In Olympia, Washington we have a very militant anti-war movement. At one point tactics included direct action against shipment of weapons to the military in Iraq - including tanks and missile. During one demonstration, a local women's affinity literally lay in front of tanks being brought over public streets to ships to send to Iraq. And while they were laying in the street in front of tanks, Black Bloc anarchist threw stones at police cars, breaking cop windows with cops in them. They threw the stones over the bodies of the women and into the police cars. The cops got out of their cars, the Black Bloccers ran away. And the police beat and brutally peppered sprayed the women (not from a distance but from inches away).
Of course the main violence here was police violence. But I think "counterproductive" and "silly" are in fact extremely mild terms with which to criticize those Black Bloccers. BTW, in anticipation of how I knew they were Black Bloccers, the people who did this later attended a meeting where they defended their actions. They were very indignant at the criticism. "The women did not have a monopoly on protest. We wanted our share of the action." From memory, so of course a paraphrase.
On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/black-bloc-inspired-by-weathermen/
>
> >From The Black Bloc Papers
>
> An Anthology of Primary Texts
> >From The North American Anarchist Black Bloc
> 1988-2005
> The Battle of Seattle Through The Anti-War Movement
> Edited and compiled by David Van Deusen and Xaviar Massot of The Green Mountain Anarchist Collective
>
> The Black Bloc can trace its historical roots all the way back to when- and wherever people comprising an oppressed class or group militantly rose up against their oppressors. Elements of the particular tactics of the Bloc were previously utilized by the Weather faction of Students for a Democratic Society (the SDS) in North America during the “Days of Rage” in 1969.
>
> Another function of the Black Bloc is to push the protest at hand towards a more militant and socially comprehensive direction. Largely this was achieved by the Bloc positioning itself at the forefront of the demonstration and subsequently forcing an escalation between the State forces and the protesters. Simply by resisting arrest, refusing to remain on sanctioned parade routes, challenging police barricades and by actively directing its anger at corporate targets, the Bloc ensured that such an escalation would ensue.
>
> The purpose of such escalation in part lies in the belief that such conflict necessarily results in the unmasking of the brutal nature of the State. The subsequent brutality of the opposing police/military force is revealed. The idea is that by showing the larger population the violent means by which the status quo is maintained, a significant number of people will become further radicalized by this physical and visual demonstration of the nature of the State.
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