That may be true in the very specific context you outline: OWS and the Hedges/Graeber debate. I have no argument there, since I do not know the particulars. I was merely pointing out that “diversity of tactics”, in a broad sense, is not a fetish. AFAIK, in almost every large civil rights movement that I know of (and admittedly that’s not a lot) this was always the case. And not because a general assembly approved each particular action.
With regard to the specific case of the Black Bloc within OWS, I do not have a position. I am confused. The grip that the elite have on the public (and public perception), through the media, through ideology, and through mechanisms of divide and conquer, seems unshakeable. Whether it is a peaceful march or rocks thrown on Starbucks, the existing order seems to be easily able to swat it away. Hence, to me, even such issues as “how to involve broader chunks of the 99%” seems at best premature and any solution that would make any significant progress on this front will exhibit no noticeable difference from the views of better off liberals demanding that we all fall behind Obama (or else!), or more precisely, the Obama method (premature concessions, appeasement and protection of the elite, and the occasional “win” on very specific legislative targets).
My own feeling, therefore, is that what matters mostly is sustaining the movement internally. And a greatest danger to that is demands for demands, demands for toeing this or that party or theological line, etc.
2 cents,
—ravi