What About the "Black Bloc"?
The disruption at the Repub convention has brought up a re-occurring tactical question for anti-capitalists, namely, what up with "anarchists"? I put it in quotation marks because it is my experience (from more than one encounter) that these young, black garbed, bandanaed outliers may have more to do with Mick Jagger than Bakunnin. The more I read about the time of American anarchisms "surge"at the turn of the century (check out the trial of Big Bill Haywood, defended by Clarence Darrow, or the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti) and relate it to the mythos surrounding this rebel lifestyle, the more I have to wonder about what it means for a meaningful politics and for the emancipation of workers in general. Didn't the bombs just consolidate capitals hegemony?
Drawing on rock, punk and Black "bad boy" imagery, the swaggering Zapatista-wanna-be is not without a certain outlaw charm, especially when confronting the Darth Vaderesque "Security" forces marshalled by the State to maintain "order and control". Totally "out numered and outgunned", a heroic sheen envelopes those who would set out nobly on their Quixotic mission to "Smash the State". Unfortunately, windows are not the State and people with less poetic, if more realistic goals end up caught in the crossfire. When do these cultural, individual anarchists become the FARC of the global justice movement? What does it say to the real struggle on the ground in Colombia, Bolivia or Peru?
We live in a Spectacular world of image power and the State has a monopoly on coercive power. The helicopters and personel carriers are both symbols and efficient killing machines plus, there are cameras literally everywhere. How do we turn this logic on itself? What contradictions create points for attack? How to keep the "street fighting man" from becoming a cartoon caricature?
posted by troutsky @ 9:12 AM
12 comments
12 Comments:
My experience is that these people have no interest in building any sort of coherent class unity. They are the farc of global justice movement (wonderful comparison btw)
One thing you share with these punks is the belief that a "stateless" society is possible. Granted, yours is a little more complex, end of history and all that rot, and somewhat less hedonistic, but it is just as silly.
What none of you seem to understand is that there is a default state setting for humanity, and it appears whenever there is a void: it's best termed "warlordism" in today's world, and if you want to see it play out on a small scale, try removing the teachers from a recess playground for awhile. Believe me, you do not want to experience that scenario writ large.
Not surprisingly, anonymous sees him/herself as a child in need of directions from teachers, so here it goes:
Lesson 1: "Wisdom" There are better/wiser people than you in this world who can better determine the best course for your life. Try not to think for yourself...it's rather embarrassing for you!
Lesson 2: "People to Avoid" At the same time, there are big, bad scary people all over this world that may try to deceive you into thinking that you are capable of handling the responsibilities of freedom...ignore them because they are crazy, belong in asylums and are "molesters."
Lesson 3: "Fear difference!" People that are different from us are wrong! They're evil! They can either join us or burn in hell!
Lesson 4: "In God We Trust" Believe everything I say, because I have history on my side that proves we are the greatest nation on earth. We are the chosen people. We are exceptional. We won and the rest are envious.
Lesson 5: "Teacher's Discretion" Follow all the rules and laws of this "democratic" government. If I break the occasion law or change the rules, that is because I'm wiser than you and sometimes need special permissions in order to make sure you are safe, and so we can always protect our efficiency.
Lesson 6: "Good Manners" While it is true that there are scary people out there who you should avoid giving your name to, I am not one of those people. It is a good idea to protect yourself from these bad people and maintain your quiet anonymity (alienation). However, I am very trustworthy, so you should trust me, and have the good manners to tell me your name, address, phone number, and social security number...just in case it need to help you out!
Lesson 7: "Growing Up" Growing up can be a frustrating experience. Perhaps the hardest lesson you may ever have to learn is that despite the constant urges and desires you may experience to explore new and different ways of doing things, the most mature thing you can do is accept that many before you have also tried alternatives only to "realize" how silly and whimsical they were being...grow up and accept things the way they are!
The Demigod Che Sponge Bob is all thunder no substance.
1 The American people are smarter than you think and have rejected your message. They are smart enough to reject your arrogant elitist message.
In fact everywhere you clowns set up shop people risk their lives to get away from your idiocy.
2 People who continue to advocate
Communism or Anarchists belong in asylums or prisons. Communism is more of a criminal cult than a coherent world view. Most of its followers are drug impaired mindless types like Graeme who think life is a something that takes place between Bong hits and Scooby Doo reruns.
3 Yes you are evil and there are stacks of dead bodies and scores of refugees as proof.
4 The amoral realities of Mao, Stalin, Trotsky, Pol Pot, Mugabe,
Mengistu, Tito and so forth pale before any faults of the founding fathers. Communism kills in peacetime or war. Planned starvation (repeated several times)
is a crime against humanity.
5 Nobody is above the law and the ends justifies the means by divine fiat is the mindset that creates Gulags and Killing Fields.
6 Good manners are not required to
those who advocate criminality. Sorry, but Nazism, Communism, Anarchist freaks deserve contempt.
7 Growing up is a good idea that you should try.
You are not as wise as you presume.
Beakerkin,
You cannot count yourself among the "smart Americans" if you cannot sense irony when it slaps you upside the head.
The anarchists knew the RNC had a $25 Million dollar budget for security.
1) They dressed as targets.
2) Had no coherent political demands or program.
3) Broke an agreement to not seperate from the legal, permitted march.
4) Played into a stereotyped role.
The ones who led the legal marches hysterically fronted for the Democrats. They had slogans against "the Republican agenda," and "defeat McCain. Even they were ambiguous about tactics.
I personally stayed away from everything except the legal march. I didn't personally even see one arrest. The politics wasn't worth arrest.
The anarchists shun democracy. If they don't get their way, they seperate.
The RNC demonstrations were either oppurtunist or ultra-left. Two sides of the same coin.
