Alternative to Armageddon?
Tindall, James
tiXic .D-tWc;/ ron's n -spoHs . To THe- CHAL . -NO - 0r Alternative to Armageddon JAMES TINDALL T HE YEAR IS 2010. Russian tanks swarm into a small country in Western Europe, spearheading...
...Many qualified government officials refused to participate in the new regime, forcing Kapp to appoint inexperienced men to his cabinet...
...But this invasion is unusual because no shots are fired...
...Sharp heads the project, which is the first of it kind in the world...
...In an effort to get the country moving again, the Soviets round up government officials and tell them to end the strike or face execution...
...I was curious why he did not like being referred to as a pacifist...
...Maybe not in mine," he replied...
...Thousands of workers in Berlin went on strike...
...Finally, responding to mounting resistance, Kapp resigned on March 17...
...Morale problems can develop among troops and police who have the distasteful job of shooting or beating nonviolent resisters...
...on the other hand, the solution...
...And, to play a significant part in a Christian theology of peace...
...Some examples: Q: Without a military, how could the U.S...
...Do you think we will see the end of war in our lifetime...
...CBD must not only help reduce the level of violence in the world, it must also prove an effective method of struggle against oppression and injustice...
...Blunting the aggression of an adversary or oppressor would not be enough...
...FTER THE LECTURE, I met with Sharp for an interview...
...The few leaders that collaborate are socially ostracized...
...As he put it, we may be able to give up military weapons for the same reason we gave up bows and arrows -- not because they are wicked and immoral -- but because we have discovered a better weapons system...
...Immediately, clandestine government radio stations broadcast a call for a general strike to oppose the invaders...
...All governments, and especially oppressive ones, have inherent weaknesses that naturally contribute to their ineffectiveness and limit their control and longevity...
...Throughout the Whittier College lecture and interview Sharp appeared to take great pains to present an amoral image...
...But even the most stable nations would find it beneficial to improve the quality of life for all segments of the population in order to insure a unified civilian resistance...
...We should not expect mass conversions to pacifism or an outbreak of univ&sal altruism, he said...
...Before converting to CBD, a nation with highly centralized industries would probably need to disperse its production facilities, making it more difficult for adversaries to gain control of the economic infrastructure...
...Building on our natural abilities to be stubborn, obnoxious, and incompetent, he said, we can develop nonviolent strategies for national defense...
...Since most countries have militaries they feel compelled to use when invaded, it is perhaps not surprising that there are very few examples of nonviolent national defense...
...The best candidates for transarmament are countries with healthy, harmonious societies...
...And they declare that nonviolent principles "are thoroughly compatible with --- and to some extent derived from -- Christian teachings and must be part of any Christian theology of peace...
...In their letter the bishops write: "Nonviolent means of resistance to evil deserve much more study and consideration than they have thus far received...
...His failure to ask the question reflects our ambivalence toward tax-supported schools: on the one hand, they are the cause of our problems...
...Gandhians and many religious groups insist that converting the opponent to their point of view -- winning their hearts and minds -- is the only true victory...
...illustrates why Sharp has been called the Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare...
...The nation being overrun phased out its military years ago and now relies on a carefully planned program of civilian non-violent resistance to deter its enemies...
...A: Perhaps, but there is no defense against nuclear weapons, and it is the nations with large offensive militaries that are most likely to be targeted...
...I will recount two illustrations here: the defeat of a coup d'6tat in 1920 and an unsuccessful attempt at national defense in 1968...
...For example, when I asked if he thought violence was ever justified, he replied, " I really don't deal with the question of justification.., it's not one that interests me...
...I! A X Commonweal: 236 The Politics of Nonviolent Action does not explore in depth the possibility of using nonviolent sanctions for national defense...
...Instead, the Communist soldiers are greeted by shuttered windows and deserted streets...
...Officers of the Reichsbank refused to disburse money to Kapp because he Could not obtain an authorized signature...
...When the citizenry withdraws its cooperation, the government crumbles...
...Citizens would be trained in nonviolent tactics and to function without a centralized leadership...
...Rather than viewing tyrants as monolithic pillars of granite that need to be destroyed with explosive force, we should see them as pathetically fragile figureheads that can be toppled by simply undercutting their base of support...
...Pacifism is a personal moral position, he said, and does nothing to offer a practical alternative to war...
...Then, as citizens become more comfortable and proficient with CBD, the military could slowly be phased out...
...Often these weaknesses are related to dissension within the ranks of the ruler's agents and a reluctance to carry out orders...
...Imagine a future World in which a defense build-up consists of improving social welfare programs for minorities...
