The latest news regarding the west coasts most active group of OWS participants, OWS Oakland, is that a group of protesters that are using violence to make their points. My dearest friend Diane G, proprietor of the fantastic blog WildWildLeft wrote a good piece voicing her pov against Chris Hedges lastest pronouncement against this group at TruthDig entitled The Cancer in Occupy.
Let me tell you first what I think. I know you are just dying for my point-of-view right?
During the Vietnam War, we had so many splinter anti-war groups and the biggest was The Weather Underground. Full disclosure:I was a member. I believed in their motives and their actions. I still do. They did however, take full responsibility for what they did. At that point in our history, we needed as many voices as possible and frankly the Weathermen got more press than any group, being labeled as a “terrorist group” by our own government at the time. Something to also note: all the non-violent groups pilloried the actions of the Weather Underground as unacceptable, outrageous, ill-conceived, worthless, sending the wrong message,etc.
But the current Anarchists in Oakland, so far anyway, have NOT taken full responsibility for their actions and they are hiding behind or possibly trying to Co-opt the Oakland OWS movement and Anonymous in general. This, my friends, is fucking bullshit.
I still believe however, that all groups, that take responsibility for their actions, whether they be violent or non-violent, should be accepted for what they are – a form of dissension against the status quo. We are in heinous times people, and all actions that draw attention to what is being done to us, by the government and their allies in the one percent, need to be allowed and without being condescended to. No one is saying you have to approve, condone or applaud them. They are what they are.
So, below is Anonymous’ response to the Black Bloc actions and it’s quite interesting as it raises many valid points:
Anon raises the question that this newest group of anarchists tactics in Oakland are merely agent provocateurs and I couldn’t agree more that the possibility exists..especially in this day and age of dirty politics on the right and the assholes who use such tactics (can you say James O’Keefe?) to generate bad press against those they hate and disagree with..so as to paint them in the ugliest light possible and dismantle them with the help of the extremists we call the GOP.
My point is that the Corporate Media will paint any group, that goes against the grain, in the ugliest light possible anyway. This goes without saying of course. The fact that they have been railing against this newest action isn’t news, or the fact that they themselves are tying it to the entire OWS movement..which is total and complete bullshit, angers me to no end as it shows they don’t know shit about the motives and goals of the OWS movement..a peaceful and NON-VIOLENT movement.
In the video above, Anonymous makes it clear that the Black Bloc actions are not part and parcel of the OWS movement or Anon’s group. They disown the violent actions that recently took place in Oakland and I applaud them for that. We, as bloggers and supporters of the OWS movement, need to be out there reporting that this small group of anarchists are NOT part of the OWS movement and if they don’t claim responsibility for their actions then they need to be outed..and Anon says they WILL out the fuckers. FDL did a piece late last year surmising that one group of Black Bloc protesters were actually agent provocateurs and they provide plenty of proof that was probably exactly what they were.
But as I said previously, as long as this group/tactic, which isn’t new btw, claims responsibility for their actions, it is fine with me whatever they do..as long as it’s in THEIR NAME. You can check out the wiki for Black Bloc here. It might surprise you how long they have been doing what they are doing, although Wikipedia calls it more of a tactic than a group.
Because we need all the voices we can get, just like during the Vietnam War, m’dear reader. This is a war..in no uncertain terms.
However, if this group is just a bunch of assholes from the right, which once again is highly possible, then I say go get em Anon..expose the fuckers for what they are..bags of shit that lie and obfuscate instead of telling the truth and standing by their words and actions.
Dusty
I am a..brown Cali bitch that is quite the opinionated,political, pain-in-the-ass, in your face kinda girl that also loves baseball and music to a fault.
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.--Albert Einstein-*11 Responses to “Anonymous responds to Oakland’s Black Bloc tactics.”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Have you seen this, Dusty?
~
Today is the first day I have been online since Wed’s surgery but I will check it out Thunder..thanks m’dear friend.
Well, there was that rightwing asshole who stormed into the Air and Space Museum in D.C. and then whined about how none of the Occupy protestors followed him…
Exactly B4..so it’s a valid question and one we should all raise as these current ones are hiding behind the OWS movement and should stand on their own for ALL their actions.
Hard to believe I haven’t been here in a week, but it looks like I haven’t. Hope you’re feeling better, Dusty.
Meanwhile:
I don’t care where they think they are politically, if they’re hiding among peaceful demonstraters and committing violence, then Occupiers should out them. “Taking responsibility” means making it clear who is doing what. These folks sound like opportunistic jerks to me.