I would support one coalition, that includes all the concerned parties. Everyone is heard and finally democratically decisions are made. Once they are made, if you go against the majority, you are on your own. It should have principled slogans, and be independent of the parties (not endorse candidates).
Anonymous speaks of a "default state setting" where absent hierarchical authority, humans revert to Lord of the Flies barbarism, the "playground" without a monitor. This is a major foundation of conservative thought based on psuedo-anthropology, Freud, and Original Sin mythology.Also observing his/her own children perhaps.What if hierarchy creates dependency and capitalism reproduces it's ideology?
Why does "stateless" have to mean lawless or ungoverned? Don't warlords arise from hierarchy?(often in the service of capital against the left)Weren't Nazism and Fascism statist models?
By the way,I don't actually advocate stateless society, to the consternation of my principled anarchist comrades. I'm still a believer in democratic ,pluralist institutions guiding a planned economy.The
"state" simply being the name of any localized organizational unit or body.
Until Global Justice movement as a whole coalesces around a coherent anti-capitalist, class unity program with a solid theoretical base ( I vote for materialism)they will remain pawns in the managed spectacle.I'm not sure McCain -Palin will speed this process but am open to arguments.
Good comment Trousky; you’ve outdone yourself in demonstrating your ignorance. I truly don’t know if you are as stupid as Beakerkin “suggests” you are, but you certainly don’t know a damn thing about what you write about, including my kids.
“…a major foundation of conservative thought based on psuedo-anthropology, Freud, and Original Sin mythology.”
This just serves to highlight your ignorance where conservatives are concerned. I am not a conservative but I do know many and I read their stuff (no, not Anne et al) just like I read left stuff, and I know that no conservative wants fuck-all to do with Freud, and you should have known that too. To them, he is in the same basket as Marx, and considered a progenitor of socialist crap, as well as many modern social ills. I can’t believe you could make such a dumb mistake. The same can be said of anthropology, pseudo or otherwise. Conservatives despise the squishy sciences; they don’t borrow squat from quasi-theological garbage like anthropology or social psychology. Conservative thought is influenced by Locke, Hume, et al, not Lévi-Strauss or Adorno and their disgusting offspring. And “Original Sin?” WTF? This just shows nasty prejudice, not insight; it also clearly demonstrates your misanthropic nature: you hate those folks. One doesn’t need “original sin mythology” to conclude that people, all people, are desperately imperfect, one only needs eyes to see and read, but one does need compassion to avoid hating Planet Janet. That is compassion for individual human beings (or beans as I thought when I was a kid), not abstract groups.
“Don't warlords arise from hierarchy?” Uhmm, No. You don’t even understand the concept. You must have some twisted version of warlord in your head; it probably means conservative to you. Maybe I should have used “gangsterism” or some other term that you couldn’t immediately confuse with Hitler (although, probably nothing would do; one thing that I have noticed about you is your skill at intentionally misreading and/or focusing on one detail in a larger picture with which you can’t cope). Warlords arise from power vacuums where there is no state monopoly on violence. Where the petty and vicious can attain leader status with guns and prey on the rest. This is true for the millisecond that actual anarchy is achieved, and it would be the case in your “…democratic ,pluralist institutions guiding a planned economy.”
”Until Global Justice movement as a whole coalesces around a coherent anti-capitalist, class unity program…”
You live in a cartoon. Your movement does nothing but spread envy and hatred and a desire for revenge, and now you use the word “program” to remove the violence from it. What bull shit. What you think you desire cannot come about, but you’re willing to back violent thugs to punish everyone for this impossibility (and to satiate your misanthropy). And BTW, I would contrast the kindness and decency of my kids to the fuckwads you call comrade any day.
Anon
You cleaned house.
No need to get mean here anon.You can leave Freud exiled from conservatism if you want, but read, Schmitt,Oakeshott, Strauss (Leo, not Levi)or Von Hayeck and you'll see why he was mentioned. My reference to anthropology goes to all discussion of "human nature" such as your certainty that warlordism is the default condition absent a strong state. Is this your view of pre-modern society? Each against all? Dog eat dog?
As for original sin, have you no contact then with the religious right? I don't "hate" Janet but if I see ignorance I call it.Is that lacking compassion? Did Jesus never criticize? Imperfect is one thing, in need of redemption quite another and you might consider the difference.Their belief system (higher authority) affects their philosophical base for understanding how society should function. By the way, who are "your kids"?
Getting back to the black bloc -
I think those tactics are often not very strategic, and I think they're not about strategy. They're about the people doing the tactics. I'm sure it's exhilarating for young radicals to do that stuff, and maybe it's a step on the way to them developing a more nuanced perspective. (That sounds condescending I know.) I think it's important that they be treated with respect and listened to. They're sincere folk who are willing to take risks.
That said, it's a tactic that draws on an existing base rather than broadening our base, and it plays into the state and media attempts to demonize anarchists which may actually narrow our base (or, make it possible to really crack down hard, which will probably narrow our base). It's also I think very susceptible to infiltration by agents provocateurs, if the bloc doesn't do what the state wants then state agents can do it while masquerading as the bloc.
cheers,
Nate
Good perspective Nate, these (mostly)young radicals may see the value of a coordinated ,disciplined approach through exposure to orgnizations like ours.Another task!
Anonymous,
On further reflection, you are right, there probably is no evidence of a link between Freud and conservatism.That was off the top of my head and not based on any research. I was (over) reaching for some link to the strange "powerful father" authoritarian, patriarchical thread that runs through the movement. 'Anthropology" was also the wrong choice of words to illustrate the trend of thought that identifies an "essential" human nature.
That said, the real issue then is ,what conservatism? Religious, Movement, social, corporate, ? I was addressing the bizarre strain I witnessed at the convention
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