In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Joe Biden praised unarmed Ukrainians stopping tanks. He did not praise them enough. Nonviolent resistance to oppression, occupation, and invasion is more likely to succeed than violent; the successes tend to be longer lasting; and — added benefit — the chance of nuclear war is decreased rather than increased.
We go to Kyiv to speak with Yurii Sheliazhenko, executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, who says “support of Ukraine in the West is mainly military support” and reports that his country “focuses on warfare and almost ignores nonviolent resistance to war.”
This week on Talk World Radio, we’re talking with Alfred de Zayas, author of Building a Just World Order.
In 2019, the RAND Corporation tentacle of the U.S. Military Industrial Congressional “Intelligence” Media Academic “Think” Tank Complex published a report claiming to have “conducted a qualitative assessment of ‘cost-imposing options’ that could unbalance and overextend Russia.”
Unarmed Ukrainians changing road signs, blocking tanks and confronting the Russian military are showing their bravery and strategic brilliance.
The defenders of Ukraine are bravely resisting Russian aggression, shaming the rest of the world and the UN Security Council for its failure to protect them.
A romanticized belief in violence renders people irrational to the point of hurting ourselves, over and over again.
Throughout history, people facing occupation have tapped into the power of nonviolent struggle to thwart their invaders.
