As protests have ignited across the globe in recent days, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: Can nonviolent resistance still spark change in a world where violence increasingly drowns out reason? The stakes have never been higher, and the question looms: Do we possess the maturity to hold the line on peaceful protest, or have we lost the moral fortitude that once guided figures like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.?
Recent events lay bare this troubling dilemma. In the United States, the Black Lives Matter movement—sparked by the killing of George Floyd in 2020—became a defining moment in modern civil rights history. Millions took to the streets, their demands for justice and an end to systemic racism resonating across the world. Yet, despite the peaceful core of these protests, authorities often met them with brute force—tear gas, pepper spray, and mass arrests. Just two weeks ago, protesters at the U.S. Capitol decrying Israel’s actions in Gaza faced similar repression. The message from those in power was clear: Even peaceful dissent will be met with an iron fist.
Across the Atlantic, the United Kingdom grapples with its own demons. What began as peaceful counter protests against the rising tide of right-wing extremism spiraled into violence in cities like Manchester and London. Despite the organizers’ best intentions, the streets erupted, leaving police officers and civilians battered and bruised. These clashes force us to ask: Why can’t we hold onto the discipline of nonviolence, even in the face of provocation? Have we lost the moral compass that once guided history’s great movements?
To understand the stakes, we must look to the past. The 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, India, offers a harrowing lesson.
