The Protests of the Iranian People and Non-Violence: Yes or No
The Protests of the Iranian People and Non-Violence: Yes or No. Are the protests of the Iranian people a non-violent struggle or a violent one, or both? Are events like setting trash cans on fire, throwing stones, tossing Molotov cocktails, and attacking suppression forces considered legitimate defense or violent struggle?
Some believe that non-violence is relative. For instance, when security forces attack protesters with various methods and tools, retaliatory attacks are perceived by the audience as a form of legitimate defense.
The most famous model of non-violent struggle belongs to Gandhi. His practical method was organizing large protest marches. It is quoted from Gandhi that when people, at one point during the 1920s, stormed and set a police station on fire, killing some policemen, Gandhi halted the movement and said, ‘I do not want to be part of this movement that is evidently heading towards violence.’
Yet, it is also quoted from Gandhi that he said somewhere, ‘I would prefer violence a thousand times over the emasculation of an entire nation and race. My theory of non-violence never accepts fleeing from dangers and leaving our loved ones defenseless. Between acts of violence and cowardly escape, I certainly prefer violence to cowardice.’
For this reason, some believe that we fundamentally cannot have a non-violent struggle against suppression. These are idealistic and unattainable desires. However, we can be non-violent, and civil struggles are non-violent struggles, not without violence.
Some say that Iranian society, in its social struggle landscape, has reached a stage of choosing between a violent or non-violent approach. Although choosing one of these paths is directly related to the nature and degree of the regime’s response and the tolerance of the movement’s society in these conditions, some believe that if the movement’s society is equipped with violent tools, the fate of social struggles could lead to nowhere and result in widespread slaughter.
Conditions for Non-Violent Struggle
Non-violent struggles have two essential conditions: first, that the fighters and protesters should not initiate violence, and second, that they should not unjustifiably continue violence. That is, if there is no necessity to continue violence for legitimate defense, it should be stopped. In many cases, individuals are forced to resort to some level of violence to defend themselves.
Figures like Gandhi and Martin Luther King say that essentially resorting to violence and using violent tools and its primary method, i.e., armed struggle, is wrong because it leads to the proliferation and reproduction of violence. It creates a cycle that does not reach a conclusion, and through this type of struggle, you cannot achieve freedom and justice. On the other hand, it may cause innocents to become victims, which is unethical. Thus, they reject violent and armed struggles from a moral standpoint.
There are also those who reject armed struggles from a strategic and functional perspective. An example is Mandela, who, although he resorted to violent struggles at one point, criticized and rejected armed struggles. Mandela says that dignified violent struggles and sabotage do not cause bloodshed and loss of human lives, whereas armed struggle leads to bloodshed and strengthens the cycle of violence.
Obstacles to Violent Struggle
We are now in times when many international institutions and democratic and free countries do not endorse armed struggles and violent methods and even explicitly reject them, often siding with the government in these matters. Therefore, fighters will lose international support. Thus, both ethically and strategically, armed struggles seem rejected and ineffective.
On the other hand, in theories related to non-violent struggles, especially in the discussion of civil disobedience, the first thing they say is that civil disobedience is practical in a structure that has a minimum of democratic conditions. That is, there must be a degree of legality so that if you violate a law, the other side reacts legally. For this reason, many theorists, including John Rawls, Hannah Arendt, and Jürgen Habermas, say that civil struggles cannot be advanced in oppressive authoritarian contexts.
For this reason, it is said that Mandela eventually concluded that non-violent methods of the Gandhi type are not effective. Mandela said on the one hand that our main issue is not to use methods that result in the loss of human lives and massacres, but on the other hand, we must put a stick in the wheels of the government machine and raise the tension so high that the regime is eventually forced to negotiate. Some believe that this approach was what led Mandela to victory.
Non-Violent Resistance: The Fourth Force
Ahmad Zeidabadi, a reformist political activist who recently called for a non-violent struggle, uses the term ‘Fourth Force’ and says that the Fourth Force is not a political line; it is merely a name for all the suffering Iranians from every class and group, with any belief and political inclination, provided they renounce the use of violent tools against their compatriots and fellow humans.
He points out that the weapon of the violent on both sides of the matter is to create fear and terror through threats and insults to silence and make us flee. He says we must show them that we are the children of Rostam Dastan, and we will not be silenced or flee from the roars of demons and the howls of wolves. We stand bravely and set them in their place with a non-violent movement. The homeland extends its hand of appeal to its noble children, calling them to rise and a movement to renounce violence.
According to Zeidabadi, the non-violent movement, by its nature and goal, does not need an organization, leader, widespread media, or financial backing. It is enough to declare ourselves members of this movement and place ourselves within its circle—a circle that has no highs and lows, no leader and subordinate, and everyone within it is equal and on the same level, accompanying each other.
Don Quixote: The Domestic Gandhis
Arman Amiri, in the ‘Assembly of the Mad’ channel, harshly criticizes Zeidabadi’s call for non-violence and attaches an image of Don Quixote to his writing. Remember the serene spirit of Gandhi, who gained his mesmerizing charisma from his astonishing gentleness, a calmness that truly erupted from the depths of his being, causing even his greatest political enemies to simultaneously be enamored with his composed and lovable character. Compare this model with the self-proclaimed domestic Gandhis.
Then he gives the example of Zeidabadi himself and writes, ‘For instance, the latest version of Mr. Zeidabadi, who has recently officially declared his prophecy, every word of his speech is aggressive, his face flushed, his speech filled with spite, hatred, and anger, and his daily performance is clawing at the face of the world and humanity. This image reminds one of a drunken madman with a sword in hand and foam at the mouth, disheveled hair, and a flushed face, shaking his robe in the air and shouting, ‘Did you understand my non-violence, or shall I explain it to you?’
According to Amiri, Gandhi’s non-violence was his practical method of organizing large protest marches. That is, he never believed that to avoid violence, we should sit at home and become moral teachers for others. However, our domestic non-violent advocates, while dedicating part of their peaceful activities to mocking and ridiculing virtual space activists, have not taken even a single practical step for a protest movement.
Arman Amiri writes that whenever one of these domestic Gandhis shows enough courage and honesty to say, ‘I am going to the street on such and such a day and will engage in a non-violent protest march for the victory of a non-violent revolution,’ I will put aside all my beliefs in respect of this practical honor and walk alongside them with their non-violent tradition.
Iran Gate has been specially covering this event since the beginning of the widespread protests of the Iranian people. You can search for the keyword ‘widespread protests’ to read related articles. We also recommend two related articles to this writing.
- How Not to Get Arrested in Protests
- The Literature of Denial in the Islamic Republic