Riots aren’t a tool for fighting oppression, they are an oppression

We’ve seen protesters in America try to make the same distinction over the last few nights. Across social media there are many viral videos of protesters associated with Black Lives Matter remonstrating with rioters of all races, demanding they stop engaging in violent or criminal activity. Why? Because they fear it disgraces their cause. The girlfriend of George Floyd pleaded for a cessation of violence, as she believes it would grieve her beloved.

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Misgovernance, like police brutality and indifference to justice, can and does lead to riots, because the breakdown of trust between authority and the citizenry creates an opportunity for evil and for unscrupulous people. And in extreme cases misgovernance can lead to revolution, because it creates an opportunity for a much rarer creature, one who is politically savvy and disciplined.

But there is an enormous gulf between protesters who demand that the police be subject to the same rule of law as the citizen and the rioters who detest police because they are criminals who profit and dominate the weak only when there is lawlessness.

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