But they have since climbed out of that hole - so that senior republicans speak confidently of "no going back" from the political, non-violent route charted for most of the 1990s.
He had always sought a non-violent route to democratic liberties, later declaring that the movements of resistance in East Berlin in 1953, in Budapest three years later and then in Czechoslovakia had also been "movements of hope".
Former UN Ambassador Susan Rice said that supporting a Palestinian state at the UN was counter-productive, even though it is a non-violent route towards the future.
Those on the left who seek to pursue a non-violent political route to reversing the entrenched inequality and elitism in Colombian society may look at this case and wonder why they bother.
The phrase is given various interpretations, including that Eta will pursue both violent and political routes to independence.
An afternoon spent along a particularly violent stretch of the route — the Kabul-Jalalabad Road — helps illustrate the challenges in securing this capital city, as most U.S. and international forces prepare to withdraw by the end of this month.
But for one boy, Antoine (Matthieu Lucci), an outsider with a needling, combative manner that irks his fellow students, the process drives him further along the route of violent, far-right extremism with which he is already flirting.
The route into violent extremism varied, but with almost all, it started young.
Just two days earlier, I had the opportunity to witness another victory of non-violent protest against the route of the wall.
Alexander Masters documents the life of Stuart Shorter - homeless, alcoholic, violent - in reverse, tracing his route backwards through post-office heists, suicide attempts and spells in prisons to the violent childhood that launched him onto the path of his later life.
