I have been seeing plenty of guillhotine and mollotov jokes here, and as the title says, punching nazis.

I’ve been reading a book about nonviolence and anarchism, and he basically shows how we shouldn’t use violence, even in extreme cases (like neo nazis).

The main argument is that the means dictates the ends, so if we want a non violent (and non opressing) society, punching people won’t help.

And if it is just a joke, you should probably know that some people have been jailed for decades because of jokes like these (see: avoiding the fbi, second chapter of the book above).

Obviously im up for debate, or else I wouldn’t make this post. And yes, I do stand for nonviolence.

(english is not my first language, im sorry if I made errors, or wansn’t clear.)

(if this is not pertinent, I can remake this post in c/politics or something)

(the book is The Anarchist Cookbook by Keith McHenry, if you are downloading from the internet, make sure you download it from the correct author, there is another book with the same name.)

  • Thoven@lemdro.id
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    3 hours ago

    I took a class on nonviolent protest in college. Covered the lives and work of ghandi, MLKJ, thoreau. Very enlightening.

  • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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    1 day ago

    Anarchism isn’t non-violent. To assume anti-oppression and pacifism are one and the same is to make the same mistake Engels makes in On Authority.

    Authority is violent, but violence is not authority.

    Edit: on this topic I’d recommend Anark’s video on Power, where he explains that anarchism seeks to create a horizontal power structure. It is not the absence of power structures, it displaces oppressive power structures with egalitarian ones.

  • hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I’m convinced a lot of those “punch a Nazi” people just wanted an excuse to be violent, and just joined the movement because it gave them an excuse to be violent. In another universe they are joining those three percenter militias.

  • Wogi@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    If two parties are at odds with one another, and one on them is willing to use violence and the other isn’t, the violent party wins.

    Non violence works when people care about what you’re going through. If the right people know and care they’ll come in and do violence for you to make it stop. Or at least verifiably threaten violence. But violence is happening whether you did it or not.

    Nazis don’t give a shit about you, they’re eager for violence. They want to exterminate entire classes of people. Non violence does not work on Nazis, we’ve already seen this play out once before.

  • Lad@reddthat.com
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    1 day ago

    I’m not a naturally violent person and thankfully haven’t found myself in a position where I’ve needed to defend myself or others from neo-nazis. But I’m sure I would if it came to it. Neo-nazis are few and far between in my country, but if I seen one get a kicking I wouldn’t be standing in to help them.

  • littlecolt@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Punched a Nazi in the jaw at a party once. He left and everyone was happier once he did. Fuck that Nazi and his sore Nazi jaw.

  • r0ertel@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I’m with you. Many of “them” want to get violent and are looking for a reason to do so. By throwing a punch, it provides justification for their violent actions. So many folks here indicate that you won’t change somebody unless you fight them, but I’ve read and heard plenty of evidence to the contrary. One quick source is How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes. I also heard an interview with a woman who grew up in a cult and how she learned how to “deprogram” people.

    I like to think of it a lot like fishing. Once you get a fish on the hook, you can’t just pull hard and bring 'em in. You need to set the hook and then reel them in slowly.

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I became a leftist, because I got enough of the liberal “they go low, we go high” mantra. You never turn the other cheeck to a person, who will proceed to punch it again. In fact, if they once failed to do better in such cases, they’re just want to abuse your fair game.