Color of Anarchism Re: Protest ISO...

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 7:46 AM -0800 1/4/03, Brian O. Sheppard x349393 wrote:
>But the black bloc'ing tactic isn't 1) particular to anarchism, 
>seeing as that it wasn't even invented by anarchists but by the 
>left-commie autonomen and antifa groups in europe

Wasn't the point of militants (be they anarchists or communists or 
just trade unionists) originally to stand up as marshals to the 
police, including doing street battles with cops, in order to 
_protect_ the demos and pickets from the cops (as in workers' 
self-defense militias), rather than using the crowd for cover to do 
direct action (as in the black bloc tactic)?  I wonder if those who 
mythologize the black bloc can't wake up and come back to the 
original spirit of collective self defense.

At 4:40 PM -0500 1/4/03, Chuck0 wrote:
>The significance and effectiveness of the black blocs can be 
>measured by the police reaction to them and the amount of 
>marginalization that the liberals engage in.

Why is that a measure of effectiveness, though?  It sounds like the 
case of making a virtue out of necessity.
-- 
Yoshie

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