Tariq Ali vs Steven Pinker: Does politics need violence?

Tariq Ali, Steven Pinker, and Elif Sarican discuss the use of violence and whether it is justifiable in certain instances.

What do you think: is it possible and/or necessary to always condemn violence?

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Most think that social progress should be driven by ideas and persuasion, not force. Yet from the French and Russian Revolutions to the Suffragettes, violent action has been instrumental to creating a better world. Are struggle and conflict the forces of progress rather than reason? Is violence ever justified as a political strategy? Or should we always venerate Gandhi over Guevara?

#progress #enlightenment #revolution

Author of Enlightenment Now and Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, political activist and author of The Clash of Fundamentalisms Tariq Ali, and activist of the Kurdish women's movement Elif Sarican investigate progress. Oxford Professor of History Rana Mitter hosts.

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00:00 Introduction
00:20 Lenin
01:10 A defence of the Russian revolution
04:35 Structural violence
06:00 Steven Pinker response
07:50 Violence against women

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