Most likely never. Violent revolution is a last-ditch desperation tactic that almost always fails. This is why it is important to act before you arrive at that last ditch.
It’s interesting to note that I’ve spent the last two years here advocating for non-violent civil disobedience, based on the MLK/Gandhi model. I consistently argue against aggressive violence. And yet I am still routinely accused of promoting violent revolution.
Meanwhile, the constant mass slaughter of the US empire mostly passes without comment or concern.
An illustrative comparison:
Osama bin Laden ordered an attack on the USA that killed about three thousand people. It was a terrible crime.
A few years later, after bin Laden was assassinated by SEAL Team Six, the people of the USA publicly celebrated en masse. There was literally dancing in the streets. This celebration was thoroughly bipartisan, and the tiny amount of resistance to it was focused upon decorum rather than substance.
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On the other hand, George W Bush ordered an attack on Iraq. Direct casualties were at least a few hundred thousand, indirect casualties over a million. The count is still rising due to the continuing aftereffects; we will never really know how many lives were destroyed by the US invasion.
This was also a terrible crime (and was not the only act of GWB’s to result in mass slaughter).
But, for some reason, the national bipartisan gloating over OBL was just fine, while a clearly rhetorical reference to the ethical justification of using force to prevent GWB’s crimes is apparently deeply offensive.
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An important factor in this is that, to me, the death of an Iraqi or Afghan is exactly as offensive as the death of an American. No more, no less.
If George W Bush had murdered a million Americans, if he had been responsible for three hundred 9/11 attacks, how concerned would you be about expressions of hostility towards him? How happy would you be to see him walking around unpunished, rehabilitated and accepted by the wealthy elites?
When I say that George W Bush is a mass-murdering war criminal, I am making a statement of fact. It is not a political slogan.
In a just world, he would be dragged before the Hague, stripped of all wealth and power, and spend the rest of his miserable life sweeping up the rubble in the cities he destroyed.
The continued acceptance of GWB by the US public is an insult to the survivors in the nations he attacked. It is also a very obvious demonstration of the point that the victims of the US empire are not really considered to be human.
