I think that Anarchist Spain was positive for the people of spain but they were violent and they violently terrorized people who dont agree! please share all thoughts, Peace and anarchy!

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After some years of living in fear of death and carrying a gun, I recognized this wasn’t something I believed in and felt constantly bad about a willingness to hurt and kill people both as a thing I would express verbally an internal commitment to killing in certain circumstances. So I’m giving that up, I was an absolute pacifist before, some trauma happened and I bought guns, now I’m reckoning with that as a fuck up choice on my part. But I do feel resolved at least about my own action.

What I am struggling with is interfacing with people and groups that are open to violence. I don’t know what to do. On a real level it feels literally deranged to tell a Palestinian person not to fight back, like callous to the reality of the genocide and their options. I obviously can’t just wash my hands of the situation and do nothing at all. I feel like I can’t encourage violence, but I don’t know if my presence is seen as condoning it sometimes and what to do about that. I’m not sure I should care how others interpret my presence even.

I read Ghandi’s thing: https://www.mkgandhi.org/nonviolence/phil8.php

And did find something that hit hard at the end:

Under violence, there are many stages and varieties of bravery. Every man must judge this for himself. No other person can or has the right.

And it reminds me of the Buddha saying not to compare ourselves as better, worse or equal to others. To me that means recognizing the unique in everyone and not judging them for their action but seeking to understand why, even if I resist their actions at times (as against fascism etc.).

So basically, I’m committed to pacifism, but I don’t know the right way to engage with other anarchists (or even just anyone doing activism or any form of resistance or direct action). I don’t want to do anything that encourages killing, I don’t want to be a coward and just hide in the forest when people are living in cages.

I’m really mixed up about it and would appreciate anyone’s thoughts. Especially anything rooted in Buddhism (my religion).

"The pacifist is opposed to using violence but must be prepared to receive it." -Bayard Rustin. I am fairly new to political involvement and am not sure of a label for all my positions, but I consider myself a pacifist so I saw this quote on tumblr and felt inspired to strengthen myself in my beliefs. So how can I as a pacifist be prepared to receive violence? What types of violence should I be prepared to receive? Should it be mental or physical preparation? Or both? (I am asking in multiple subs for variety purposes)

I am new to leftist political thinking and the majority of both ML and anarchist communities call for a necessary amount of "violence." To be honest, they can be quite convincing as well, but it often devolves into things that seem more questionable in terms of their necessity. While I don't know if I am a pacifist, my values and spiritual beliefs hold love and compassion above all else, so if I could live in a world without violence I would.

Anyway, I wanted to ask the community how they differentiate between a violent and a non-violent protest. Does vandalism count as violence? Vandalism can be just revolutionary graffiti on a wall or it can mean throwing a molotov at a building. Is all molotov-throwing violent, even if it does not directly harm any person and looks to demolish a harmful building or equipment?
Are there non-violent forms of protests other than picketing on the streets that have an actual revolutionary potential? Can a revolution even be non-violent?

I am sorry if I am suggesting things that go against pacifism, I do not mean to attack the system of thought, just better understand it.

(Hi im new to the sub so please be gentle<3) I always considered myself a non-violent revolutionary, but my definition of violence is any act that harms a person physically or mentally. So my question is: is the destruction of private property as a means of protest violence? If that is the case what is a better definition of violence? Thanks<3

As a pacifist who struggles with self defense because of my own low self esteem, being autistic and having ADHD, I struggle with self defense because I feel that using self defense would put me at harm.

What types of actions can be justified using force for self defense? Would using self defense against someone who is committing domestic violence and brings their friends along to harm others to silence others be justified? So, self defense against a violent person who coerced his friends to join him to silence people would be justified, yeah?

Like mastodon instances or smth like that.

I just wanted to see what everyones thoughts were on cyber attacks to prevent violence. If no one suffers bodily harm is hacking considered non-violent?

I just cannot understand it... It makes no sense to me! For example I was having a discussion with my mum today and she said "There will always be people higher than you to tell you what to do, that's just how the world is". Well then try and fucking get rid of them!

Sorry for this mini rant on a pretty much dead subreddit, just thought that I could post here and see what people think :)

Hello everyone. I have been very fed up with the socialist subs in general on reddit. I believe they are run by mods who are pro-violence, or at the very least, are OK with it's promotion on socialist subreddits. The ideals of non-violent socialism are being, IMO, hijaked with MAGA-Left intent. I have no intention of stealing people away from this sub. My only intent is to promot non-violent socialism by spelling it out as the name of a sub. I would love to some day see /r/nonviolentsocialism in front of peoples eyes on the front page. There is a huge surge of socialist ideals on Reddit, and I don't want to see it get away from the entire point of socialism, which is anti-authoritarianism.

Those of you in Central Ohio who are into the Catholic Worker Movement, Leo Tolstoy, the Diggers, and other Christian groups against oppression, please reach out. There are plans to throw together a mutual aid group with Christian radical focus. Fundamentalists and bigots need not apply.

Hello! We are the Anarcho-Pacifist Beginner’s Book Club.

Our first book is Free Women of Spain by Martha A. Ackelsberg.

Please feel free to join in our discussion in the comments below.

You can also join our XMPP chatroom by contacting grumbles44@creep.im or flowersformon2@creep.im.