Violent Protests and the Proportionality Test

null, Avia Pasternak

The Collective Ethics Seminar: Online Presentation – 30 October 2023 - 15.15 - 16.45 CET / 09.15 - 10.45 EST

Avia Pasternak (University of Toronto) – Violent Protests and the Proportionality Test

On Monday 30 October, Avia Pasternak will give a presentation in the Collective Ethics Seminar entitled ‘Violent Protests and the Proportionality Test’.

Abstract:Violent protestors against state injustice typically target state property and state officers. Are such attacks morally justified? In this paper I begin to answer this question, by using the ethical framework of defensive harm. I argue that the harm that just protestors inflict on state property and state officers is often defensive, as it targets the state as the instigator of oppressed citizens’ rights violations. I then turn to examine if such harm can meet the proportionality test. I argue that some bodily harm to police could be justified, because police officers have role obligations to incur some of the costs of defensive harm directed at the state.

The online seminar is open for all to attend. The other remaining presenters this semester are Veli Mitova (University of Johannesburg), Frank Hindriks (University of Groningen), Barbara Vetter (FU Berlin), Anne Schwenkenbecher (Murdoch University), and Maeve McKeown (University of Groningen). For more information about the seminar and the schedule, please see https://social.univie.ac.at/events/collective-ethics-seminar/.

The session starts at 15.15 CET / 09.15 EST. You can join the session via the following link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/62736288881?pwd=SndEdTNoNlZtSzJqcmpabm5NaWIyUT09

We hope to see you at the seminar!

Kind regards,

Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University), Olle Blomberg (University of Gothenburg), and Niels de Haan (University of Vienna)