Nonviolent use of force?

Recorded today (27 August): Morning Tinto podcast, episode 16

Author

Chris Musei-Sequeira
August 27, 2025

This work shows several men involved in the "tug of war" game on a sandy beach. The man at the front of the rope is wearing a white shirt and dark pants. The men behind are wearing yellow shirts and dark shorts. In the right mid-ground is a man watching; this man wears a white shirt and dark pants. In the left background is a white tent with the words, "Adventure TICKETING." The background sky is colored light blue.

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Nonviolent use of force… does that phrase compute? It sounds paradoxical… but is it?

Morning Tinto Episode 16: Nonviolent use of force?

Recorded today, my friend Heather Luna of keduzi and I elaborate upon the topic of violence we raised in our 30 July recording, “Does violence work?” Heather begins by referencing the article “Is Nonviolent Use of Force an Oxymoron?” by Miki Kashtan. Heather and I both discuss Kashtan’s template for nonviolent use of force:

Use of force is consistent with nonviolence to the extent that we use the least amount of force possible, with the most love possible, aiming at (re)creating conditions for dialogue; that we make the choice using as much nonreactive discernment as possible, with as much support for the choice as possible, and while mourning not seeing another way to respond to a situation in which vital needs are at stake except to use force.

Heather and I raise the topic of resistance to the current genocide in Palestine and the historical genocides underpinning the founding of the United States of America.

Take a listen and tell us what you think!

Previous Morning Tinto recordings

  • Episode 1: The Trump Administration and DEI (23 minutes and 59 seconds)

  • Episode 2: Do not obey in advance. (21 minutes and 16 seconds)

  • Episode 3: An illiberal intervention (23 minutes and 7 seconds)

  • Episode 4: Who Are “We, the People”? (19 minutes and 22 seconds)

  • Episode 5: Off the spectrum? (32 minutes and 1 second)

  • Episode 6: The mask is off (28 minutes and 58 seconds)

  • Episode 7: Meeting each other’s needs (33 minutes and 18 seconds)

  • Episode 8: Survival and community (27 minutes and 6 seconds)

  • Episode 9: Being relational in resistance (31 minutes and 52 seconds)

  • Episode 10: Is hoping waiting? (32 minutes and 29 seconds)

  • Episode 11: Do Human Rights Matter? (30 minutes and 14 seconds)

  • Episode 12: Touching Grass (25 minutes and 33 seconds)

  • Episode 13: The F Word (41 minutes and 39 seconds)

  • Episode 14: Palestine Action (23 minutes and 55 seconds)

  • Episode 15: Does violence work? (33 minutes and 55 seconds)

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My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.

My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18; I now reside in Queens, New York with my wife.

I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.

Image source: File:U.S. and Indonesian sailors play tug of war during a Sports Day event in support of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2013 in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 28, 2013 130528-N-YU572-332.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._and_Indonesian_sailors_play_tug_of_war_during_a_Sports_Day_event_in_support_of_Cooperation_Afloat_Readiness_and_Training_(CARAT)_2013_in_Jakarta,_Indonesia,_May_28,_2013_130528-N-YU572-332.jpg — This image is a work of a U.S. military or Department of Defense employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States.