From: "Neil (practical history)" <practicalhistory-AT-hotmail.com> Subject: Re: AUT: Genoa, black blocs, etc. Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 21:00:39 +0000 I agree with Angela that we must oppose the post-Genoa witch hunt of anarchists. Working class people have been fighting the police for centuries before the words ‘Black’ and ‘Bloc’ ever appeared in the same sentence, and this need no apology or ‘justification’. Sometimes this can put other people in danger, sometimes it can protect them by blocking police attack. Last week in Brixton, South London, a man was shot dead by the police which resulted in a (smallish) riot. The fact that trigger happy cops know their actions will be held to account in such ways undoubtedly acts as some deterrent. We would all (pacifists included) be in a lot more danger if police assassinations were viewed with indifference. Many of those who are quick to label streetfighters as violent fascist provocateurs, such as ‘Third World Charities/NGOs’, are strangely silent when the state sends its planes to drop bombs on people or even provide it with a humanitarian cover for its murderous ‘peacekeeping’. Their criticisms are of little consequence, but there should be serious debate about tactics include criticism of actions that put people at risk. I don’t know how what happened in Genoa relates to the above, as so far I have heard very contradictory accounts. But I would say it foolish for people to blame the Black Bloc for police violence. The state is quite capable of violently attacking opposition, even where people are scrupulously non-violent (look at the example of the civil rights movement in the USA). There is a naivety in believing that a declared global movement against capitalism will be safe from state violence so long as everybody behaves themselves. Equally there is a naivety in believing that if we seriously defeat the police the state will back down. Somebody said recently that if there had been more molotovs in Prague people could have broken through police lines and breached the summit – but what would have been the result? Most probably a massacre if world leaders were perceived as being in danger – the police are the first line of defence not the last. My criticism of aspects of the Black Bloc phenomenom is not that they fight the cops or break windows, but of the danger of this becoming a strategy in itself. I can also see the argument for people with a common tactical approach sticking together in some situations, but this must be balanced against the danger of the notion of the Black Bloc (like any other bloc) being internalised as a political/personal identity, in which those who are part of the Bloc see themselves as separate from (and maybe in some cases superior to) other proletarians, or unite with dubious Maoist/Stalinist outfits just because they too are up for a punch up. Neil _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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