I totally agree dear friend..and Anon WILL out their asses if they are agent provocateurs..I feel confident of that.
As for the surgery..just now feeling half way normal…but the news wasn’t good. I will fight like I always do however..so stay with me and we shall slay the ugly beast known as cancer!
After preforming a postmortem on the G20 Protests in Toronto, it became clearer & clearer to me that the Black Block is the best friend of fascists. But this isn’t an accidental friendship.
The police actually use the Black Block as a tool. In Toronto, the police intentionally stood by and allowed a hundred or so Black Blockers to go on a rampage so the cops would finally have an excuse to turn on tens of thousands of completely peaceful protesters & 1,000s who just happened to be in the downtown of a major city. The resulting media spin allowed the biggest violation of civil rights in the nation’s history to be swept under the rug.
And I’m also talking about the Black Block actually BEING made up of cops. The Black Block is heavily populated with police & various members/informants of national and international spy agencies. Sounds ridiculous, but it’s actually true. They are there both to spy and provoke riots that “need” to be quelled, so the 1%-ers can de-legitimize all their opposition….and the security industrial complex can “earn” their billions. (Over 1 billion was officially spent in “security” alone during the Toronto G20)
It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if 20% of the Black Block were cops and/or spies. The funny thing is that you’ve got spies spying on other spies.
So watch carefully, Oaklanders. You can’t trust what you see.
We noted the same sort of behavior by police in Seattle during the WTO fiasco. I don’t know enough about that situation to assert that it’s some form of conspiracy. I think it more likely, at least in Seattle’s case, that there was a communications problem between cops on the street and their bosses. Police aren’t happy to wade into a crowd to apprehend someone, at least not if they don’t expect they’ll have backup.
Still, there’s a pattern here and with the Oakland protests, and something needs correcting.
It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if 20% of the Black Block were cops and/or spies. The funny thing is that you’ve got spies spying on other spies. I completely agree and if these fuckers are found to be agent provocateurs, which looks more and more possible, we need to get the word out.
Still, there’s a pattern here and with the Oakland protests, and something needs correcting. Dirty tricks like this are part and parcel of the rightwingers so yes..their actions and who is participating needs to be under a microscope.
Oh, NOTHING happened by accident at the Toronto G20. The government passed a secret law extending no-go zones to allow more “arrest by mere physical location”. There were 20,000+ battle ready cops -and I mean battle ready- mere minutes away from the Black Block vandalism. Cops even abandoned a couple cars right in their path that were later smashed. The cops never lifted a finger and allowed the Black Block to run wild for 1.5 hours, disperse into the crowd…and the agent provocateurs to be hustled behind police lines before the police beatings began.
Not long after the Block disappeared, the 1%’s braunshirts invaded the streets and parks shoving, clubbing and pepper spraying damn near anyone they saw.
Cops shot peaceful protesters in protest zones with rubber bullets and denied the force even had such guns. They ripped the leg of a government employee in a public park far away from the convention and dragged him to a van for being “too slow”. Cops removed their own ID badges so they couldn’t be identified as they bludgeoned people. They “kettled” hundreds people for hours at a time, many of whom weren’t even involved in the protest.
.
This story shows how prepared the fascists were. This happened in a small University city hours away from the protests and well before they were to begin.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/06/17/14420391.html
I too went to school there and I’m actually quite familiar with a couple of those Post boxes. They are defaced, postered & vandalized almost EVERY weekend and nobody has ever been arrested for it, let alone jailed for 20 hours. How do the cops catch these guys less than a dozen posters into their mission? They have an informant who spies on this little community college club located over 200 kms away from the G20 meeting. That’s how complete this operation was. And yet they expect me to believe they couldn’t stop a few dozen guys in black just minutes away?
They arrested thousands, yet only a mere handful of people were convicted of anything, most of whom just plead to trivial crap to avoid the hassle of a trial. Most that went to trial had their cases dismissed. But the psy-op was a success.
Resistance will be severely punished.
Damn, this comment is a great post, all by it’s self Sedate Me.
And yet they expect me to believe they couldn’t stop a few dozen guys in black just minutes away? The Press and The Government..internationally speaking, all think we are stupid. Sadly I think the majority are..or most likely, just don’t care enough to pay attention to the ‘fine print’ or to take the time to read between the lines…because that would mean they now know and are part of the problem and/or conspiracy.