Violenceor Aggressive Nonviolent Resistance?

Man certainly has the talents and resources adequate to reduce drastically the frustrations which generate violence. Of course, constructive programs and reforms will never completely eliminate tensions and frustrations. Hence we must devise and employ effective alternatives to violence for handling conflicts which arise. Strictly speaking, every action except a violent one is nonviolent. It is necessary, therefore, to indicate what types of nonviolent means one advocates.

Applicable today is a genuine alternative which has not been sufficiently considered or employed: aggressive nonviolent resistance, sometimes called nonviolent direct action. Critics of nonviolence often have very inadequate conceptions of what it may involve. One writer, for example, refers to it merely as a method which oppressors want the oppressed to employ, as being too innocuous to threaten the status quo. To others nonviolence connotes simply passive nonresistance to evil. Quite different from these--and remarkably effective--is the aggressive nonviolent resistance advocated here. While rejecting violence, it is aggressive rather than passive and entails resistance rather than submission.