Despite the the growing evidence in support of the effectiveness of non-violent campaigns, sometimes groups will grow frustrated with the lack of international attention they get, and resort to violence; for example, the rehashing of tensions in Israel have many Palestines, and many of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in support of the Palestinian run group, Hamas (seen as a terrorist org. by the US). Hamas has been retaliating with violence, as they have in the past, and they have indeed received attention; whereas, the older, non-violent political organization, Fatah, has taken a back seat. Violence was a key reason in the split of friendly ties between Hamas and Fatah in 2007, and it seems like the cooperation between these two influential powers will continue to be marred by the institution of violence in campaigning and resistance.
It seems to me that this is a problem that must be fixed, beginning not with organizations like Hamas, but the international community, including the UN, and several NGO's that fail to recognize and support the legitimacy of non-violent campaigns in their infancy.
Indeed, and perhaps the larger problem we need to fix is the misguided notion that the sort of attention you can get by killing people and blowing up buildings is unlikely to lead to long-term victory or stability.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it's similar to raising children. If you want them to behave well, give them more attention when they behave well than when they behave badly. So many children act out because they think its the only way to get any attention.
ReplyDeleteExactly what Nicole said, so many children act out because they think its the only way to get attention. But in a lot of cases attention isn't given until something wrong occurs. In the case of the first palestine intifada, it didn't gain much international sympathy and help until after the uprising began. If notice is taken sooner maybe violence can be better prevented.
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