20 Years after Tiananmen Square

The recent twenthieth anniversary of Tiananmen square serves to highlight the extreme difficulties that reform movements, whether political, economic, or social, face when confronted by the entrenched power of state and corporate opposition. Invariably these standoffs result in a massacre, as the ruling elites have few compunctions against using violence to maintain control. Throughout history those who have sought change through peaceful means have encountered the violent resistence of the status quo. Of course, one can always uncover a few seeming success stories amongst the carnage- the overthrow of british rule in india, the civil rights movement in america, the fall of the berlin wall- but these examples represent a conflux of unique social and historical circumstances and do not reflect the general pattern. The truth is that most reform movements end in failure, or else accomplish their aims either too slowly or too partially to ever be considered as truly successful.
Unfortunately, the problems now confronting us are of such grave magnitude that we cannot afford these compromises, and yet the options available to us are seemingly limited. Are we to respond to force with armed resistence, as the majority of 20th century revolutionary movements did? No, for any group willing to use armed force has demonstrated itself to be based on an illegitimate kind of power and is not deserving of respect or consideration. Force is coercion, and coercion implies a lack of agreement. And where there is no agreement there is no equality. This moral standard is just as valid when applied to us as it is to them.
The ability of one group to exercise power over another group, or of one individual to exercise power over another individual, represents the ultimate failure of human equality. Any society which professes to be based on equality and nevertheless uses force has betrayed its foundational principles.
So how is a movement to counter these effects?
DISOBEY.Stop following the rules- rules which you have had no part in crafting and which do not serve human intrests or values. We need to stop participating in our own enslavement, by becoming educated and revealing the system for what it really is- a corrupt tool used to supress human freedom.