...Mutual nonviolent defense treaties could be implemented between nations to help out with international boycotts and embargoes...
...In part two, The Methods of Nonviolent Action ($4.95,368 pp...
...A: It could not...
...As a result, the troops become restless, morale problems develop, and desertions begin to occur...
...What is needed, he says, is hard-headed research by both governmental and non-governmental institutions to determine its feasibility, and develop and refine strategy and tactics to increase effectiveness...
...Kapp had trouble finding a typist -- or a typewriter -- to prepare his manifesto, and it was delivered too late for the Sunday papers...
...project its power globally in order to preserve its supply of resources...
...Sharp admits his list is far from exhaustive...
...T HE CONCEPT of CBD is very new...
...The bishops state that the objective of nonviolent resistance is "to seek the good of the other...
...Meanwhile, an underground leadership begins to function and the economic shutdown continues unabated...
...Yet years ago Sharp also spent nine months in jail as a conscientious objector, and he is personally opposed to war and violence...
...Sharp cites numerous historical examples of attempts to use nonviolent sanctions...
...This is an important point because if the only objective is "making the adversary a friend," then certain tactics could not be used for fear of alienating the opponent, thus limiting the effectiveness of CBD...
...Americans would first need to accept a narrower definition of national security...
...Some experts have even suggested nonviolent "war games" to carry out local or nationwide practice drills...
...T HE IDEA that power comes out of the barrel of a gun is a myth, says Sharp...
...A country adopting CBD would in effect eliminate the traditional conflict between guns and butter...
...Needless to say, only a certain type of teacher would be effective in these courses...
...Sharp testified before the U.S...
...People can (and do) use nonviolence to gain political goals without espousing a "turn the other cheek" philosophy in their everyday lives...
...Resistance to the Kappists took a number of forms...
...On the need for more research into nonviolent resistance, Sharp and the U.S...
...Soviet troops found themselves clashing with unarmed civilians determined to defend their homeland...
...Thus, even when a nonviolent campaign is unable to change the adversary's way of thinking, it can influence his actions...
...Preparations for CBD would have to include developing a high degree of self-sufficiency through stockpiling and other means...
...Sharp discusses 198 different kinds of actions used during nonviolent campaigns...
...The goal is winning the other over, making the adversary a friend...
...A pirate radio network (which had been set up in case of a NATO invasion) coordinated the resistance by organizing a clandestine congress, calling for short general strikes and urging the people to remain nonviolent...
...Recently Sharp spoke at Whittier College as part of a Quaker-sponsored seminar about national security...
...The nonviolent technique," Sharp writes, is"an underdeveloped political technique, probably at the stage comparable to violent group conflict several thousand years ago...
...The coup occurred in Germany on March 12, 1920, when Wolfgang Kapp and his fight-wing troops marched into Berlin to oust the struggling new government of the Weimar Repub20 April 1984:235 lic...
...The first is conversion...
...As the bishops state, "We believe work to develop nonviolent means of fending off aggression and resolving conflict best reflects the call of Jesus both to love and to justice...
...While interest in Europe is high (a number of smaller political parties are advocating CBD research as part of their platforms), civilian defense is practically unheard of in the United States...
...An effective resistance would concentrate its strongest weapons against the ruler's most vulnerable points...
...civil-fights campaigns and Solidarity's struggle in Poland...
...But Sharp and the bishops would seem to disagree on a key point...
...It seems he is concerned that being characterized as a "peacenik" will hurt his credibility with more mainstream groups, or lead to the impression that nonviolent resistance is 20 April 1984:237 for pacifists only...
...The violence rebounds against the aggressor by strengthening the resolve of the resisting group, alienating previously neutral parties, and increasing sympathy and support for the victims...
...His defeated troops marched out of Berlin the next day...
...Until then, even most moral and well-intentioned Christians will not feel comfortable in renouncing violent forms of struggle...
...Eventually, they were able to install their puppet government after anti-Russian doting provided an excuse for more oppression...
...Many of the questions from the audience demonstrated the gulf between the public's perception of U.S...
...Q: How could we defend our allies with CBD...
...Such education," he continues, "must stress the indispensable values of responsibility, fidelity, and love in sexual relationships...
...Sharp's ideas are most clearly developed in his threevolume monumental work The Politics of Nonviolent Action, available from Porter Sargent Publishers...
...Converting the opponent is all well and good if it should occur, but there are times when this may be impossible, and we must not rule out the more common forms of victory: accommodation and coercion...
...Each volume explores a different aspect of nonviolent strategy...
...Factories close down, key machine parts are "lost," industrial experts go into exile, and normal channels of communication and transportation within the country are disrupted...
