Nonviolent Resistance is my attempt to do that. It asks what makes a movement, a campaign, or even an action a nonviolent one, at least in the political sense. It looks at various dynamics of nonviolence, seeking to understand their nonviolent character. Finally, it grounds nonviolence in what I believe are its two founding values: dignity and equality. Throughout, I appeal to particular nonviolent movements, from the famous Indian Independence and American Civil Rights Movements to more contemporary campaigns like Occupy, Tahrir Square, the Estonian Singing Revolution, and the anti-Marcos campaign in the Philippines.
I don’t know yet the extent to what extent I have offered an adequate philosophical grasp of nonviolence. When I began my research, I was surprised to find that there is little in the way of sustained philosophical reflection on political nonviolence. This is in contrast to the recent explosion of sociological, historical, and political literature on nonviolence. My hope is that I have at least begun a conversation on the philosophy of the form of political resistance that, after all, is perhaps the best hope in confronting much of what is most egregious in the contemporary world.
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