Oppression, Revolution and ViolenceAn analysis of the last resorts

to bringing about justice in the 3rd

World

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Revolutions in the Third World—The Causes

Violence as a tool of political struggle —

When is it legitimately Justified?

The aftermath:

Can democracy be born in violence?

Revolution

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• Theda Skocpol’s definition– “Rapid, basic transformation of a society’s state and class

structures; and they are accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below…… occur through intense socio-political conflicts in which class struggles play a key role”

• How “rapid”?

• What counts as “basic transformation”

Causes of revolutions

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• Economic Theory - Marx– Exploitation of labour causes alienation and

dehumanization of labour

– At certain point, existing economic superstructure can no longer sustain

– The exploited working class will revolt to start a new economic order

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– “Relative deprivation”, “J-Curve”: The disparity between expected satisfaction and reality

– Leading to stress, frustration and in some cases, participation in mass movements and revolutions

Psychological theory – Ted Gurr and James Davies

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BUT…

– Too much emphasis on certain classes?

– Applicable to the Third World?

• The dynamics of dependent socieities

• Rural population or urban actors?

Social-structural theory: Theda Skocpol

– A study of Russia, France and China

– Several factors together sufficient for revolution

• Emergence of state crises (e.g. war)

• Weak state

• Sociopolitical structure conducive to peasant revolts

• Role of state-making elites

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Combination of all 5 factors make revolution successful

John Foran – Five interrelated causal factors

Economic downturn

Repressive, exclusionary government: Repression of

lower class force and exclusion of middle class and elites from

government

Political culture of opposition Culture and ability to mobilize

mass participation (Cultural factor)

World-systemic opening “a powerful conjuncture arises for revolutionary movements to succeed”

Dependant development The internal and external

dynamics of core-peripherial relationship

Application of the model

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• Case study: Angola

– Dependant economy: Agricultural and mineral riches exploited by Portuguese colonial masters “Portugal’s African Jewel”; weak and undercapitalized local economy

– Repressive state: Typical “separate society” colonial state

– Culture of opposition: Long history of resistance to Portuguese rule

– Economic Downturn + World-systematic opening: Internal revolution within Portugal; Failure of post-Salazar government; Simultaneous colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde

Result: Independence of Angola (though quickly lapse into civil war)

– Colonial master’s rule by violence

– Segregation between colonizers and natives: “The Manichean society”

– Native society dehumanized and de-culturized

– Violent revolution necessary for the native to start a new humane society

– Successful examples from abroad: Dien Bien Phu of Vietnam

– Tactics of guerrilla warfare

Frantz Fanon – Dehumanization Thesis

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“My intimate knowledge of many central African tribes has everywhere convinced me of the necessity that the Negro does

not respect treaties but only brute force.”

• General Adrian Dietrich Lothar von Trotha on German South West Africa

“At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction, it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect.”

• Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, p. 74

The justification of violence

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Frantz Fanon's “concerning Violence”

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• Context of Algerian occupation— the violence in the act of occupation at the first place

• A Psychological dimension into the sufferings of the natives

• The role of violence in remedying the sufferings, and facilitating the course of decolonization

definitions

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Notions of “violence”: Compelling demands against one's will with threats of using force

The 2 dimensions of

Psychologically freeing the consciousness of the native from the effects of colonization, being the state of alienation and dehumanization

Physically freeing a territory from the external control of the settlers.

“Decolonizing”

Premises:P1: The colonization was not legitimate and is rooted from violent sources

P2: The suppressed is entitled to 2 things: physical reclamation of sovereignty +

liberation and/or remedy from psychological suffering of colonization

P3: No non-violent options available to serve the ends of remedy nor driving away of settlers

con. “Violence is not only justified, it is required”

The violent nature of colonizationAn “implantation” of an irrelevant society –Fanon

the natives’ identity, sovereign right and “humanity” cleanly stripped by the ruling settlers.

Any demand for such non-recognised rights constitutes to violation of the settler’s law, and equates to violent punishment, systems of torture, etc.

Segregated schools; army barracks and police stations

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Stakeholder analysis

Political parties Urban intellectuals with certain interests in colonial system. They desire reform of system, not its removal.

Colonialist bourgeoisie They promote compromise and non-violence. e.g. “Bus boycotts”

“these are solutions in the form of ‘sleep cures’, they work people off energy, but not to bring about real change.”--Fanon

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Under Fanon’s diagnosis, the natives are found to engage in “mechanisms of avoidance” to suppress “urges of violence”

Dreams — Native avoids realities of colonial limits/boundaries with dreams full of action.

Redirection of aggression

Towards fellow native - tribal warfare, quarrels, etc.

In terrifying myths - malefic spirits, zombies, fatalism. Use to facilitate mental avoidance from reality

Psychological Profile of the Native

Remedial effects of violence

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•Immediate relief through natural response to the colonial violence

•Liberating the consciousness of the native from the effects of alienation and dehumanization

•Facilitates the building of solidarity in the struggle for freedom

•Structurally bringing down the social institutions of the colonial community

…Do they disprove the possibility of available alternatives?

Premises:P1: The colonization was not legitimate and is rooted from violent sources

P2: The suppressed is entitled to 2 things: physical reclamation of sovereignty +

liberation and/or remedy from psychological suffering of colonization

P3: No non-violent options available to serve the ends of remedy nor driving away of settlers

con. “Violence is not only justified, it is required”

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ASSUMED that use of violence as the only means of RELEVANT remedy

Automatic regaining of Provision of sovereignty + monetary remedy?

The non-violent movement by Ghandi

The morality of “An eye for an eye”?

Common Critiques

What if violence fail?

Would it lead to more insecurity? Allowing violence for the sake of it or the means to the end of ultimate security?

By-products of violence

Build-up of tensions, and induce the Colonial gov. to “engage” with force.

more uncertainty—”Guns go off by themselves”

Our opinion

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”to the point where the repressed society lost control, and that it just so happened that violence broke out, the suppressed society is not to be blamed.”

“you can use violence to achieve certain political goals”

Violence = an option to consider?

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Does Fanon's justification extends to other

other contexts?

e.g. Capitalist regimes

forms of political struggle?

e.g. fight of ideologies?

e.g. Religious freedom?

So… Can democracy be birthed in violence?

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– It takes hundreds of years and tremendous violence for Western European states to develop into modern democracies, now the Third World is required to complete state-building under a very tight schedule and lots of external interference

– In the Third World, mass politics come before formation of strong states

– Colonialism distorts state-making – e.g. Inherited colonial border houses distinct and sometimes hostile ethnic groups (e.g former Yugoslavia); difficulty in forming a common identity; delayed development of economies

– Further destabilization by accelerated modernization

Mohammed Ayoob on state building

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• Some reservations: Extent of violence Exploitation of solidarity by Religious

extremists and military coups “What” violence is necessary?

– Consider the case of Sinn Fein and the IRA of the Republic of Ireland

When will violence stop?

“Violence used in specific ways at the moment of the struggle for freedom does not

magically disappear after the ceremony of trooping the national colours” (Fanon, p. 59)

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“The atmosphere of violence, after having coloured all the colonial

phase, continues to dominate national life” (Fanon, p. 60)