-Caveat Lector-
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A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
http://www.ainfos.ca/
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Report from one section of the anarchist black bloc during Seattle's N30
On November 30, several groups of individuals in black bloc attacked
various corporate targets in downtown Seattle. Among them were (to name
just a few):
--Fidelity Investment (major investor in Occidental Petroleum, the bane of
the U'wa tribe in Columbia)
--Bank of America, US Bancorp, Key Bank and Washington Mutual Bank
(financial institutions key in the expansion of corporate repression)
--Old Navy, Banana Republic and the GAP (as Fisher family businesses,
rapers of Northwest forest lands and sweatshop laborers)
--NikeTown and Levi's (whose overpriced products are made in sweatshops)
--McDonald's (slave-wage fast-food peddlers responsible for destruction of
tropical rainforests for grazing land and slaughter of animals)
--Starbucks (peddlers of an addictive substance whose products are
harvested at below-poverty wages by farmers who are forced to destroy
their own forests in the process)
--Warner Bros. (media monopolists)
--Planet Hollywood (for being Planet Hollywood)
This activity lasted for over 5 hours and involved the breaking of
storefront windows and doors and defacing of facades. Slingshots,
newspaper boxes, sledge hammers,
mallets, crowbars and nail-pullers were used to strategically destroy
corporate property and gain access (one of the three targeted Starbucks
and Niketown were looted).
Eggs filled with glass etching solution, paint-balls and spray-paint were
also used.
The black bloc was a loosely organized cluster of affinity groups and
individuals who roamed around downtown, pulled this way by a vulnerable
and significant storefront
and that way by the sight of a police formation. Unlike the vast majority
of activists who were pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed and shot at with rubber
bullets on several
occasions, most of our section of the black bloc escaped serious injury by
remaining constantly in motion and avoiding engagement
with the police. We buddied up, kept tight and watched each others'
backs. Those attacked by federal thugs were un-arrested by quick-thinking
and organized members of
the black bloc. The sense of solidarity was awe-inspiring.
THE PEACE POLICE
Unfortunately, the presence and persistence of "peace police" was quite
disturbing. On at least 6 separate occasions, so-called "non-violent"
activists physically
attacked individuals who targeted corporate property. Some even went so
far as to stand in front of the Niketown super store and tackle and shove
the black bloc away.
Indeed, such self-described "peace-keepers" posed a much greater threat to
individuals in the black bloc than the notoriously violent uniformed
"peace-keepers" sanctioned
by the state (undercover officers have even used the cover of the activist
peace-keepers to ambush those who engage in corporate property
destruction).
RESPONSE TO THE BLACK BLOC
Response to the black bloc has highlighted some of the contradictions and
internal oppressions of the "nonviolent activist" community. Aside from
the obvious hypocrisy
of those who engaged in violence against black-clad and masked people
(many of whom were harassed despite the fact that they never engaged in
property destruction), there
is the racism of privileged activists who can afford to ignore the
violence perpetrated against the bulk of society and the natural world in
the name of private property
rights. Window-smashing has engaged and inspired many of the most
oppressed members of Seattle's community more than any giant puppets or
sea turtle costumes ever could
(not to disparage the effectiveness of those tools in other communities).
TEN MYTHS ABOUT THE BLACK BLOC
Here's a little something to dispel the myths that have been circulating
about the N30 black bloc:
1. "They are all a bunch of Eugene anarchists." While a few may be
anarchists from Eugene, we hail from all over the United States, including
Seattle. In any case,
most of us are familiar with local issues in Seattle (for instance, the
recent occupation of downtown by some of the most nefarious of
multinational retailers).
2. "They are all followers of John Zerzan." A lot of rumors have been
circulating that we are followers of John Zerzan, an anarcho-primitivist
author from Eugene who
advocates property destruction. While some of us may appreciate his
writings and analyses, he is in no sense our leader, directly, indirectly,
philisophocally or
otherwize.
3. "The mass public squat is the headquarters of the anarchists who
destroyed property on November 30th." In reality, most of the people in
the "Autonomous Zone" squat
are residents of Seattle who have spent most of their time since its
opening on the 28th in the squat. While they may know of one-another, the
two groups are not
co-extensive and in no case could the squat be considered the headquarters
of people who destroyed property.
4. "They escalated situations on the 30th, leading to the tear-gassing of
passive, non-violent protesters." To answer this, we need only note that
tear-gassing,
pepper-spraying and the shooting of rubber bullets all began before the
black blocs (as far as we know) started engaging in property destruction.
In addition, we must
resist the tendency to establish a causal relationship between police
repression and protest in any form, whether it involved property
destruction or not. The police are
charged with protecting the interests of the wealthy few and the blame for
the violence cannot be placed upon those who protest those interests.
5. Conversely: "They acted in response to the police repression." While
this might be a more positive representation of the black bloc, it is
nevertheless false. We
refuse to be misconstrued as a purely reactionary force. While the logic
of the black bloc may not make sense to some, it is in any case a
pro-active logic.
6. "They are a bunch of angry adolescent boys." Aside from the fact that
it belies a disturbing ageism and sexism, it is false. Property
destruction is not merely
macho rabble-rousing or testosterone-laden angst release. Nor is it
displaced and reactionary anger. It is strategically and specifically
targeted direct action against
corporate interests.
