MLK: Six Principles of Nonviolence

Martin Luther King’s(MLK) six principles of nonviolence:

1. Nonviolence is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because one is afraid or merely lacks the instruments of violence, that person is not truly nonviolent.

2. Nonviolence does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his or her friendship and understanding.

3. The nonviolent attack is directed at forces of evil rather than against persons who happen to be doing the evil. It is the evil that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat, not the persons perpetrating the evil.

4. Nonviolent resistance is a willingness to accept suffering without striking back. Suffering, the nonviolent resister realizes, has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.

5. Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of the spirit.

6. Nonviolent resistance is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. Consequently, the believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future.

(Source: Campaign Nonviolence)

Martin Luther King is a far more radical thinker than he is usually given credit.