On 2012-02-07, at 6:40 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Hence the endless professorial chatter (Lou is a Professor to the very jelly
> between his toes) has no present or future connection with the existence or
> non-existence of Black Blocs. Does anyone really think that a young man who
> enjoys the clatter of breaking glass or the style of masks Black Blockers
> wear is going to read and learn from Profesor Proyect?
I doubt very much Louis and like critics of these tactics are aiming their comments at the Black Blockers. They're aimed at the larger number of activists who also deplore Black Bloc vandalism but whose liberal values and, in many cases, anarchist sympathies encourage toleration of Bloc behaviour under the rubric "diversity of tactics". This was not the case in the 30's and even the 60's, when the organizers and marshals of mass demonstrations, not a few of them Marxists and trade unionists, full well understood how these provocative tactics alienated the public and gave the cops a pretext for repressing and intimidating the mass of demonstrators. They sought to strongarm them out of the ranks whenever necessary. Proyect, I'm sure, would rather see the majority adopt this approach than yield to the Black Blockers. The soft muddleheaded professors are on the other side of the debate.