A call for OWS to renounce violence

http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/153954/why_%23ows_needs_to_denounce_violent_tactics_on_display_at_occupy_oakland/#disqus_thread

"Here’s the key point: Occupy is not an armed conflict – it’s a PR war. Nonviolent struggle is a PR war. Gandhi had embedded journalists on his Salt March. He wasn’t a saint. That was a consciously cultivated media image. He used the press and its power to gain sympathy for his cause. What he didn’t do is say he was nonviolent “unless the cops are d*cks,” a sentiment voiced at Occupy. Nonviolent struggle has nothing to do with how the cops react. In actual nonviolent movements they welcome police overreaction because it helps the cause they’re fighting for.

At some General Assemblies this issue is referred to as 'diversity of tactics.' It means basically if you’re not okay with property damage, but if someone else is, you’re not going to stand in the way. To a liberal ear it sounds like affirmative action or tolerance. It sounds like diversity of opinion – it’s not. It’s 3,000 people peacefully marching and two *ssholes breaking windows; which becomes 3,000 people breaking some windows in news reports.

Violent tactics taint everyone involved evenly – consenting or not."

 Oh man. This is an important point that I would think would be easy to understand.   If  there is violence at a protest, then that's what the media and those in power will show and stress.  It won't matter what your point is. It won't matter if you're right. You will be painted as violent scum not worth listening to.

   Nonviolence has been historically proven to work.  Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Cory Aquino, on and on. Many leaders have successfully used nonviolence to change their society.  True, it doesn't always work. I disagree with Gandhi about whether it would have worked against Hitler, for example.  But good lord, in Oakland?  What did the violence get?  Just a black eye for OWS.

   I believe OWS should publicly and actively renounce violence.  If some bunch of protesters decides to start smashing things, try to stop them if you can, otherwise point at them and yell "shame" or something.  Make it clear that they are no longer a part of your movement since they have resorted to violence.