Is Non-violence Political?

Non-violence is essential to civil disobedience. This feature usually leads to consider this form of political action as vain since it is harmless. Yet one must neither confuse non-violence with irresolution, nor reduce violence in politics to the use of ruthless and armed force. Violence is the unavoidable background of political activity. And if the bold use of violence is traditionally rejected in democracy, contestation movements unceasingly invent forms of non-violent action that prove their effectiveness.