#3. Wouldn’t An Invading Force Violently Repress Obstructionist Nonviolent Defenders?

Richard Sandbrook

They might do so. However, they will feel constrained because (a) reporters and resisters will broadcast worldwide the graphic details of violent repression of harmless civilians, and (b) the commanders cannot be sure their troops will obey such a command.

Consider first how people will react to the spectacle of the beating and shooting of unarmed people who are simply defending their right to be free in their own country. It will mobilize active resistance by outraged Canadians who were formerly passive, though sympathetic, spectators. It will provoke condemnation of the invader as a rogue state both internationally and in the homeland of the aggressor. We can expect widespread protests by Americans, if the US is the aggressor. Major global institutions, including the UN General Assembly and the European Union, will vehemently object.

And how will the troops and their field commanders respond to the command to repress? Soldiers are trained to respond with lethal force against an armed enemy whose goal is to kill them and destroy their supply lines and morale. They are not trained to beat and kill harmless women, children and men who only want to retain their sovereignty. In the case of the Americans, the soldiers will share a language and similar culture with most Canadians, if not friendships or even kinship with the defenders. The soldiers will wonder, following defenders engaging verbally with the soldiers, what they are doing there at all. Some may desert; others will be hesitant or slow to obey orders to repress. Rebellions are possible.

In short, violent repression often backfires. It can leave the defending forces in a stronger position than they formerly held. Now aggressors may face an enlarged resistance, a demoralized military and vocal US-based and international condemnation.

Richard Sandbrook is Vice-President of Science for Peace and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto.