I am an anarchist and I think it is quite likely that cops dress up as black blockers to instigate divisions within the protest movement. There has been a variety of witness reports over many demonstrations to verify this. I think a response to this needs to be looked at seriously by the black block.
I also disagree with the smashing up of working class cars and property what does this achieve? I think it is fucked!

Some very good points (if made in an at times incoherent way). However I don't think you can just brush aside the police infiltration of the black bloc.

Think: If you were running a Cointelpro-style operation against the anti-capitalist movement how would you go about it?

1) Infiltrate black blocs in order to later arrest those involved in criminal acts.
2) Place agent provocateurs to goad black blocers into attacking targets that will alienate them from the wider movement, i.e. random cars.
3) In extreme cases, attack these targets yourself and let the black bloc take the blame.
4) Place undercover cops among peaceful demonstrators and attack the black bloc, or encourage others to attack the black bloc.
5) Start and fan flame wars on forums like this between anarchists and reformists, using threatening language if possible.
6) Release hysterical stories to the media about hard core anarchists planning mayhem and bringing weapons to demonstrations.

The general aim is to turn us against one another, instead of doing what we should be doing, which is focusing our aggression on the ruling class. Do not doubt for one second that stuff like this is happening. But it's not just the cops - there are some genuine activists who do things like this, and it all helps to drive a wedge between the movement.

"You don't have to be a cop to do a cop's work"
-Ward Churchill

There is a fairly general consensus among black blocers that the legitimate targets are corporate property, yuppie cars, state property, police property, and the police themselves. Only a really small minority fit the image of pissed up hooligans that want to destroy everything in sight and pick a fight with everyone. If you think that that's what black bloc activists are about - whether you support them or not - you're playing into the hands of the authorities.

Somewhere between these poles there is shared gorund. I'd have to agree that the selection of targets is important, and that infiltration is likely, logical, and happening. But let's not let our rooting it out send shock-waves of mistrust and paranoia through an admirably diverse but ultimately joined movement. Our numbers are growing, and pogroms won't help. in memorian Carlo, stand tall and spread the word to those who have no flag, that it doesn't matter. The dissatisfaction is the same, and the time to call on ALL is now.

Dear Anarchists/black bloc, if you think you are so right, and you are so proud of what you do, why do you conceal your identity?

Peaceful protesters are happy to show their faces, and to accept the consequences of their actions. This means accepting getting arrested, it is part of the risk and also provides powerful media images.

All the time you hide behind your masks, and hide behind peaceful demonstrators you are never going to build a mass movement, which after all must be the aim. Otherwise you just look like an elite who want to impose a system on most people who won't want it.

If we want this movement to be any more than just a private party we have to be open, accountable, honest, and clear what we are trying to do. Otherwise we will never draw large amounts of ordinary people into it.

"Just smash the first thing you see", what a bunch of fucking arseholes. Either you are working for the police (and doing a good job of that it seems to me), or you are stupid, or you really don't care about building a mass movement, but just your own macho gratification.

"Dear Anarchists/black bloc, if you think you are so right, and you are so proud of
what you do, why do you conceal your identity?"

Not all anarchists are in the Black Block. I have never concealed my identity at
demonstrations, like most of the anarchists I know.

And, of course, those who do conceal their identity do so for a good reason --
they don't want to be arrested.

"Peaceful protesters are happy to show their faces, and to accept the
consequences of their actions. This means accepting getting arrested, it is part of
the risk and also provides powerful media images."

yes, the image of people being arrested is very empowering.. I don't think.

"All the time you hide behind your masks, and hide behind peaceful demonstrators"

Actually, no, as most Black Blocks operate in demos in zones which are specified
as being non-"peaceful." Part of the police tactics in Genoa was to force the BB
into peaceful areas.

"you are never going to build a mass movement, which after all must be the aim.
Otherwise you just look like an elite who want to impose a system on most people
who won't want it."

anarchists aim for a mass movement which will fight and overthrow the system,
The black block is used by some anarchists as a means to this end,

"If we want this movement to be any more than just a private party we have to be
open, accountable, honest, and clear what we are trying to do. Otherwise we will
never draw large amounts of ordinary people into it."

Funnily enough, BBs have been used since Seattle and the movement has grown.
and anarchists are clear in what they want -- a free society.

