a comment from a friend, thanks

i wanted to post the excellent thoughts of a friend who left a comment on my last blog entry, i thought i would post it here as to make sure that people read it (i am assuming its ok):


It is also worth pointing out that South Africans resisting apartheid sometimes used violent means; the ANC had an "armed wing" or militia as well, and they sometimes attacked civilian targets. And that does not make the struggle against apartheid any less justified or worthy of support. I think there is a tendency, at least in the US, to talk about South Africa as the "good" national liberation struggle that won international support because it used only nonviolent means--instead of pointing out that it won international support because the cause was just and the world woke up to the reality of what was going on.

The ANC had a theory of struggle called "four pillars of resistance." The four pillars were armed struggle, underground organizing, mass nonviolent protest action, and international solidarity. They saw all of these types of resistance as working together, with some being more or less important/useful at particular times depending on the context of the struggle. I think this is a really useful framework for thinking about Palestinian resistance as well. We have so much to learn from the South African struggle and most of us are just beginning to get our heads around how to apply those lessons.