Carrol Cox wrote:
> In one way, I might mention, this bothers me very much, because in U.S.
> leftist history individualist responses have been almost endemic (and
> terrorism of various levels is generically an individualist response to
> political frustration). Chuck0's recent posts reflect that tendency. For
> a terrorist strategy to succeed, therefore, would provide a very
> unwelcome model for u.s. left politics. To really feel this you have to
> have experienced the ways in which Weathermen and Weathermen types
> blithely tried to apply tactics which by no stretch of the imagination
> were even remotely applicable in the United States. One such type
> seriously told me that his group were applying Giap's concentration and
> expansion strategy to their pisspot window-smashing adventures in
> Bloomington-Normal. I and others had put forth the slogan "Raise the
> political cost of the war." This group interpreted that as causing State
> Farm the cost of replacing smashed windows!
Which tendency do my posts represent? Your argument here is incoherent and I think you are trying to set me up as a strawman by attributing to me views that I may or may not hold.
The Weathermen were a group of authoritarian Leftists who had a poor understanding of the political situation at that time.
The folks who smash windows are not in the same "type" as the Weathermen. I know many of these people and they have a pretty good understanding of political strategy. There are many on the Left who like to portray the black bloc as a bunch of young action freaks. This has no basis in reality. If people are interested, I can relate some of the decisions that the black bloc made during the S29 anti-capitalist march in Washington.
There are good reasons to smash windows. I'm not sure if many of the academics on the list understand these reasons other than on a superficial level.
Chuck0