If two parties are at odds with one another, and one on them is willing to use violence and the other isn’t, the violent party wins.

Non violence works when people care about what you’re going through. If the right people know and care they’ll come in and do violence for you to make it stop. Or at least verifiably threaten violence. But violence is happening whether you did it or not.

Nazis don’t give a shit about you, they’re eager for violence. They want to exterminate entire classes of people. Non violence does not work on Nazis, we’ve already seen this play out once before.

Punched a Nazi in the jaw at a party once. He left and everyone was happier once he did. Fuck that Nazi and his sore Nazi jaw.

I don’t think a lot of Lemmy users are out in the world doing much punching.

Make the world a better place

Punch a nazi in the face

Anarchism isn’t non-violent. To assume anti-oppression and pacifism are one and the same is to make the same mistake Engels makes in On Authority.

Authority is violent, but violence is not authority.

Edit: on this topic I’d recommend Anark’s video on Power, where he explains that anarchism seeks to create a horizontal power structure. It is not the absence of power structures, it displaces oppressive power structures with egalitarian ones.

I’m not a naturally violent person and thankfully haven’t found myself in a position where I’ve needed to defend myself or others from neo-nazis. But I’m sure I would if it came to it. Neo-nazis are few and far between in my country, but if I seen one get a kicking I wouldn’t be standing in to help them.

I live in Germany. No punches are needed here, just call the cops and BAM off to jail with the idiot.

I became a leftist, because I got enough of the liberal “they go low, we go high” mantra. You never turn the other cheeck to a person, who will proceed to punch it again. In fact, if they once failed to do better in such cases, they’re just want to abuse your fair game.

I’m with you. Many of “them” want to get violent and are looking for a reason to do so. By throwing a punch, it provides justification for their violent actions. So many folks here indicate that you won’t change somebody unless you fight them, but I’ve read and heard plenty of evidence to the contrary. One quick source is How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes. I also heard an interview with a woman who grew up in a cult and how she learned how to “deprogram” people.

I like to think of it a lot like fishing. Once you get a fish on the hook, you can’t just pull hard and bring 'em in. You need to set the hook and then reel them in slowly.

Hey, you guys are going Nazi punching? Can I join?

The anarchists cookbook is 99% misinformation, and outdated on top.

Non-violence is a nice ideal, but just that. There’s only so much protests can do, if nazi germany had been met with non-violence, imagine what would have happened. Conversely, imagine how many lives would have been saved if Hitler had been stopped before becoming it’s leader. It’s the same thing with US politics, Trump is basically a neo nazi. This is undeniable if you read project 2025. The US is drifting further and further right, and that means closer and closer to becoming a new nazi germany. And besides all that, if someone is advocating for killing me, then I’m going to want them gone.

The main argument is that the means dictates the ends, so if we want a non violent (and non opressing) society, punching people won’t help.

And this failed logic is exactly why we are where we at right now, on the brink of the Fourth Reich rising across the US and Europe.

Because tolerant people have forgotten the most important thing about a tolerant society.

That it must be rigorously and viciously defended from those who seek to exploit the social contract to elevate their attacks on it, and it requires far more than words and wind to achieve that… again, as evidence of where we are now as a society. Because their ultimate goal is to undo the society we love, and replace it with oppression, fear, and hatred.

Spent enough time in the punk scene to know some people are very serious about it.

Tolerance ends with intolerance. Being nice and civil leads to things like the storming of the US Capital. If US Republicans, for example, felt no resistance then they would organize a crusade into Springfield Ohio.

It is because we live in a world of controversy and civil unrest that racists cannot simply commit massacres and lynchings like in the old days.

We have to show fangs, not bellies, to aggressive animals.