I use the term “nonviolent communication” to refer to the honest and reciprocal ways in which people(s) communicate their abilities and their needs to one another in order work with one another in accord with the communistic principle, “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.”
I use the term “violent communication” to refer to the ways in which people(s) in positions of power (or seeking positions of power) communicate demands and give orders to other people(s) whom they would compel to work for them. Violent communication disables nonviolent communication: it prevents people(s) from honestly and reciprocally communicating their abilities and their needs to one another and it enables people(s) in positions of power to disregard the needs of others and to demand that others do injury to themselves by overworking themselves. Violent communication, in other words, refers to the ways in which people in positions of power inspire feelings of impoverishment and ineptitude in those who are compelled to work for them.
When all channels for nonviolent communication between people(s) have been exhausted or destroyed, a violent act can serve to revive or (re)create a channel for nonviolent communication between people(s). When a person in a position of power does injury to you by giving you orders and making demands of you in a manner that violently refuses to recognize and consider your needs and abilities, it may be sensible for you to counter their lack of consideration with an act of violence in order to compel them to recognize and consider your needs and abilities. A violent act that contributes to the revival or (re)creation of a channel for nonviolent communication (whenever and wherever such is lacking) is a violent act that aims to reduce the need for further violent action and, as such, it is a considerate act.
By contrast, a violent act that contributes to the exhaustion or destruction of channels for nonviolent communication is a violent act that produces a need for further violent action and, as such, it is brutal/brutalizing act.
Oppressors and oppressive regimes perpetrate and perpetuate brutal acts of violence and promote and privilege violent forms of communication: they maintain and advance the power to disregard others’ needs and abilities and to act violently towards others who refuse to follow onerous orders and satisfy injurious demands.
Freedom fighters and liberation movements engage in considerate acts of violence: they engage in acts of violence against oppressors and oppressive regimes in order to revive and (re)create channels for nonviolent communication whenever and wherever such channels have been exhausted or destroyed, thereby enabling people(s) to honestly and reciprocally communicate their abilities and needs to one another.
