On the left, you find much more of a realist discourse on violence … Realism is an economizing logic. It says, “How do you maximize the resources that you have?” And when the left is in an insurgent position, it doesn’t have many resources—it has to maximize the few instruments of violence it has.
That’s why, with guerrilla armies, for instance, there’s a real emphasis on scarcity—you don’t want to use up your bullets. And it’s even why, in leftist discourses on terrorism—so the anarchists, let’s say—its all about the propaganda of the deed. You’re trying to make a little act, an assassination, go a long, long way. I think there’s an economizing scarcity argument that the left is indebted to when it comes to violence.
The right is coming from an opposite position: it’s the plethora of power and instruments of violence that you have at your disposal which is really the problem that needs to be overcome.
