On Libya

[cfabel]

Yea, I think as well that in the Libyan case, better to forgo the arms.
Here’s my thinking, 
•	Power might be thought of as having three dimensions, coercive,
structural and socio-psychological. 
•	Any exercise of power will exhibit elements of all three types, but
the elements of one type may be more or less salient or incipient. 
•	The question is always to what extent and under what conditions is
coercive most likely to work as opposed to the others

The sociological, psychological and structural foundations were in place in
Egypt, but they are incipient-to-emergent in Libya  

C. F. Abel
Chair
Department of Government
Stephen F. Austin State University
Nacogdoches, Texas 75962
(936) 468-3903




-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Matthew Cissell
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 2:11 AM
To: Richard Ryan; pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: On Libya

No. The people in Libya opposed to Ghaddafi would have been better off had
they never picked up the weapons. As Gene Sharp points out using violence is
inviting your authoriatian enemy to use his greatest weapon without
discretion. That's why Libya looks quite different from Egypt & Tunisia
right now. Notice that people in Syria aren't arming themselves.
    Of course, had I been in the Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising I think I
would have found it hard not to take up arms.
    Oh, one more thing. I never like that part in the Bhagavad Gita where
Krisna tells Arjuna not to wrrying about killing folks. Just an ancient
justification for killing. No wonder Bhudda wanted to put that all behind.

MC otis



----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>
To: Richard Fiero <rfiero at gmail.com>
Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Wed, May 4, 2011 11:25:49 PM
Subject: Re: Bin Laden

Want to make sure I understand:  you think the Libyan rebels would be better
off if they "put down their weapons and went home"?

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 3:46 PM, Richard Fiero <rfiero at gmail.com> wrote:

> Anecdotally we see that the results of the peaceful Egyptian 
> revolution were far more successful than the Libyan uprising where 
> peace could be achieved by the rebels putting down their weapons and going
home.
>