Non-Violent Direct Action

Reading some articles on NVDA (Non-Violent Direct Action) this week, I was surprised not to find a tenet that I learnt was central to NVDA -- bearing in mind that I was trained in NVDA. As one example, Nonviolence Chicago has a typical, critical Principle Four: "Accept Suffering Without Retaliation". What I learnt with regard to Principle Four was far more than that:

• The natural man seeks the minimum possible penalty in the shortest possible time.
• The practitioner of NVDA seeks the maximum possible penalty in the shortest possible time.

This applies where the practitioner of NVDA believes that he or she is representing a just cause, or is innocent of accusation. If one follows this principle of NVDA (say, in a situation of false arrest), the boot may immediately be on the other foot.