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By Any Means Necessary refers to the key phrase in a speech given by Malcolm X in the last year of his life.
"We want freedom by any means necessary.

We want justice by any means necessary.

We want equality by any means necessary."


"Any means" is generally considered to leave open all available tactics for the desired ends, including violence. However, the "necesssary" qualifier adds a caveat -- if violence is not necessary, then presumably, it should not be used. The nature of the phrase seems to work from the overall assumption that whoever determines either the "means" or their degree of "necessity" does so in a politiclaly principled way. However, in the years since its coinage, not all of those using the term have approached it from the same principled point-of-view that Malcolm X probably intended for it.