7. "They just want to fight." This is pretty absurd, and it conveniently
ignores the eagerness of "peace police" to fight us. Of all the groups
engaging in direct
action, the black bloc was perhaps the least interested in engaging the
authorities and we certainly had no interest in fighting with other
anti-WTO activists (despite
some rather strong disagreements over tactics).
8. "They are a chaotic, disorganized and opportunistic mob." While many
of us could surely spend days arguing over what "chaotic" means, we were
certainly not
disorganized. The organization may have been fluid and dynamic, but it
was tight. As for the charge of opportunism, it would be hard to imagine
who of the thousands in
attendance _didn't_ take advantage of the opportunity created in Seattle
to advance their agenda. The question becomes, then, whether or not we
helped create that
opportunity and most of us certainly did (which leads us to the next myth):
9. "They don't know the issues" or "they aren't activists who've been
working on this." While we may not be professional activists, we've all
been working on this
convergence in Seattle for months. Some of us did work in our home-towns
and others came to Seattle months in advance to work on it. To be sure,
we were responsible for
many hundreds of people who came out on the streets on the 30th, only a
very small minority of which had anything to do with the black bloc.
Most of us have been studying the effects of the global economy, genetic
engineering, resource extraction, transportation, labor practices,
elimination of indigenous
autonomy, animal rights and human rights and we've been doing activism on
these issues for many years. We are neither ill-informed nor
unexperienced.
10. "Masked anarchists are anti-democratic and secretive because they hide
their identities." Let's face it (with or without a mask)--we aren't
living in a democracy
right now. If this week has not made it plain enough, let us remind
you--we are living in a police state. People tell us that if we really
think that we're right, we
wouldn't be hiding behind masks. "The truth will prevail" is the
assertion. While this is a fine and noble goal, it does not jive with the
present reality. Those who
pose the greatest threat to the interests of Capital and State will be
persecuted. Some pacifists would have us accept this persecution
gleefully. Others would tell us
that it is a worthy sacrifice. We are not so morose. Nor do we feel we
have the privilege to accept persecution
as a sacrifice: persecution to us is a daily inevitability and we
treasure our few freedoms. To accept incarceration as a form of flattery
betrays a large amount of
"first world" privilege. We feel that an attack on private property is
necessary if we are to rebuild a world which is useful, healthful and
joyful for everyone. And
this despite the fact that hypertrophied private property
rights in this country translate into felony charges for any property
destruction over $250.
MOTIVATIONS OF THE BLACK BLOC
The primary purpose of this communique is to diffuse some of the aura of
mystery that surrounds the black bloc and make some of its motivations
more transparent, since
our masks cannot be.
ON THE VIOLENCE OF PROPERTY
We contend that property destruction is not a violent activity unless it
destroys lives or causes pain in the process. By this definition, private
property--especially
corporate private property--is itself infinitely more violent than any
action taken against it.
Private property should be distinguished from personal property. The
latter is based upon use while the former is based upon trade. The
premise of personal property is
that each of us has what s/he needs. The premise of private property is
that each of us has something that someone else needs or wants. In a
society based on private
property rights, those who are able to accrue more of what others need or
want have greater power. By extension, they wield greater control over
what others perceive as
needs and desires, usually in the interest of increasing profit to
themselves.
Advocates of "free trade" would like to see this process to its logical
conclusion: a network of a few industry monopolists with ultimate control
over the lives of the
everyone else. Advocates of "fair trade" would like to see this process
mitigated by government regulations meant to superficially impose basic
humanitarian standards.
As anarchists, we despise both positions.
Private property--and capitalism, by extension--is intrinsicly violent and
repressive and cannot be reformed or mitigated. Whether the power of
everyone is concentrated
into the hands of a few corporate heads or diverted into a regulatory
apparatus charged with mitigating the disasters of the latter, no one can
be as free or as powerful
as they could be in a non-hierarchical society.
When we smash a window, we aim to destroy the thin veneer of legitimacy
that surrounds private property rights. At the same time, we exorcize
that set of violent and
destructive social relationships which has been imbued in almost
everything around us. By "destroying" private property, we convert its
limited exchange value into an
expanded use value. A storefront window becomes a vent to let some fresh
air into the oppressive atmosphere of a retail outlet (at
least until the police decide to tear-gas a nearby road blockade). A
newspaper box becomes a tool for creating such vents or a small blockade
for the reclamation of
public space or an object to improve one's vantage point by standing on
it. A dumpster becomes an obstruction to a phalanx of rioting cops and a
source of heat and
light. A building facade becomes a message board to record brainstorm
ideas for a better world.
After N30, many people will never see a shop window or a hammer the same
way again. The potential uses of an entire cityscape have increased a
thousand-fold. The
number of broken windows pales in comparison to the number broken
spells--spells cast by a corporate hegemony to lull us into forgetfulness
of all the violence committed
in the name of private property rights and of all the potential of a
society without them. Broken windows can be boarded up (with
yet more waste of our forests) and eventually replaced, but the shattering
of assumptions will hopefully persist for some time to come.
Against Capital and State,
the ACME Collective
"Peasant Revolt!"
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Disclaimer: these observations and analyses represent only those of the
ACME Collective and should not be construed to be representative of the
rest of the black bloc on
N30 or anyone else who engaged in riot or property destruction that day.
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