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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2015)
Page 6 New Prices Effective May 1, 2014 Martin Cleaning Service O PINION Careers July 22, 2015 Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial Services Minimum Service CHG. $45.00 $VPDOOGLVWDQFHWUDYHO charge may be applied CARPET CLEANING 2 Cleaning Areas or more $30.00 Each Area 3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHDV (Includes: 1 small Hallway) 1 Cleaning Area (only) $40.00 ,QFOXGHV3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHD (Hallway Extra) Stairs (12-16 stairs - With Other Services) Area/Oriental Rugs $25.00 Minimum Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) $40.00 Minimum Heavily Soiled Area Additional $10.00 each area (Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying) UPHOLSTERY CLEANING 6RID /RYHVHDW 6HFWLRQDO &KDLURU5HFOLQHU $25 - $49 Throw Pillows (With Other Services) ADDITIONAL SERVICES • Area & Oriental Rug Cleaning $XWR%RDW59&OHDQLQJ • Deodorizing & Pet Odor Treatment • Spot & Stain Removal Service • Scotchguard Protection • Minor Water Damage Services SEE CURRENT FLYER FOR ADDITIONAL PRICES & SERVICES Call for Appointment (503) 281-3949 Nonviolence the Superior and Sustainable Path The best way to ¿JKWUDFLVPDQG militarism T OM H. H ASTINGS Democracy, said Winston Churchill, is the worst form of gov- ernment—except for all the rest. This is also true for nonviolence. When people are victims of injustice, especially a violent injustice, a violent re- sponse is easy to justify. “I’m not going to sit still while someone at- tacks me,” is quite reasonable. But the consequences of our actions are worth considering. If our violent self-defense or defense of others actually makes the out- comes worse, we should think it through. Almost invariably, non- violence is the worst response— except for all the rest. It is most instructive when ana- lyzing this question to ask, “What is the goal? How did we fail to achieve it? How did we succeed in achieving it?” When we follow the trail to the eventual outcome, we learn that nonviolence is, by far, the superior and sustainable path. BY Often it’s helpful to ask the counterfactual. What if Rosa Parks had punched the bus driver in the nose? She may have gotten a few oth others to also get physical an violent, but she never, and ev would have generated ever na nationwide sympathy and th public policy changes the th ensued. that What if Cesar Chavez ha approved when his mi- had gr grant farmworkers fought EDFN ZLWK ¿VWV DIWHU WKH\ ZHUH attacked by white members of the Teamsters union? They might have beaten down some bullies— and never generated the wide- spread direct support of main- stream Americans that enabled their victories. One must wonder about the counterfactual operating in the other direction. What if Mus- lims opposed to US military aid to Egypt and to the Saudi royal family—two regimes who may be Muslim but who use US mili- tary aid to oppress their own peo- ple--had devised and conducted a purely nonviolent campaign to challenge that policy? Instead we saw Osama bin Laden declaring all through the 1990s and beyond that US support for corrupt Mid- dle East regimes made him and his followers enemies of the US. We saw what they did on Sept. 11, 2001. And what if Hamas were com- pletely nonviolent, staging peace- ful demonstrations in opposition to Israeli domination and oppres- sion? What if they made a special appeal to US citizens based upon their nonviolent suffering and re- sistance to Israeli injustice? What if they demonstrated the same ¿HUFH QRQYLROHQW GLVFLSOLQH WKDW African Americans did during the Civil Rights movement and asked the US citizens to oppose US mil- itary aid to Israel? The research is clear, insofar as it goes. We have barely begun to perform massive, empirical stud- LHV RI FRQÀLFWV DQG WKH PHWKRGV chosen to wage them, but again DQG DJDLQ UHVHDUFKHUV DUH ¿QG- ing that the record is clear. By the numbers, nonviolence is the best chance to achieve stated goals. It is also faster, and involves much lower costs. Much. When we hear someone say that guns helped the Civil Rights movement to succeed, or that vi- ROHQW VHOIGHIHQVH LV MXVWL¿HG RU that burning down buildings in ULRWVLVWKHEHVWZD\WR¿QDOO\JHW attention, let us bear in mind the outcomes. The US Civil Rights movement achieved gain after gain for about 10 years, from Rosa Parks to the Voting Rights Act, 1955-1965. Then riots and armed black power self-defense began and the gains all screeched to a halt and stayed halted to this day. Nonviolence is lousy for those whose emotional needs for bloody revenge and catharsis are higher than care for actual results. This is understandable. This is even MXVWL¿DEOHLQPDQ\FDVHVLQPDQ\ philosophies. But it fails, general- ly speaking, again and again. The best way to move our hu- man rights, civil rights, justice and freedom desires forward is for good people to get involved, be both nonviolent and disciplined, and to insist on the public policy FKDQJHV WKDW ZLOO ¿[ RXU YDULRXV and serious problems, from racism to militarism. Is this easy? Nope. If it were, I would be reporting that it had all been worked out and solved. But LVLWSRVVLEOH"<HV7KDWLVSURYHQ again and again in our US history. Our best hope is to reward nonvio- lence and to participate in it. Dr. Tom H. Hastings is core IDFXOW\ LQ WKH &RQÀLFW 5HVROXWLRQ Department at Portland State University and is founding direc- tor of PeaceVoice.