Violence vs Peace, and Vice-versa

I am against violence, or inciting it; however, sometimes it becomes the only alternative in order to overcome. We can't make decisions for others, but I know that from history and observation, many times force has been the only deciding factor instead of peaceful protesting. I can give many examples, but will stick to one more current one.

On July 11th, 2021 in Cuba, many Cubans took to the streets protesting the horrible conditions the government has forced them to live under for decades. This wasn't the first time they protested; however, this time it was well organized and it took place in many cities throughout the island. The protesters continued to protest for the next several days, but eventually all dwindled down since the communist regime began taking repressive action against the protesters up a notch. Long story short, currently there are more than 800 political prisoners which resulted from those protests last year, and the regime is still in power. I have even heard there are young minors being held captive. There are many questions which arise with relevance.

How can a government of a small few rule and oppress many people so easily? What happened, when one looks back, is that those Cubans missed an opportunity by not taking it up a step further using violence against the evil ruling dictatorship. Imagine if the Cubans would have gone to Raul Castro's, or Díaz-Canel's house and took them captive, perhaps killing them and dragging their corpses through the streets for all to see similar to what Libyans did to Gaddafi during the so called Arab Spring. I am pretty sure those political prisoners wouldn't be there now. Moreover, the global support they had at the time would have also increased, and another government would be on the island replacing the current after more than 60 years of repression. Unfortunately, the oppressive conditions remain in Cuba. Lesson learned! Let's move forward to the present.

Canadian truckers have been peacefully protesting oppressive conditions from their government for many days now. Often peace is the best approach. If we would have asked Martin Luther King Jr. or Ghandi, they would have agreed. However, when a government doesn't listen and isn't receptive to the demands of the people, the rules of the game probably have to change proportionally, or steps must be taken to another level.

The Canadian government has declared a state of emergency announcing that they will arrest and imprison protesters for a year. Also they could be fined up to $100,000. They will also suspend their licenses. This is a good example of a government abusing power. Basically, the Canadian truckers are in a similar threshold as the protesters in Cuba were last year. I will watch and observe, but depending on whether the truckers take it to the next level, we will have once again learned another lesson. The future often belongs to those willing to sacrifice their corpses, but ultimately not backing down to oppressive regimes. Oppressive regimes who use the excuse of trying to save and help citizens, when ultimately they are just trying to impoverish them to have more and more control over them. I will stop here and let you ponder on what I just said.