 Pacifism as Pathology
Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America
Ward Churchill & Mike Ryan
Publisher: AK Press
Paperback: 228 pages
ISBN-10: 1904859186
ISBN-13: 9781904859185
Price: £8.00
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"This extraordinarily important book cuts to the heart of one of the central reasons movements to bring about social and environmental change always fail. The fundamental question here is: is violence ever an acceptable tool to bring about social change? This is probably the most important question of our time, yet so often discussions around it fall into clichés and magical thinking: that somehow if we are merely good and nice enough people, the state will stop using its violence to exploit us all. Would that this were true."—Derrick Jensen, author of EndGame, from the Introduction
Pacifism, the ideology of nonviolent political resistance, has been the norm among mainstream North American progressive groups for decades. But to what end? Ward Churchill challenges the pacifist movement's heralded victories—Ghandhi in India, 1960s anti-war activists, even Martin Luther King's civil rights movement—suggesting that their success was in spite of, rather than because of, their nonviolent tactics.
Pacifism as Pathology was written as a response not only to Churchill's frustration with his own activist experience, but also to a debate raging in the activist and academic communities. He argues that pacifism is in many ways counterrevolutionary; that it defends the status quo, rather than leading to social change. In these times of upheaval and global protest, this is a vital and extremely relevant book.
Also includes a Preface from Ed Mead, former political prisoner and member of the George Jackson Brigade, and Mike Ryan's essay "On Ward Churchill's 'Pacifism as Pathology': Toward a Revolutionary Practice."
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