This comes as part of an entry I made on my blog (visionaryhumanity.blogspot.com), and as well as a way to continue (and go further than) the critiques of pacifism or passive nonviolence as discussed at some length by two leading social critics Derrick Jensen and Ward Churchill.

If you watch the video I put up on my profile page of Derrick Jensen, you'll see that he makes some valid points as he goes over some interesting truths in comparing today's nonviolent activists as they would appear in the movie "Star Wars". Basically, Jensen puts down nonviolent pacifism in a humorous way, yet leaves out the promotion of any consciousness about *why* people like pie-throwers do as they do. He also leaves out any demystification of why and how people like his poetic metaphor Darth Vader come to be, suggesting that violence "solves" problems.

Jensen goes to some length in the other portions of his speech that this "Star Wars" video is taken from, telling us that "violence solves problems" and illustrates this with its continual use by the State and statecraft. The thing of it is, force only drives rebellion under ground, and perpetuates and deepens alienation. Arguments can be made, sure, of some valid grey areas in this, still, but I'll leave that for another time.

The bottom line for Jensen (and I think Churchill as well) is that he is for a many-tiered approach; while wanting to challenge the game that many "alternative" elites seem to be playing in pacifism.

One approach that has gone missing in all of the dialogue that I've seen is the approach of confrontive nonviolence. Saul Alinsky touched on this method in the 1940s and 50s in Chicago and Rochester, NY (i.e. "the back of the yards" organizing).

I'm lacking time right now, so I'll have to close this quickly. Basically, we need to understand that the two confines of violence and pacifism have been caught up by the limits of playing politics at all. And we can move beyond "politics". (more later! And do see my other blog!)