The “Black Bloc’s” Tactics are Hurting the Occupy Movement

The “Black Bloc’s” Tactics are Hurting the Occupy Movement

by Sheila Musaji


When I heard about violence and vandalism during a recent Occupy Oakland demonstration, I was horrified. The Occupy Movement has so far been very much a non-violent movement across the country.

As I attempted to understand exactly what had happened and who was responsible, the term “black bloc” came up, and I admit that I knew little about these folks.

I asked Rashid Patch (who has been regularly attending Occupy Oakland and also writing articles about events there) what he knew about them. Here is the response that he sent to me

They are called the “black faction” because they dress entirely in black, usually wear bandanas or scarves to cover their face. I don’t know if they chose the name themselves, or if it’s a name others gave them. They are punk-anarchist, political enough to claim anarchism as justification for taking drugs, acting out, and generally giving people a hard time.

Mostly young, street-punks or wannabees; 50 years ago, they’d have been called alienated youth, or juvenile delinquents. Basically, these are kids who have been so trodden upon that they are desperate; so they become desparados. Angry, uncaring, sadly damaged, they are the people who were never socialized, perhaps barely housebroken. Often seriously abused as children, they are responding in kind to the world.

Not as organized as a gang, but if they were less nihilist, they’d probably form a gang. Very easily infiltrated and influenced by provocateurs, but they are prone to vandalism and violence entirely by themselves. They like breaking windows and burning cars, for it’s own sake, so doing it with political justification is really fun. These are the kind of people who turn into Charlie Mansons - or followers of the Charlie Mansons.

Some of them are astonishingly intelligent, brilliantly creative, and terribly, terribly bitter about every aspect of life. They are a symptom of society’s madness and violence. Some of them take on that role consciously, and argue with great fervor that their vandalism is a logical political response to the conditions of their life - that violence is the only rational response to a pathological society. They are the De Sade’s of the present revolution.

Some may mature into creative and productive people. Some will self-destruct. Some may have to be forcibly restrained - and make no mistake, restraining them at all will entail extreme force. A number of Occupy Oakland people were beaten up when they attempted to stop vandalism by “black faction” members. How the Occupy / 99% movement takes responsibility for the “black faction”, and how it controls them, will be a sign of it’ maturity.

I did a little more research and discovered that Occupy Oakland protestors had attempted to stop the black masked group from breaking windows and engaging in violent behavior at the Whole Foods Store in Oakland. You can see a video clearly showing this here.

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There is a lot more at the url with links to related articles.

http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the-black-bloc/0018863