stop beating students. stop beating students. stop beating students.
I'd been meaning to recommend A Militant Peace, the new short story out now in Clarkesworld--not only because the authors are daveamongus and tobiasbuckell (which, I admit, is the reason I read it in the first place)--but because it's topical, and because it's optimistic without ignoring how hard it is to be optimistic.
The story starts with a quotation from Albert Einstein: I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. And that's what the story is about: a future world in which peacekeepers go into a troubled nation to practice protective non-violence. It's about how hard it is to fight violence with peace, how even with protective technology, even knowing the blow won't do you any harm, it's the hardest thing in the world to turn the other cheek.
As I said, I'd been meaning to rec the story for all of these reasons. But then this morning I clicked a link--brave kids, it said, at the Occupy Cal protest in Berkeley. And even as I cried, watching and listening to them scream as the police beat non-violent protesters, all I could think about was Dave and Toby's story. Because these kids are doing it now, without science fictional technology. They're not just holding their ground, they're refusing to raise their hands to strike back. And that is the bravest thing I've ever seen.
The story starts with a quotation from Albert Einstein: I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. And that's what the story is about: a future world in which peacekeepers go into a troubled nation to practice protective non-violence. It's about how hard it is to fight violence with peace, how even with protective technology, even knowing the blow won't do you any harm, it's the hardest thing in the world to turn the other cheek.
As I said, I'd been meaning to rec the story for all of these reasons. But then this morning I clicked a link--brave kids, it said, at the Occupy Cal protest in Berkeley. And even as I cried, watching and listening to them scream as the police beat non-violent protesters, all I could think about was Dave and Toby's story. Because these kids are doing it now, without science fictional technology. They're not just holding their ground, they're refusing to raise their hands to strike back. And that is the bravest thing I've ever seen.
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