In response to another suggestion from Scott of less violent forms of protest, Emmeline sent a passionate letter suggesting bomb-throwing and shooting were considered "time-honoured masculine political arguments".
Hunger striking has long been recognised as a non-violent form of protest, and was first used by imprisoned suffragettes in 1909.
Boycotting has been a non-violent form of protest for centuries, deriving its name from Captain Charles Boycott, an Irish landowner who was subject to such a protest in the 1880s, and most famously was used to fight the apartheid in South Africa.
This will contribute to minimizing the groups that wish to pursue a more violent of form of protest or demonstrate behaviour that would in ordinarily be unacceptable to society at large.
It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Interestingly, parents did not see violent forms of discipline as more effective than non-violent strategies.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby group, argues that the government is engaged in the violent suppression of any form of protest, punishing suspected supporters of the opposition.
In the context of a society that, they feel, denies them the ability to take part in "mainstream" society – and especially denies them the ability to accumulate "things" – we should not be surprised that a group identity is formed in opposition to the "mainstream" and that violent material accumulation is the form of protest they take.
On the other hand, "enlightened" Westerners who tell Muslims not to protest in violent ways are themselves incensed by a particular form of protest: anti-Semitic cartoons, which (let us remember) helped grease the skids for the Holocaust.
Since the 1960s, when youth protests turned violent, even the mildest form of protests by young people has been viewed as taboo.
