[lbo-talk] black bloc

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Wed Nov 9 08:03:01 PST 2011


Incidentally, the term "adventurist" has little meaning when not attached to the fundamental strategy of a recognized organization. Otherwise, it is just another swear word, like asshole or prick. Applying it to the Black bloc is ahistorical .

Now personally I am uncomfortable with the actions of some who call themselves Black bloc on some occasions. I would like to hear what Ian has to say on the actions of the Black Bloc in the Seattle protests. Also, I would find Joe's defenses of the Black Bloc more persuasive had he not shown a tendency himself on this list to engage in highly devisive rhetoric. His sneer at those who were bothered by losing power and air conditioning was too redolent of Weatherman rhetoric. And the basic _theoretical_ question here is solidarity, how to preserve it, what threatens it. Joe threatened left solidarity quite seriously in his sneers at those who wanted their air-conditioning, and until he corrects himself on that his description of _facts_ is always in question. (His analyses of agreed-on facts must be judged on its own merits, but his assertion of facts calls for judging his trustworthiness.)

Shag has made the most important point on the Black Bloc: It does not exist. We only discuss it when it appears in some specific action because it has no existence in abstraction from a specific action. Hence statements such as Lou's about The Black Bloc are empty of meaning. But for the same reason general defenses of The Black Bloc are empty of meaning. In the present context that means the only relevant Black Bloc actions are those in Oakland.

Carrol

-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of shag carpet bomb Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 8:00 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [lbo-talk] black bloc

one of the reasons I was reminded of the debates on LBO and elsewhere over the black bloc actions in which our own Joe C and Chuck0 participated during 1999 was that, had I simply listened to Proyect and others, I would have believed ignorant characterizations of a black bloc as a group that only ever does violent things and is comprised of people who engage in no political activity otherwise.

Fortunately, anarchists on these lists set the record straight and provided opportunities for me to educate myself about something which I wasn't familiar. In turn, this allowed me to see that the folks defending black bloc actions were decent people, often with politics with which I largely agreed, and who had *reasons* for what they did = that, indeed, they had strategies based on a certain understanding (theories and accounts) of social change which, if I bothered, I could read and learn from.

they were, in other words, often composed of people fighting for the same thing I was. Maybe making tactical errors and mistakes - I think Max's recent post about people being human makes sense here - but certainly not people I should immediately write off.

So, a big thank you to Angela, Chuck0, Eric, and Joe C for being willing to do this several years ago.

-- http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)

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