Guns can provide opportunity, but (in spite of Mao claiming to be communist) it truly comes from the joining of people for common cause. A gun can help even the playing field, but it can easily be abused by those with ulterior motives.
Yeah, power can be abused, what else is new? But people joining for a cause also doesn’t do much if they don’t have the means to enforce their cause with violence - usually they’ll just get overwhelmed by whoever does have the means for violence. Peaceful revolutions are possible (e.g. Indian independence), but they require relatively specific circumstances and a lot of people who are willing to stay nonviolent even as they’re beaten up (and worse) by the police. I suppose you can do almost anything peacefully if your group is large enough and has enough cohesion, but that’s incredibly difficult to achieve and I think it’s actually more difficult nowadays, because everyone has a handheld communication device on them at all times that’s filled with fascist propaganda.
I suspect the idea of other countries/British citizens/colonists eventually responding violently to the British treatment of India played a role in britains calculus as well.
Who decides who the powerful are :P ?
Can’t believe I’m quoting fucking Mao, but: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Guns can provide opportunity, but (in spite of Mao claiming to be communist) it truly comes from the joining of people for common cause. A gun can help even the playing field, but it can easily be abused by those with ulterior motives.
Yeah, power can be abused, what else is new? But people joining for a cause also doesn’t do much if they don’t have the means to enforce their cause with violence - usually they’ll just get overwhelmed by whoever does have the means for violence. Peaceful revolutions are possible (e.g. Indian independence), but they require relatively specific circumstances and a lot of people who are willing to stay nonviolent even as they’re beaten up (and worse) by the police. I suppose you can do almost anything peacefully if your group is large enough and has enough cohesion, but that’s incredibly difficult to achieve and I think it’s actually more difficult nowadays, because everyone has a handheld communication device on them at all times that’s filled with fascist propaganda.
I suspect the idea of other countries/British citizens/colonists eventually responding violently to the British treatment of India played a role in britains calculus as well.
The rich.