

Scott Olsen did. The sailor who stood beside him did. The Veterans for Peace in Boston did. Someone has to.

[Aerows]

17. I would. I'm Anonymous, or Spartacus or whoever

Just as much as anyone. Scares the hell out of me, but I would because it is worth it for the rest of the 99%, including my family.

[LanternWaste]

20. Who places the flower in the barrel of the national guard's rifle?"

"Who gets to reenact the scene at Tianamen Square, who gets to stand up in front of the tank?"




Conspicuously absent was "Who places the flower in the barrel of the national guard's rifle?"

One thing in history does not necessarily follow the form, function and format of another thing in history. The civil rights movement was the victim of violence itself. As it maintained its ethical high road in the face of murders, hoses, dogs, and cops, it thus ensured its victory.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Alas why we see the current tactics

Violent, hippies, threat. (the last is the only one) will let us shut it down. Kindly your government.

[leveymg]

8. Let the state keep its monopoly on violence.

We have everything to lose, and they to gain by violent protest, in the political phase of the struggle.

[Zorra]

9. No. There are so many of us that they will be forced to put down

their weapons when we surround them while smiling at them.

If things become violent, it will only be because they are committing the acts of violence.

[Aerows]

10. Stay peaceful, stay strong

Provo's will always try. Don't let them co-opt the movement.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. Amen.

[Fumesucker]

12. Things are so polarized that it just might go pear shaped very quickly if violence starts..

If the 1% think they are going to go down they may decide to take the 99% with them.

"I can always hire half the working class to kill the other half." -Jay Gould

I'm not all that thrilled about the prospect of living in a Mad Max world so I'm hoping it stays peaceful.

[Aerows]

19. It won't

Unless the Provocateurs get their way. The only way is resistance, and the only way to sustain resistance is through peaceful means.

This is a revolution of our thinking, and of our society. This isn't violent.

[uponit7771]

13. The violent are plants nothing else, they weren't even with the main thrust of demostrations.

[Uncle Joe]

15. It doesn't and to be most effective it won't.

Thanks for the thread, Fire Walk With Me.

[kestrel91316]

16. NO. OWS is a nonviolent movement. We must keep it that way.

It's abundantly clear that the 1% has a vested interest in destroying OWS and the easiest way to do it is by infiltrating and acting as agents provocateurs. Of course they send in their paid lapdogs/quislings to do the dirty work for them.

[LanternWaste]

18. Need to? No. However the possibility exists...

Does it need to? No. Many social protest movement were both strong and successful despite (possibly because of) the good guys retaining their ethical high-road of peace and pacifism.

However, I readily concede that the mathematical possibility of violence certainly does exist in a group as diverse, as large, and as organic as this one.

That being said, anyone who not only endorses but even tolerates violence initiated by or within the OWS movement becomes immediately suspect as a wrecker and a saboteur-- as so it should be.

[JDPriestly]

21. Absolutely not.

The movement is about change through freedom of speech and freedom of association. It is not about violent revolution. I will not support any movement that uses or advocates violence, and most Americans agree with me on that.

The minute the movement uses violence even in self-defense is the minute it becomes just another criminal enterprise.

No to violence of any kind.

Violence does not solve problems -- not ever.

It just makes problems into crimes.

[pnwmom]

22. I think that would backfire, and we'd lose all the gains we've made.

It would be 1968 all over again, which led to Nixon, Reagan, etc. Only this time, it could be worse.

[theballguy]

25. What else?

I've already changed to a credit union years ago. I already buy my clothes at the thrift store. I don't buy anything from the big companies unless it's absolutely life-threateningly necessary. What else is there to do?

[aquart]

26. I don't believe it.

And I certainly wouldn't donate a working guillotine to Zuccotti Park.