Question:
Hello Metta!
I was watching this video about 5 years of “non-violent demonstrations” in Bil’in, Palestine. It is known for its resistance: every week Palestinians and internationals go there to demonstrate against the fence that is built by Israel. The ICJ has declared the fence illegal as it takes land from the Palestinians, but it’s still not moved. I think they have made a small success now recently and it will be replaced a little bit. Any way, that’s not the point.
I was wondering if the damage that the people are doing to the fence can be considered obstructive nonviolence, or is it violence? Where is the line? It is sure not lovingkindness to try to demolish a fence, but it is totally legitimate in my eyes. So… what do you say?
Thanks already for your comments!
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By: Metta Center
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Answer from Michael Nagler at Metta:
Property destruction is always a gray area. The problem with it is that it’s coercion, not persuasion. However, this isn’t really anyone’s ‘property’ but a tool of oppression (not to mention land theft) that’s being damaged.
My real problem with what’s going on in Bil’in is that it’s a one-method, unvarying campaign. As a test of wills, I’m not sure it will work. Nonviolence should be ready to escalate if/when its methods and demands aren’t working. Not that I know, from sitting here in the US, exactly what they should do. But since the Israeli state can replace fence faster than the villagers can destroy it, time is on their side, not ours, and we’d be well advised to come up with another mechanism. Of course, it’s atrocious that the ‘international community’ isn’t stepping in…
Thank you for your question!
Thank you for your answer to my question! Indeed, time is on the side of Israel, but financial costs are also incurred by damaging the fence, so if it becomes too expensive it may actually be effective. However, I agree it’s not the most effective demonstration they’re doing in Bil’in.
Who has more opinions on this?
Peace, or Salaam as they say!
This is a great question!
It seems that your question is not whether property damage is legitimate (it may or may not be) as an act of protest, but if it can be considered to be a nonviolent act. I believe that it can. For instance, if a government were building a nuclear testing facility, and citizens came in every night and dismantled the infrastructure that had been built the previous day in order that the builders made no progress, I would consider that to be consistent with the goals of nonviolence.
But my personal opinion about what is happening in this particular video is that it is a tremendous, sad waste of energy. Look at all the energy that people have, and they are channeling it into behavior of destruction, which begets only more anger and agitation, not to mention retaliation and rubber bullets. They have not succeeded in tearing down the wall, they have not appealed to the hearts of their adversaries, they have not changed minds or relationships by shaking the fence; and they have wasted energy that could have been channeled into other, more effective constructive (or obstructive) programs toward the same goal. To anger the enemy, come out injured and exhausted, and make no progress seems to me a self-defeating plan, not nonviolent, but rather, nonspecific and non-strengthening.
There’s my humble opinion, submitted in part just to keep the discussion going. I would love to hear what the rest of you think!
This may be a stretch, but I think when you attack the fence, you almost give the other side a justification for having it there in the first place. It makes me think of when the kids I work with in the detention center get angry and break the windows/doors. Now people can say, “See, these kids are violent…” I think it’s a little different in the West Bank, but not much more so considering that they’ll just be fixed/replaced at the taxpayer’s expense, and the Israelis can probably scare the public by showing them that video and claiming these protesters are so violent they need to be penned up.
I wonder if there’s a way to ridicule the idea of having a fence…by painting it or covering it with flowers, digging tunnels under it…I dunno…but something that makes the people on the other side look totally harmless. and that attracts a lot of publicity I might have parties and sporting events around the fence…all kinds of creative stuff. Just throwing it out there.
Matt Johnson
Hi Shannon, I really appreciated your response! I agree completely, and amreminded of the conversation we all had with Michael Nagler about work vs ‘work’. Sure, in the short (or maybe not-so-short as the case maybe) term destroying the fence regularly might eventually ‘work,’ but will it move the hearts of the Israelis? Will it impact them and move them with the power of loving over hating? Will it inspire and spread love and cohesion within two communities or inspire and spread more anger and hate? I am the last person who has any right to talk about inspiring love over hate, as I have struggled greatly with my own inclinations to retaliate when I have been attacked or am feeling hurt. It is a natural reaction, but an ineffective one in the sense that it ultimately spreads more negativity.
I was interested in the thought of ‘dismantling the nuclear plant’ as you described it, Shannon. I wonder if there isn’t something along these lines that might be more effective? Perhaps if they dismantled in a peaceful way, leaving all the pieces neatly in a pile. What if,then, individuals sat on the ground where the fence was, and refusedto move? Sure, you might say, but how can that really be possible OUTSIDE of writing in an e-mail, or a quick daydream? I have no idea.
What are your thoughts, everyone?
Those actions won’t work. The activists do the same thing (making noise, breaking Army orders, and getting beaten) for too long. It’s boring.
The Israel media do not cover the actions, many people do not know the place exist. They don’t know why the fence is illigal there. The activists did not try to do it more peacfully, like inviting the soldiers to coffee on a regular basis. This won’t work- they should change the way they channel their energy.
I bet that in the long run the coffee approach would settle things up in the soldier’s level, while the injuctice should be covered in Israel’s media. The current actions actualy worsen the situation.
Alon
Dear Pr. Michael Nagler,
Greetings from Peace Foundation,Peshawar Pakistan.
Your non violence education is great if the mankind of the earth understand this lesson than we can say the peaceful world buildup. As you quoted Gandhi and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, exact they most important figure of our non violence history but unfortunately in the land of Bacha Khan the extremist are proomoting their idiology of extremism. Can it is possible for your metta center if Peace Foundation arrange the program for the training of religious school teacher for non violance education than you fund us and help us in this regard.
Maqsood Ahmad Salafi,
Chairman,
Peace Foundation,Peshawar,Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa,Pakistan.