Ep. 74: Liberal Gandhi Fetishism and the Problem with Pop Notions of 'Violence'

"The United States believes any Palestinian government must renounce violence,” a U.S. official told Ha'aretz. When it comes to nonviolence, writes Barbara Reynolds in The Washington Post, “Black Lives Matter seems intent on rejecting the proven methods." "Violence Is Never the Answer," New York Times columnist Charles Blow insists.

We are told endlessly that violence is inherently and unequivocally bad, something - when it comes to advocating for social justice or against military occupation and fascism - that’s always to be avoided, condemned and renounced. It must be rejected, our press and politicians declare, in favor of non-violence, so-called "peaceful protests" and the democratic process.

But in popular discourse, discussions of violence aren’t really about violence; rather, they’re about sanctioned versus unsanctioned violence. The routine violence of poverty, racist policing, militarism is never called "violence"–––it's just the way things are, a law of nature, the price of "stability". But unsanctioned violence, namely that carried out by activists, non or sub-state actors, and those generally distant from the halls of power, causes outrage without any coherent criteria for this indignation. 

On this episode, we discuss how what is and isn't deemed "violence" by our media is largely a function of proximity to power and whether those actions challenge or serve the interests of the status quo. 

We are joined by journalist and author Natasha Lennard.

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Guest

Natasha Lennard is a journalist, author and contributing writer for The Intercept. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Vice, The New Inquiry, The Nation and elsewhere. She teaches critical journalism at the New School for Social Research and, with philosopher Brad Evans, co-authored Violence: Humans in Dark Times (City Lights, 2018). Her latest book is Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life (Verso Books, 2019). 

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Show Notes

‘Renouncing Violence’ Is a Demand Made Almost Exclusively of Muslims

Adam Johnson | March 29, 2019 | FAIR

Let's Talk About Violence

Tuomas Kaila | February 8, 2017 | Limited Hangout

Why Won't Mandela Renounce Violence?

David G. Sanders | June 21, 1990 | The New York Times

Mandela and the Question of Violence

Ta-Nehisi Coates | December 11, 2013 | The Atlantic

In Defense of Looting

Vicky Osterweil | August 21, 2014 | The New Inquiry

Let's Not Get Hung Up on Property Damage When We Talk About Protests 

Rick Paulas | December 8, 2014 | Vice

Researchers Link Deaths to Social Ills

Nicholas Bakalar | July 4, 2011 | The New York Times

Iranians are paying for US sanctions with their health

Tamara Qiblawi, Frederik Pleitgen and Claudia Otto | February 22, 2019 | CNN

The Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement 

Martin Luther King, Jr. | September 1, 1967 | American Psychological Association

I am prepared to die

Nelson Mandela | April 20, 1964

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

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