I have always liked Michael Palin, probably because he acts like one’s favourite uncle but also because of his hilarious take in the Python series about the Spanish Inquisition. And one has to laugh at the hideous and long lasting (nearly four hundred years) Catholic slaughter which burned people for not being good Christians and had a collection of torture equipment the Nazis would have been proud of (and probably were.) I remember many years ago discussing the Indian revolution against the British and it being suggested that Gandhi’s non-violence would never have worked against the Nazis.
Recalling how the Jews would not fight on the Sabbath and the Macabbees saw the Greeks wading into them and killing them were they sat in 300 BCE I could not argue against the fact that the slaughter would have been significantly greater. I have wondered if those who believe in non-violence could all fly at once into Libya or Syria, millions of people, and just walk and say stop, if anything would stop. To put one’s life on the line that and know there is a good chance you will die takes more than bravery because it goes beyond making as political statement.
Which makes me wonder at the people on the Gaza Flotilla who all know the experience may be harsh but they won’t be hurt unless they hurt first, a certainty one never has with regimes that are truly tyrannical.