I am not advocating Violence

[DinahMoeHum]

32. Or to paraphrase Al Capone: a kind word and the threat of a gun. . .

will get you better results than just a kind word.



Peter Gelderloos, an author/activist, has similar sentiments, and this interview with Utne magazine and reviews of his book How Nonviolence Protects The State is very enlightening:

http://www.utne.com/2007-05-01/Politics/Arms-and-the-Movement.aspx

(snip)
The U.S. civil rights movement is one of the most important episodes in pacifist history. Across the world, people see it as an example of nonviolent victory. In truth, it was neither nonviolent nor a victory.

On the contrary, though pacifist groups such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference had considerable power and influence, popular support, especially among poor black people, gravitated toward militant revolutionary groups such as the Black Panther Party. According to a 1970 Harris poll, 66 percent of African Americans said the activities of the Black Panther Party gave them pride, and 43 percent said the party represented their own views.

The nonviolent segments of the civil rights movement cannot be distilled and separated from its revolutionary parts. Pacifist, middle-class black activists, including King, got much of their power from the specter of black resistance and the presence of armed black revolutionaries. **
(snip)

(**boldface emphasis is mine - DMH)

Read more: http://www.utne.com/2007-05-01/Politics/Arms-and-the-Movement.aspx?page=2#ixzz1znRXZeAE

Also:
http://www.amazon.com/Nonviolence-Protects-State-Peter-Gelderloos/dp/0896087727/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341533056&sr=1-1&keywords=peter+gelderloos