<nettime> Re: More on Genoa: The Magical Mystery Tour of the Fake Black Bloc

[david turgeon <david.t@steam.ca>]

>We're witnessing a very serious attempt at criminalizing this section of
>the movement. We refuse to save our ass to the detriment of the Black Bloc,
>we regard them as a fully legitimate part of the movement and refuse any
>distinction between "good protesters" and "bad protesters".

the oh so mythical black bloc...  so powerful, yet so easy to 
infiltrate.  at once a blessing (to the image) & a curse (to the 
image).  the problem is that civil disobedience (as they have it) is not 
acknowledged by the folks who give the soldiers their paycheck.  their 
actions simply do not register as symbolic to the press, either -- the only 
words their newspeak dictionary has for this is "terrorism" or "anarchy" 
(in the "bad" sense of course...  why, is there really ANY OTHER SENSE?!?!?!).

it is probably irrelevant to blame the black bloc so far as their actions 
are bona fide civil disobedience & do not get directly in the way of 
peaceful protest (which it did on the time i witnessed them operating in a 
"green" zone, so a large number of "black bloc actions" may still be to 
blame anyway).  as i understand it, the black bloc is not doing its actions 
in order to gain something (such as land or money), but in order to be 
understood.  unfortunately, they are failing at that, & in the meantime, 
the police uses these flaws to fortify its own credibility.

how much longer before "infowars" are being recuperated as well?  it only 
took a few american script kiddies to deface a thousand sites in china (& 
inversely) only on the basis of patriotism.  these script kiddies may not 
be protesters, but they are definitely easy for the police to acquire & use 
as pretend-protesters.  then tony blair will say "we deplore the hacking 
AND the violence on the streets" & we'll still be at square one.

if i had any say in that sort of things, i would leave out all "red" 
actions from any demonstration so as to leave out ALL possibilities of 
confusion the police could fabricate or use.  concentrate on just being 
there.  there will be tear gas for everyone whatever you do.

~ david

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