' "Just smash the first thing you see", what a bunch of fucking arseholes."

and you have ignored the other anarchists who rejected this position. As such,
you clearly are misrepresenting the diverity of anarchist opinion on this issue
and unfairly lump a *very* small minority in with the rest. As it is, part of the BB
in Genoa has made a statement that clearly states that they opposed the
"just smash the first thing you see" idea -- but that does not seem to have
been reported by the media. As such, your comments show ignorance and
misrepresent the position of the people you are attacking.

"Either you
are working for the police (and doing a good job of that it seems to me),"

more and more evidence is being accumulated showing that the state
created a fake Black Block to discredit the real one *and* split the movement.
It is hardly clever to state that all BBers are working for the police, as it is
obviously not true.

"or you are
stupid, or you really don't care about building a mass movement, but just your own
macho gratification."

again, I would stress that not all the "violent" protestors are anarchists. The BBC news
talking about "anarchists" while showing footage of "violent" protestors with *red*
flags (and one even had a picture of Mao on it). Clearly, the anarchists are being
demonised and scapegoated for everything that happened -- don't join in with
this!

Anarchists are keen to build a mass movement -- if you read anarchist webpages,
that should become clear (visit www.anarchistfaq.org for more information on
anarchism).

There is more and more evidence appearing that shows that the state infiltrated
the demo and used agents to provoke violence. What happened in Genoa was
so at odds with the normal BB activities that its obvious that there was a fake
BB operating to discredit the anarchists and split the movement. Don't let them
succeed!

We need to build a mass movement -- why do you think the state is trying to
split us and get us denouncing each other? Don't do their dirty work for them.

Indiscriminate smashing of property is just violence for violence's sake. It is always easier to tear things down than build. We don't need another (Russian) Revolution gone wrong because of Bolshevik tendencies.
This type of Black Bloc makes the idea of revolution exclusive, only healthy, fit Machos can participate, everyone else has to run for cover. (I also find it rather scary to see lots of Germans run amok abroad.)

I don't really understand what you are trying to say, you sound like some sort of defensive, fascistic skitso. What is your point exactly? That all violence is good? If that is your point then at least back it up pal. You slander liberal and lefties (ooh what a damning cuss!) so therefore you are what? A Rightie? Do you have a political agenda? doesn't sound like it, you just sound like some hill billie klu klux klaner, out for blood - anyones. I reckon you might even be made up and your message is in fact bogus and the author is the police.

I think if you are real then you need a holiday - go dancing for a change. Peace out man xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lefties forever!!!

In the demos against the World bank (which was sadly unable to attend that week) in Barcelona, many witnesses saw "demonstrators" get out of police vans, dressed in "typical radical demostrator" clothes, which in Barcelona means masked up, and maybe with Catalan or Basque nationalist symbols.

Some of these broke windows, and some even threw stones at the police, which was then the "excuse" for the police attack on thousands of people sitting peacefully listening to speeches after the demo.

Obviously most of those who broke shop windows weren't secret police, but some of them certainly were. (you can see a foto of them on our web site).

The point is not to attack anarchists, or people who defend non-non-violent direct action. The point is that we all need to seriously discuss and debate how to fight against capitalism, and to see which tactics work and which don't.

Fundamentally, I think we should stop arguing about "violence", and instead talk about how to build a wider, stronger movement. One of the strengths of Barcelona was that of the 35,000 or so demonstrators, all but 2 or 3 thousand were working class people from the Barcelona region, and there were delegations from groups of workers in struggle.

When tens of thousands of ordinary people start fighting back, I suspect that they won't really follow the lines either of "black block" style minority direct action or of "Gandhian" non violent civil disobedience.

Meanwhile, the key argument is how to mobilise those tens of thousands.

Chris wrote:

> Indiscriminate smashing of property is just violence for violence's sake.

very true -- and if you read the Black Block statement from Genoa and look
at the activities of other (real) Black Block's like this one, then they also
oppose indsicriminate smashing. Almost all anarchists reject violence for
violence's sake.

> It is always
>easier to tear things down than build. We don't need another (Russian) Revolution
>gone wrong because of Bolshevik tendencies.

The BB does not have "Bolshevik tendencies" as it does not aim to seize power.

And anarchism is an inherently constructive theory (look at www,anarchistfaq.org
for examples of anarchism's constructive ideas).

