1/ Violent protest often backfires on you. A few observations from a social movements researchers.

2/ On Friday, I reviewed some of the evidence about how violent protest often decreases the chance that a movement gets what they want.

3/ The basic issue is that democratic politics is driven by voters who often don't know much about politics. When they see on TV/social media a fire down town, they don't know the back story. They just see fire.

4/ As a result, violence often triggers a "rally around the leader effect" where people support authorities. They feel it is ok to support "tough on crime" or "law and order" politicians/policies.

5/ Not only is violence more likely to invite crackdown, it also has many undesirable side effects.

6/ For example, activists and protesters themselves may he hurt or injured, an issue that people often overlook.

7/ Another issue: violence often is targeted against people/property that had no role in the original issue (e.g., stores or cars that get torched).

8/ A more profound issue is that violence attracts violent people. If violence is ok, the demons can come out and play.

9/ In the long term, a just cause may be undermined by violence: it taints your issue in the eyes of the public, activists may get injured or killed, yout invite crackdown, you may hurt innocent and you attract bad guys.

10/ Bottom line: police violence is real, but be careful about how the issue is pursued.