[lbo-talk] Occupy Oakland's imminent implosion and the wider effects

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Sounded like the OP was shedding some tears for "local and independent"
businesses, as if they aren't even more exploitative to their employees
than your average chain store. What's striking in that video is the
liberals are so ready to brawl with the anarchists to defend some Whole
Foods. Where were these folks when low income neighborhoods were having
their houses stormed by foreclosure agents? Oh, probably at Whole Foods
buying some free range.

I just feel like this condemnation feeds into the media narrative that
places extra emphasis on the actions of these few. Anarchists have always
been around breaking shit at protests. This is nothing new. I'm all for red
shirted cadre of some future Party formation guarding the flanks of
protests a la what some of the organized Left does in Greece, but we're not
at that point yet. I don't see what happened in Oakland as a disaster. Nor
do I think these Black Bloc tactics will spark "widespread looting" in the
city. If it did it might be vindication for the anarchists.

On Sat, Nov 5, 2011 at 10:06 PM, // ravi <ravi at platosbeard.org> wrote:


> On Nov 5, 2011, at 10:00 PM, Bhaskar Sunkara wrote:
> > Regardless, this whole analysis seems out of touch. The property
> destruction
> > * was* trivial. Yes, the moment needs self-policing. Yes, tactically
> > attacks on property are counterproductive. But I don't have any tears for
> > Whole Food windows or "local and independent businesses."
>
>
> But why “out of touch”? That this is tactically a bad thing, not an issue
> of shedding tears for Whole Foods etc, is pretty much the bulk of the
> analysis thus far. No?
>
>        —ravi
>
>
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