Some people draw a comforting distinction between “force” and “violence.” ... I refuse to cloud the issue by such word-play.... The power which establishes a state is violence; the power which maintains it is violence; the power which eventually overthrows it is violence.... Call an elephant a rabbit only if it gives you comfort to feel that you are about to be trampled to death by a rabbit.
ATTRIBUTION:
Kenneth Kaunda (b. 1924), Zambian statesman, president. quoted in Kaunda on Violence, pt. 1 (1980).
