This level of officially sanctioned violence took the form of tear gas, pepper spray, beatings, mass arrests, and running over protestors with squad cars.
It's here, of course, that the problematic differences between the revolutionary forces of the left and those of the right come under blindingly bright light. Our system's endemic racism and its accompanying white privilege prompt police and military forces to align with white revolutionaries, while crushing their black and brown counterparts.
The difference in response ignores the commonality of complaints shared by basically working-class protestors. (The disparity describes the arena of dialog and cooperation that must be recognized and entered by all participants. But that's another story.)
In any case, because this third level of violence supports a criminal status quo, it is just as illegitimate as the first level.
Terrorist Violence
The fourth level of violence is that represented by terrorism - in the case of the DC riots, domestic terrorism.
The FBI defines domestic terrorism as "violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature."
According to this characterization, what occurred in Washington on January 6th fits the category. Its acts were violent and against the law. They were committed by a group seeking to further goals stemming from domestic influences - in this case, that of a sitting U.S. president inciting action to reverse an officially sanctioned and repeatedly court-vetted election.
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