>This type of Black Bloc makes the idea of revolution exclusive, only healthy, fit
> Machos can participate, everyone else has to run for cover. (I also find it rather
> scary to see lots of Germans run amok abroad.)

Firstly, the BB does not see its actions as a revolution -- its a form of protest and a
tactic, and not a substitute for building a libertarian mass movement of the
working class. No anarchist thinks of revolution in terms of a few people acting
for everyone else. The aim is to turn every workplace, community, school,
every village, town and city into a Black Block.

Secondly, the BB tactic in other demos (such as Quebec and Washington) has been
to *defend* the other protestors against police violence. At this they were very
successful and much appreciated. I think that this approach would be the best
to build links with other protestors.

Thirdly, I find it rather more scary to see, firstly, fully armed cops run amok and,
secondly, the state attempting to split the movement by creating a fake "Black
Block" and, thirdly, seeing other activists joining the campaign to demonise
anarchists (regardless of the facts).

Don't let the state split the movement. Find out the facts of what happened before
attacking the BB or anarchists in general. More and more accounts are making
it clear that state agents (disgusing themselves as BB members) are to blame --
again, don't let the state actions succeed.

The fact that this is happening shows how much the state fears the mass movement
that has developed in the last few years -- we need to discuss how to push forward
rather than demonise other protestors for the states actions.

I am not going to condemn the Black Bloc. Destruction of banks an corporate offices may not be a tactic I would use, but I act autonomously, as do they. I went to Genoa to fuck up the fence (if you saw it you'd realise how silly that idea was!!!!). When I arrived on Friday I was with about 200ish people. We arrived at Brignole when it had already kicked off. We were not prepared so we headed for the peace camp. The choppers were following us the whole time. After being at the peace camp for 1hr a group of 200 black clad people came up the hill WALKING. 100yds behind were the cops WALKING. The cops weren't even trying to catch them. The black cald group hung around for a bit and then headed down the hill towards the centre of town. They walked straight thru the camp. The cops didn't. They stayed and kicked the shit out of (and gassed) Ghandians, Christians, pacifists and the groups I was with (anarchists, socialists etc).

Here's what I think. The choppers saw us get off the bus. They let the cops on the ground know who in turn let their friends in black know. They arived just as we were gathering ourselves for an attack on the fence. Coincidence? Maybe. But I know the tactics of real Black Bloc-ers. By all accounts this small group of men in black repeated this process all over town. THIS IS NOT A BLACK BLOC TACTIC. Black Bloc are in solidarity with people of the movement and would not lead the police to a group of non-violent protesters and then run away.

I would like to hear from some Black Bloc people who will agree (or disagree) with what I have suggested. I would also like to hear from anyone on the hill at the peace camp who may have similar or different opinions on what happened.

Peace
munkle

when we (BB) arrived on top of that hill after having ATTACKED A JAIL that some of the poorer genovese that joined us from the bars along or route had pointed out to us as such, nobody in the group knew that we would actually arrive at a peace camp, nobody knew the cops where following us. scared shit as the pigs always are when the encounter REAL resistance (we just had chased about 50 riot cops away from the jail, not fearing a rain of teargas and rubber bullets) they didnt want to get to close anyway.
the reason everybody was walking was probably the stairs and the heat. the fact that we attracted the cops to that peace camp was not intentional and seen by many an unfortunate accident. the fact that we were only about 500 (from origanally around 2000) did not allow us to defend the peacecamp properly.

sorry to all peacefull protesters for that

durruti

there's nothing wrong with wearing nike or gap ...........just dont buy them !...........

wat a load of hippocrits

'The aim is to turn every workplace, community, school,
every village, town and city into a Black Block.'

Why should everyone be and dress the same? I don't want to think 'black block = black shirts' - do you? I'm part of a movement for freedom, justice, and diversity, if your goal's so narrow maybe there's another home for you...

but there's another point not yet been made in this (mostly intelligent) discussion: that the people of Genova were almost entirely behind us, but the so-called black block alienated them more effecrtively than any amount of Berlusconi propaganda. I speak some Italian and made a point of talking to shopkeepers, old ladies, blokes on street corners etc... and to a person they supported the ideals that I and those I'd come to their town with shared, and they wanted the G8 meeting out of their city. In short, the population supported our cause.

