Thread by @docrussjackson

It's naïve to think the police NEVER misuse violence - it's well documented.

Short THREAD on #militant #suffragettes, who helped women get the vote

And let's not forget the brutal miner's strike, or the poll tax riots, which helped end the draconian tax, & get rid of Thatcher.

On Black Friday, 18 November 1910, suffragettes were kicked to the ground, punched, & their breasts were pinched.

Independent newspapers, later banned by the government, clever photo journalism, & mass protests all brought the cause for women's rights to the public eye.

Elsie Flint, a militant suffragette, recalled in the 1970s: "People laugh & say what ridiculous things to do, but it was never done for fun. They had to get the notice of the public and that was their way of doing it."

The slogan #DeedsNotWords was adopted.

On 1 March 1912, around 150 women, standing in front of shop windows & govt offices in London's West End, simultaneously took hammers & stones from their pockets & smashed the windows,

"There was great confusion, they didn't try to run away. They were arrested immediately."

Victoria Lidiard recalled the attack: "We were stationed right down from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road - & then BANG went all the windows!"

An estimated 124 women were arrested. After this, the police used weapons & force to close down the Women's Social & Political Union.

By 1913, arson attacks were commonplace. One such attack greatly damaged an unfinished house being built for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd-George, who had become a hate figure for the suffragettes.

Avoiding actions that caused harm to people helped with the moral acceptability of the militant campaign. Except for Emily Davison, who chose her manner of death, no one was killed. Destruction of property caused loss of money & inconvenience, but no serious harm to the public.

And while suffragettes attacked cricket pavilions & letterboxes, not hospitals or military installations, arson & bombs do have the potential to hurt innocent people.

The good the militant suffragettes did has to be weighed against the risk they posed to members of the public.

Civil disobedience undoubtedly has a role to play in a #democracy. The aim of the movement was to allow women to play a role in the government of their country - but there is a tension between this aim & the violent law-breaking activities of the Women's Social & Political Union.

For hundreds of years, people have been forced to make sometimes difficult decisions about the extent to which concern for the greater good legitimates law-breaking.

A Government announcing it wants to criminalise protest will force many more people to decide.

#PoliceBill

And let's not believe for one moment that this view is exclusive to the Left:

"I think it's legitimate to say... if people feel that voting doesn't change anything, then violence is the next step" - Nigel Farage.

bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-pol…