Social movements & violence.

[Alvaro]

Is there any theory on whether riots help social movements, on one hand riots put pressure on the goverment but on the other it drives some people away. What are your thoughts?

[Red Noob]

Nothing good ever comes easy. Change doesn't come about organically, it has to be pushed, fought for, you can't expect good things just to happen.

[the Left™]

Is there any theory on whether riots help social movements, on one hand riots put pressure on the goverment but on the other it drives some people away. What are your thoughts?


"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable"-Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Riots and violent social movements actually ostracize social movements. There is a significant body of sociological research claiming that identity politics is the most salient type of politics in times of social change and what easier way to establish a hostile identity than to associate riots with social change.

[OhYesIdid]

I believe on the importance of taking action when the conditions are right for revolution. However, mind and pointless violence does not help the working class. Socialists must be organized and coordinated, a riot is the exact opposite of what a revolution must be like.