Non-Violent Activism in a time of violent politics
At the heart of nonviolent movements is non-dual thinking.
By Amira Makansi (reposted from THE ECOLOGY OF TOMORROW Substack, 9.10.2025)
The Rise of American Political Violence
Charlie Kirk was murdered today. Kirk was a close ally of Donald Trump and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA.
In June, Melissa Hortman, her husband, and her dog were murdered in their homes. She was a Democratic politician, the 61st speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. That same night, another Minnesota lawmaker, John Hoffman, and his wife were shot by the same violent killer.
On December 4, 2024, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed on the streets of Manhattan during a health care conference.
On April 14, a man broke into Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s house and set it on fire, forcing him and his family to flee.
On January 6, 2021, an armed, angry mob stormed the Capitol building, attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and impede the democratic process.
We can choose to stand up and be heard. Whether it is a march or a boycott or even a social media post, our voices and actions have power.
A Dangerous Pattern: Fear + Helplessness = Violence
These events all have something in common: they are the result of a specific track of thinking. It goes like this:
Politics isn’t working.
The system is broken.
No one is listening.
My vote doesn’t matter.
My voice doesn’t matter.
Those on the other side are a threat.
They’re trying to hurt my family, my friends, and people like me.
They’re trying to hurt me.
They must be stopped.
Because politics isn’t working, the system is broken, and no one is listening to me, there is no other way to stop them.
I must take matters into my own hands.
I must eliminate them.
America is Seething with Helpless Rage
Here’s the problem:
Much of the first two-thirds of that train of thinking is what pretty much everyone in America is thinking these days.
When was the last time you thought to yourself, “the system is broken”?
For me, it was maybe 5 minutes ago.
When was the last time you thought “they’re trying to hurt me”? (Pick an issue that’s important to you. Health care? Environmentalism? Racism? Reproductive care? Is the “other side” enacting policies and provisions that have the potential to harm you or others like you on this subject?)
For me, it’s almost every day. I think daily about how multinational oil companies are actively destroying the future of this planet—my future. I think regularly about how health insurance companies are ruining lives and making it difficult or impossible to get the care we need.
I’m as guilty as the next person.
The problem is that, somewhere between “they must be stopped” and “there is no other way to stop them,” a switch is flipped that opens the floodgates to violence.
When we think those on the “other side” are actively trying to harm us, and we feel powerless to enact solutions through civil means, it can seem as if there’s no other way to get what we want—except through violence.
Civility has failed. Violence is the only answer.
But this is binary, dualistic thinking.
Civil Means vs Violent Action: The False Dichotomy
On the one side, there’s civil means of getting what we want: voting, calling our representatives, signing petitions, going to protests, community activism, running for office.
On the other hand, there’s violent means of getting what we want: assassination attempts, storming the Capitol (or the Bastille), political executions.
But to lock ourselves into one or the other is not only dualistic, binary, but it also ignores centuries of non-violent activism that go beyond the bounds of civility, such as:
Sit-ins
Boycotts
Blockades
Refusing to pay taxes
Civil disobedience (non-violent refusal to follow the law)
Labor strikes
Hunger strikes
Together, these tactics are a radical third way between civil means and violent action.
Disobedience is the Third Way
It feels oddly as if we’ve forgotten what non-violent civil disobedience truly means, and exactly how and why it is so powerful at effecting change.
The primary difference between non-violent, civil disobedience and civil activism is the prefix dis-. To disobey means not to obey the law. There’s nothing disobedient about voting, writing letters to your representatives, or protesting with a permit. These methods are too civil. They are perfectly in-bounds. They’re not radical enough to effect true change.
The primary difference between non-violent civil disobedience and violent revolutionary or political acts is obvious: Violence is violence.
There’s a more subtle difference, however. Anything disobedient or disruptive carries the risk of violence. It is simply that we are placing the risk of harm on our own bodies instead of on someone else’s. We are choosing not to be violent, but to place ourselves in the path of violence, as others might choose to be violent in response to our disruption of the normal flow of business.
The radical quality of non-violent civil disobedience is that it is both disobedient and non-violent. It is outside the bounds of civility and legality, but it is perfectly peaceful. The only individuals at risk of being harmed are the protestors themselves.
Examples: Civil Means, Violent Action, Non-Violent Civil Disobedience
Setting Teslas aflame at night is violent means of protest.
Selling your Tesla because you don’t want to be associated with Elon Musk is civil means of protest.
Sitting at the steering wheel of a Tesla on the floor of a dealership during sales hours and refusing to move is non-violent civil disobedience. Someone else will have to harm you in order to change the situation, thus putting them in an uncomfortable position, and drawing attention to your protest.
Assassinating a political enemy is violent means (obviously).
Silently holding protest signs at a rally or speech is civil protest.
Chanting protest slogans at a rally or speech so the crowd can’t hear the speaker is non-violent civil disobedience. Now, the crowd isn’t listening to the speaker—they’re listening to you.
Storming the Capitol is violent.
Marching with a permit outside the Capitol is civil protest.
Sitting in a restaurant you’re legally not allowed to be in is non-violent civil disobedience.
Do you see the difference? Civility doesn’t interrupt anything; it’s too peaceful. It’s not dramatic, it doesn’t call attention, it doesn’t make a splash.
Violence is dramatic and does call attention, yes, but it tears families apart and creates more resistance to your cause. (Brian Thompson, the United Health Care CEO, and Luigi Mangione are unique outliers. Mangione became something of a folk hero, in the tradition of Robin Hood, for murdering Thompson over health care issues.)
Civil disobedience is the non-dual third way: it interrupts normalcy, disrupts patterns, and creates a greater impact. It’s not so passive as civil action; it’s not so harmful as violence. Yet because it is disobedient, it demands attention. It gives us a platform. It disrupts the pattern of business-as-usual.
How to Heal AND Make Change
We have to heal from these dark, violent days. We have to move on from these targeted political killings. This cannot continue to happen.
And yet, there is still so much needed change. So much work to do.
We’ll get there, not through civil action or violent means, but through mass mobilization of coordinated, long-term, non-violent civil disobedience movements. This is the third way.
For those who wish to see change, it may be the only way.