Violent Direct Action
Violent direct action is any direct action which utilizes physical injurious force against persons or property. While groups such as Animal Liberation Front and Sea Shepherd claim that destruction of property is not violence, US and international law include acts against property in the definition of violence. Examples of violent direct action include: destruction of property, rioting, lynching, terrorism, political assassination, graffiti, freeing political prisoners, fighting against wartime occupation, interfering with police actions, self-defense, and armed insurrection.
However, under this definition Jesus, Muhammad and Nelson Mandela are examples of individuals who have practised violent direct action. The Christian pacifist group, the Plowshares Movement, and the women's right-to-vote group, the Suffragettes, would have also used violent direct action to advance their aims. Historically, the Boston Tea Party is an early example of American violent direct action. An example group that promotes direct action against property is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which boasts of having sunk several whaling or fisheries vessels, though intentionally without loss of life.
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“Do you suppose that sacrifice is the hallmark of moral action?—Just stop to consider whether sacrifice is not involved in every action that is done with deliberation, the worst as well as the best.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)