the only thing

Apparently some of the victims of the Israeli commando attack this morning on the relief convoy headed for Gaza responded to the attackers' violence with counter-violence. Big mistake.

There's always a temptation to answer violence with violence, plus there's a certain amount of what the Mexicans call "macho" at work here -- I don't know what the Arabic word for it is, but I'm sure there is one. The problem is, in order for protests of this sort to work they have to be scrupulously, strictly, and completely non-violent, even in the face of deadly violence. Otherwise, world opinion becomes confused and muddled, and the aggressors are handed an opportunity to muddy the waters of public discourse. When the victims respond passively, such opportunities are not available.

The next relief convoy needs to be twice as large, with twice as many people from twice as many countries on board. It needs to be soon, and it needs to be completely non-violent.

Gandhi and Martin Luther King understood perfectly the reasons why. Non-violence has a moral component, of course, but its significance as a strategy and a tactic is even more important. It's the only way a weaker and largely disarmed people can prevail against a stronger, heavily-armed opponent, particularly one impelled to action by fear and rage. Acting like a "real man" in the face of violent aggression may be psychologically satisfying, but it's not as important as winning. Coach Vince Lombardi of Green Bay Packers fame knew this, as evidenced by his pithy remark, "Winning isn't the most important thing, it's the only thing."