Kidding aside, the Charlie Kirk situation shows how “political violence” only gets recognized when it targets people in power. One bullet fired at a right-wing figure, and the establishment cries that society has gone too far.
But when the government slashes health budgets and the poor die for lack of treatment, that isn’t called political violence; it’s just policy. When wages are frozen at starvation levels while the ruling class drowns in wealth, that isn’t called political violence; it’s just the economy. When poor communities are demolished and families thrown into the street, that isn’t political violence; it’s development. When peasants and indigenous peoples are driven off their lands by soldiers and mining firms, that isn’t political violence; it’s peace and order.
This double standard is as old as history. Colonial massacres were called civilization. Marcos’ dictatorship called torture and disappearances discipline. Today, neoliberal governments call privatization and mass layoffs progress. Violence from above is never named as violence. It is instead hidden under new labels.
But the moment the oppressed fight back, the labels flip. Workers who strike are accused of destabilizing the nation. Peasants who defend their land are branded terrorists. Indigenous communities resisting militarization are red-tagged. Palestinians fighting occupation are called terrorists while US-backed bombings that slaughter civilians are justified as “self-defense.” Resistance is criminalized; oppression is normalized.
This is the truth: political violence is not the exception. It is the system itself. From colonialism to dictatorship to the so-called democracy we live in today, violence is the foundation that keeps the ruling class in power. Hunger is violence. Poverty is violence. Demolition, displacement, exploitation—violence. Imperialist wars and counterinsurgency massacres—violence. But because this violence sustains the order of things, it is never recognized for what it is.
The outrage only comes when violence touches those who benefit from the system. That’s why a shot fired at Charlie Kirk is a scandal, but the millions killed by poverty, war, and repression are invisible.
Violence from below is condemned. Violence from above is protected. And until we tear off that mask, we will keep mistaking the people’s resistance for the crime, and the oppressor for the victim.
