Letter: Taking a stand against all forms of violence is actually far from being a 'luxury'

Whether based on the teachings of Jesus, Buddhism, secular morality, pragmatism or whatever, taking a stand against all forms of violence is far from being a luxury and requires very considerable imaginative and creative thought and work.

Those believing in non-violence reject sticking plaster approaches to violence and the causes of violence and work to deal with root causes while also seeking to ameliorate its effects. I am not a Quaker but just think of Quaker work during the Troubles.

Modern research (e.g. Chenoweth and Stephan) show non-violent resistance to injustice to be more effective, in a variety of ways, than violence.

I stand with Mohandas Gandhi when he said "We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of non-violence.”

Rob Fairmichael, Ballynafeigh, Belfast