Pacifism simply does not resonate in people’s everyday realities, unless those people live in some extravagant bubble of tranquility from which all f… - Peter Gelderloos

Oppressive social hierarchies exist and replicate themselves in the behavior of all subjects and must be overcome internally as well as externally.

When we understand that privileged people derive material benefits from the exploitation of oppressed people, and that this means we benefit from the violence used to keep them down, we cannot sincerely condemn them for violently rebelling against the structural violence that privileges us.

Modern governments, which have long studied methods of social control, no longer view peace as the default social condition, interrupted only by outside agitators. Now they understand that the natural condition of the world (the world they have created, I should editorialize) is conflict: rebellion to their rule is inevitable and continuous. Statecraft has become the art of managing conflict, permanently. As long as rebels continue to carry olive branches and a naive view of the struggle, the state knows that it is safe.