...tiXic .D-tWc;/ ron's n -spoHs . To THe- CHAL . -NO - 0r Alternative to Armageddon JAMES TINDALL T HE YEAR IS 2010...
...As a result, Sharp reports, troops had to be rotated out of Czechoslovakia in a few days because of morale problems...
...If the civilian defense had been carefully preplanned, Sharp believes, the Czechs might have held off complete Soviet control for much longer -- perhaps indefinitely...
...But he said he felt there will definitely be some exciting developments in the next few years...
...Needless to say, Fern does not ask where we will find that certain type of teacher...
...Sharp predicts that Sweden will adopt a limited civilian defense plan within two or three years, and there could be several cases of full transarmament in the next twenty to thirty years...
...Sharp develops at length a concept of power which is as simple as it is profound: People are the source of all power...
...He is also the major U.S...
...He called for the development of a functional substitute for war: a way to exercise power that is less destructive to society and human values...
...But it took the Soviets eight months to achieve their goals in the face of spontaneous civilian resistance, versus the two or three days it would have taken them to overpower the Czech military...
...He described himself as a researcher and writer who has come upon an important idea which is beginning to generate a lot of interest...
...Farfetched...
...Gene Sharp believes the possibility now exists to deliberately contribute to a new stage in human history, leading perhaps to the "transformation of politics and the justifiable restoration of hope...
...Major aspects of the Russian Revolutions in 1905 and 1917 involved nonviolent resistance, and the American colonists made effective use of economic boycotts, tax refusal, and political non-cooperation...
...Startled by this strange form of warfare, the Soviets agreed to a compromise that left the Dubcek regime in power...
...How would a nation prepare for CBD...
...Sharp hypothesized that the smaller Western European countries will take the lead in adopting CBD...
...He rejected disarmament, world government, socialism, even pacifism, declaring "none of these are adequate today to address our problems in these extreme forms which they have taken...
...Stockpiling of food, fuel, and other essentials might be encouraged, and contingency plans drawn up to relocate some of the population to rural areas where control would be more difficult...
...And later they write, "Nonviolent resistance offers a common ground of agreement for those individuals who choose the option of Christian pacifism even to the point of accepting the need to die rather than kill and those who choose the option of lethal force allowed by the theology of just war...
...Frustrated, the Soviets blunder by ordering troops to shoot at nonviolent demonstrators...
...Taking an almost military approach to the study Of strategy and tactics, he talks about the importance of timing, the choice of weapons, geographical and physical elements...
...strategy...
...bishops are in complete agreement...
...In both cases the resistance was completely spontaneous...
...That letter received a great deal of publicity because of its criticism of U.S...
...Nations with CBD would threaten no one...
...Gandhi's campaign for Indian independence is the best known illustration of nonviolent struggle...
...Sharp admitted that adoption of civilian defense by the United States, if it ever happens, is a long way off...
...Writing about nonviolent national defense, th~ bishops state that "practical re~ison as well asspiritual faith demands that it be given serious consideration as an alternative course of action...
...I asked...
...In Omaha, a new organization called the Association for Transarmament Studies facilitates research, discussion, and public eduction about CBD in the U.S...
...That's a question social reformers seldom consider when they ask public schools to install expensive programs aimed at reshaping attitudes...
...Last summer Harvard's Center for International Affairs established the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions in Conflict and Defense to do research and policy studies...
...security needs and the capabilities of civilian-based defense (CBD...
...They would have to learn to take care of their own defenses...
...Yet Sharp maintains it was the widespread refusal of the bureaucracy and population to cooperate with his illegal government that ultimately crushed Kapp's Putsch...
...But if a system of nonviolent sanctions can be developed that is as effective as violence, perhaps there is a way out of this dilemma...
...Holyoke College in Commonweal [June 19, 1981...
...Of course, not all societies are ready for transarmament...
...Commonweal: 238...
...Nevertheless, recent developments indicate that awareness is on the rise...
...Sharp is a professor of sociology and political science at Southeastern Massachusetts University and an Associate of Harvard' s Center for International Affairs...
...Q: I f a country adopts CBD, won't it be vulnerable to nuclear attack...
...A: We could not...
...When a government is faced with massive popular nonviolent opposition, those cracks in the bureaucracy tend to widen...
...Some are practices by single persons (speak-ins, fasting), others by entire nations (boycotts, embargoes...
...But Gene Sharp has reason to believe we could see a scenario like this within twenty-five years...
...Sharp does not advocate transarmament for any nation at this point...
...The third is coercion, achieved through nonviolence: against his will, the opponent is forced to concede because his power base has been dissolved...
