The Conceptual Aporia of Non-Violent Resistance: A Derridean Deconstructive Approach

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to display, by a Derridean deconstructive reading, that the term ‘non-violent resistance’ is aporetic and paradoxical taking into consideration that the resisting side uses non-violence as a means of psychological and conscience-related manipulation, which contains a certain degree of violence in it, to overcome the oppression in question. The definitions of non-violence seem to be wrongfully restricted to the physical aspects of violence, overlooking other aspects of the term like psychological and emotional violence. Even though violence has been mostly associated with physical damage in human history, the changing definitions of the term today make it necessary to develop a new perspective and conceptual framework for violence-related terms. This essay will interpret the concept of ‘non-violent resistance’ as one such term and attempt to offer a new concept that will represent the psychological and ethical aspects of the practice more eloquently.