> Before I get started on that, thanks to all who went off to DC and the
> reports that are coming back. You all have to remember the rest of us
> (me at any rate) are essentially kept in a vacuum due to the giant
> sucking sound coming from mass media. I depend on Lbo for news. (Max,
> Doug, Chuck0, and others--Doug tell Richard S. hello from
> Berkeley. Sure would have been fun to put on my vasoline--might use
> olive oil this time--carry my vinegar squeege bottle--we used to get
> the lime and lemon plastic juice things from a liquor store in a
> pinch--and duct tape newspapers around my kidneys and gut---ah,
> nostaglia. Do they still do that stuff?--oh and welding gloves for the
> cannisters. Wouldn't gogles help with the pepper spray? I've still
> got my old army surplus jacket--except it is over at the
> ex-wife's--have to double park since their Volvo and SUV fill up the
> only spaces, beat down the front door and listen to a bunch of
> bourgeois shit from her before I could get to my kid's closet to get
> it.)
The folks in the black block were pretty well prepared for our street battles with the cops. Many people had gas masks or at least swim goggles. We had copious supplies of vinegar and lemon juice. Some of the kids were well padded, taped, and were wearing heavy gloves to throw hot canisters back at the police. One contingent was garbed like black ninjas--you couldn't even make out their eyes.
We also had our own video crews, medics, legal observers, and PR spin team (Adam and myself). After our first skirmish with the cops on motorcycles at 14th and K, Adam and myself handed out the RACB statement to the press who were interviewing Han Shan.
Contrary to what the boss media pundits are saying, the younger people in the black bloc do not all come from privileged suburban backgrounds. Most of them are working class. We also had a good racial and ethnic mix in the bloc. On Monday, after our bloc had been depleted by arrests, I ran into a small cluster of the RACB who were planning an aggressive stunt. The meeting was being coordinated by a young Latino woman from the West Coast.
-- << Chuck0 >>
This was the year *everything* changed.
-- Commander Ivanova, 2261
Mid-Atlantic Infoshop -> http://www.infoshop.org/ Alternative Press Review -> http://www.altpr.org/ Practical Anarchy Online -> http://www.practicalanarchy.org/
Homepage -> http://flag.blackened.net/chuck0/home/
"A society is a healthy society only to the degree that it exhibits anarchistic traits."
- Jens Bjørneboe