...Yet surprisingly, in many of the examples Sharp describes, the resisters were completely or partially successful...
...But the bishops also suggest ways in which Christians can help develop policies that lead away from nuclear confrontation...
...In part one, Power and Struggle, ($2.95,144 pp...
...But Sharp points out that nonviolent sanctions had been used extensively (although perhaps less skillfully) long before Gandhi...
...The Catholic bishops are not the only religious body to recognize the potential importance of civilian defense...
...Finally, realizing that the costs of continued occupation Outweigh any possible benefits, the Soviets withdraw...
...Russian tanks swarm into a small country in Western Europe, spearheading an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops...
...Some of these are clever (in 1968 the Czechs removed street signs to confuse invading troops), some are bizarre (protest disrobings), most are commonplace (protest marches and strikes...
...What is needed is for Christians who are concerned about the increasing violence of modern warfare to encourage research into nonviolent methods of resistance...
...Several reasons compel our looking at the question and its implications...
...Czech leaders who weren't kidnapped by the Soviets issued statements denying that the Warsaw troops had been invited in...
...With nonviolent struggle, however, there is no need to wait for participants to adopt a new set of moral values...
...A nation would first develop a limited CBD capacity alongside their military...
...The second, accommodation, occurs when the opponent doesn't agree with the resisters, but decides it is too costly to continue to fight...
...nl _~ FRANK ZEPEZAUER teaches English at Menlo-Atherton High School in California...
...Sharp concedes that the coup was amateurish and poorly planned...
...When governments go on the offensive, using violent measures, they often experience difficulty in suppressing nonviolent resistance...
...Often these struggles were undertaken without planning, preparation, or any real knowledge of the dynamics of nonviolent action...
...Accommodation is probably the most common path to victory...
...l 1 . - . . . . T ~ . _ . . T _ILT_-.~_~SS_.~_-LLL.__U_3~-V-_ ~ S T - . - - ~ - ~ T T Y . - - ~ - ~ - - ~ : ' ? : : : ~ 2 2 ~ . ~ . 5 - . . . . - " . r , * *~ l ' , ! n ~ J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : = ~ , , . -1"O "TE'F~(a .,, ,, ",_ SEX EDUCATION IS ONLY THE LATEST EXAMPLE The question they never ask FRANK ZEPEZAUER ~ I~~!E SHOULD HAVE compulsory sex education in the Ill public schools," says Dean William Fern of Mt...
...Sharp told me that the Netherlands has already approved funding to study certain aspects of what they call "social defense," while the Swedish cabinet has authorized a commission to prepare a plan for incorporating nonviolent resistance into Sweden's defense program...
...President Ebert fled without a fight but proclaimed that he was still head of the legal government...
...But when half a million Warsaw Pact troops stormed into Czechoslovakia in 1968 to replace the Dubcek regime with a puppet government, Czech officials ordered soldiers to remain in their barracks...
...Sharp, the pragmatist, would counter that the only goal of nonviolent action must be victory...
...The United Methodist church has adopted a resolution calling for more study on CBD, and there is interest among some evangelicals...
...And, as in most instances of spontaneous resistance, there was a certain amount of violence, especially in outlying towns...
...They experience what Sharp calls "political jujitsu...
...Adding to Soviet demoralization was the fact that very few Czech government leaders and police collaborated with the invaders...
...More recent examples include U.S...
...Yet, whether we are liberals calling for up-to-date courses in sexuality or conservatives demanding Judeo-Christian moral training, we must first ask, "Where will we find enough good teachers to do the job...
...Yet while both Sharp and the bishops advocate more study of nonmilitary defense, they appear to approach nonviolence from fundamentally different perspectives...
...In Dynamics Sharp also discusses the three ways a nonviolent campaign can be successful...
...Sharp sincerely believes that CBD can stand on its own as a practical, effective alternative to war...
...Perhaps...
...In the past, Christians faced with evil and injustice have often had to choose between two distasteful alternatives: submit, or resist with force of arms...
...Catholic bishops for their pastoral letter on war and peace...
...Usually nonviolence was used as a last resort, when all else had failed...
...This process is called transarmament...
...Part three, The Dynamics of Nonviolent Action ($5.95,480 pp...
...nuclear . . . . . . I I JAMES TINDALL is a free-lance writer and radio producer in Los Angeles with a special interest in nuclear and peace issues...
...One goal of preparation would be to prevent the mass bewilderment, uncertainty, and passivity that often occurs during an invasion...
...proponent of civilian-based defense -- a system of national defense that utilizes nonviolent resistance...
...A corps of defense workers could be established to coordinate different aspects of the resistance...
Vol. 111 • April 1984 • No. 8
