Black Bloc Explains Motives in "Communique From Olympic Resisters"
Members of the "black bloc" defended their actions and explained their motives in a press release aimed at denouncing the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. They write:
On February 12th and 13th, 2010, thousands of courageous individuals came together to resist the 2010 Olympic police state and to attack the corporations plundering the land and deepening poverty. We write this communique as participants in and organizers of the black bloc presence at these demonstrations, known as “Take Back Our City” and “2010 Heart Attack.”
On February 12th, the Vancouver Police Department pacified us with a force of mounted police. The next day during 2010 Heart Attack, they deployed riot police armed with M4 carbine assault rifles. They claim this was necessary in order to stop the march from “jeopardizing public safety” – yet the only threats to public safety were in their own hands. Participants in the demonstration only undertook strategic attacks against corporations sponsoring the Olympics and did not harm or attack bystanders.
The media are now busy denouncing the political violence of property destruction, such as the smashing of a Hudson's Bay Company window, as though it were the only act of violence happening in this city. They forget that economic violence goes on daily in Vancouver. People are suffering and dying from preventable causes because welfare doesn't give enough to afford rent, food or medicine, and because authorities routinely ignore the medical emergencies of poor or homeless individuals. This economic violence has gotten worse as we lose housing and social services because of the Olympic Games.
In response to this assault, thousands took to the streets, hundreds joining what is known as a black bloc.
The black bloc is not a formal organization; it has no leadership, membership, or headquarters. Instead, the black bloc is a tactic: it is something people *do* in order to accomplish a specific purpose. By wearing black clothing and masking our faces, the black bloc allows for greater protection to those who choose active self-defense. The majority of people involved in the black bloc do not participate in property destruction. However, in masking up they express their solidarity with
those who choose to take autonomous direct action against the corporations, authorities and politicians who wage war on our communities.
Participation in the black bloc is an act of courage. With only the shirts on our backs and the masks on our faces, we took to the streets against Canada's largest ever “peacetime” police force. Protected only by
black fabric and the support of our comrades, we stood in front of anti-riot cops armed with assault rifles, pistols and batons. We proved that $1 billion of “security” couldn't prevent us from clogging the heart of downtown Vancouver and crashing a party of 100 000 people -- and getting away with it.
You won't ever know who was in the black bloc this weekend, but you *do* know us. We are the people who organize community potlucks, who dance during street festivals, who make art, defend the land, build co-ops,
bicycles and community gardens. When we put on our black clothing, we are not a threat to you, but to the elites.
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(9) Comments
Nothing but punks. Quite likely cops, or run by cops, in order to discredit legitimate protest. One time you'll attack the wrong person or place, and be revealed for who you and your handlers really are.
The weekend. The eight hour day. Universal suffrage. Even private property.
As restricted as all of these rights and freedoms have turned out to be in practice, it would be difficult to imagine many people renouncing them for having been won by "illegitimate" means.
Nevertheless, all of these rights were made possible through violent confrontation. And it is only in light of these confrontations that the recent black bloc actions can be correctly understood.
The history of violence isn't pretty. But it's impossible to tell the story of today's rights and freedoms without referring to it. To take but one example: participants in the British suffragette movement -- although often dismissed or overlooked -- were resolute in their tactical use of violence.
As mainstream historian Trevor Lloyd points out, suffragettes in 1913 "burnt a couple of rural railway stations, ... placed a bomb in the house being built for [British Cabinet Minister] Lloyd George at Walton Heath in Surrey, and ... wrote 'Votes for Women' in acid on the greens of some golf courses."
And it was precisely through these forms of action that women became enfranchised.
Which is good. But not nearly enough. Unlike at the beginning of the 20th century, the constraints we endure today are sometimes imperceptible. Max Weber's hunch that "freedom" would eventually be the name of its opposite has become forebodingly concrete. We are all in the iron cage now.
Some may wish to put the "violent criminals" that tore through their city in prison. However, such wishes will not stop the black bloc from working to help these very people escape from that far more sinister prison called everyday life.
If you wake up tomorrow feeling miserable, despite everything you've accumulated, you might think they have a point.
Take a step back and realize what you're doing to your nation and your freedoms before being a sell-out and destroying them, not just for others but yourself as well. Instead of being a coward and going along with the tyranny, join humanity and fight the real powers.