Various Perspectives on Non-Violence as a Response to Violence

One of my favorite novellas is Tolstoy's The Forged Coupon which explores themes of morality, redemption, and the ripple effects of individual actions on society. The story shows how interconnected we are, especially the manner in which even our smallest actions have consequences beyond our selves. 

The first half of the book details the negative consequences that flow out of a seemingly insignificant act. The second half shows the power of a single good act and its reverberations. The trigger event is a non-violent response to a violence assault.

It could have been a hundred different things, but Tolstoy had a point he wished to make. Every now and then I return to this story and reflect on the issue he raises. Did Jesus really mean it when he said, "But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."? 

Here are some challenging statements from a variety of viewpoints. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. I believe in this method because I think it is the only way to reestablish a broken community.
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Lecture 

"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it."

--Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good. I swear by non-violence because I know that it alone conduces to the highest good of mankind, not merely in the next world, but in this also. I object to violence because, when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.
--Mahatma Gandhi

Time and again, people struggling not for some token reform but for complete liberation — the reclamation of control over our own lives and the power to negotiate our own relationships with the people and world around us — will find that nonviolence does not work, that we face a self-perpetuating power structure that is immune to appeals to conscience and strong enough to plow over the disobedient and uncooperative.
--Peter Geiderloos

We who advocate peace are becoming an irrelevance when we speak peace. The government speaks rubber bullets, live bullets, tear gas, police dogs, detention, and death.
--Desmond Tutu

Non-violence is backed by the theory of soul-force in which suffering is courted in the hope of ultimately winning over the opponent. But what happens when such an attempt fails to achieve the object? It is here that soul-force has to be combined with physical force so as not to remain at the mercy of a tyrannical and ruthless enemy.
--Bhagat Singh

There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.
--Abu Said, Hadith 32

Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.
--Barack Obama

Dr. King's policy was, if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart. That’s very good. He only made one fallacious assumption. In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.
--Stokely Carmichael

There are different forms of anarchy and different currents in it. I must, first say very simply what anarchy I have in view. By anarchy I mean first an absolute rejection of violence.
--Jacques Ellul

The power of unarmed nonviolence is any day far superior to that of armed force.    
--Mahatma Gandhi

Can the hungry go on a hunger strike? Non-violence is a piece of theatre. You need an audience. What can you do when you have no audience? People have the right to resist annihilation.
--Arundhati Roy

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.
--Thomas Edison

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For more on this subject, see: Leo Tolstoy on Pacifism and Non-Resistence to Evil

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2024/06/leo-tolstoy-on-pacifism-and-non.html