After Friday however everyone I spoke to was shocked and saddened, not only by the deaths but also by the smashing of their communities. person after person pointed up towards
the red zone and asked, often with tears in their eyes, why these demonstrators had let the rich bastards meet in peace while destroying the property, shops, post offices etc of local working people (let alone fellow demonstrators..).

How convenient for the G8 etc. that the so called black block found the same easy target as their own banks and corporations. at the same time the black block split between those who wouldn't for example firebomb a post office in a residential building and those whose mission seemed pure and simple to maximise destruction and create ruins. and not even for profit! what the hell is the real motivation of those McBlack Block people who were not paid to do this? Maybe they should get jobs in the demolition business, if they haven't got the courage to turn their destructive urges towards the sources of global shit?

Images speak for themselves, an anarchist would never behave like that. Those beasts have destroyed my town, beaten up the innocents and thrown shit on anarchy. How come they were talking to cops? How come they are home now, laughing at us?
This is the politics of profit: no freedom no peace, lock yourself at home watching big brother.
And to all those violents I say: every circle you open will have to be closed by yourself ...all alone.
Ales

zedhead wrote:

> 'The aim is to turn every workplace, community, school,
>every village, town and city into a Black Block.'

> Why should everyone be and dress the same?

don't be silly. This comment is obviously not a call for
everyone to be the same, but rather to make everywhere
a militant anarchist zone of resistance and freedom. I
cannot believe you would be so pedentic.

I assume you thought that those who said "turn Prague into Seattle"
actually meant bulldoze Prague and build a clone of Seattle on it?

>I don't want to think 'black block =
>black shirts' - do you? I'm part of a movement for freedom, justice, and diversity, if
> your goal's so narrow maybe there's another home for you...

get a life! Given the history of anarchists fighting fascism, I find your comments
insulting in the extreme. And what is my goal? an anarchist society, one that
is based on freedom, equality, diversity and justice. Needless to say, that is
the opposite of what you imply is my aim. I'm surprised that you took my comments
in such a way. Rest assured, what you claim is my goal is not what it actually is!
(I'm surprised I even have to write this!)

>but there's another point not yet been made in this (mostly intelligent) discussion:
>that the people of Genova were almost entirely behind us, but the so-called black
>block alienated them more effecrtively than any amount of Berlusconi propaganda.

The "so-called black block"? Which black block was that? The real one or the fake one?
And given I have seen enough footage on TV to know that the term "anarchist" or
"Black Block" was applied to everyone involved in "violent" action (even those with
red flags!) then what do you mean by "black block"? Seems to me that you are, like
the media, using the term as a catch-all. It is precisely this sort of thing we should
be avoiding!



"How convenient for the G8 etc. that the so called black block found the same easy
target as their own banks and corporations. at the same time the black block split
between those who wouldn't for example firebomb a post office in a residential
building and those whose mission seemed pure and simple to maximise
destruction and create ruins. and not even for profit! what the hell is the real
motivation of those McBlack Block people who were not paid to do this? Maybe
they should get jobs in the demolition business, if they haven't got the courage to
turn their destructive urges towards the sources of global shit?"

as many eye-witness accounts have indicated, the state seems to have created a
fake "black block" and used it to discredit the anarchists and real black block.
Moreover, the footage of TV clearly showed that the term "black block" and
"anarchist" was applied to every "violent" protestor, regardless of the facts
(how many anarchists carry red flags? None).

Now, to blame the Black Block for the actions of state agents and those protestors
(whatever their political philosophy) who joined in the destruction is hardly
constructive and fair. Its want the media and state is doing -- don't join them!

The Black Block in Genoa has explicitly stated that it was against the destruction
of working class and non-corporate property. Other activists, who know the BB
and its ideas, have also stressed that the what happened in Genoa was
totally against the BB idea -- and pointed to the existance of state agents
using a fake BB to discredit and split the movement.

So don't join in with the witch-hunt and make clear differentiation between
which BB is being talked about -- the real one or the fake one.

It's hard to be clear which black bloc is being talked about when even people who were in the bloc have conflicting accounts (see above). in my posting i was mostly answering the person who said we were all trying to smear the black bloc - they didn't differentiate so nor did I. sorry.

I personally believe the police infiltrators story, but other people don't and I've also been on countless demos where people who turn up and cause shit not for money but for fun. I think we have to deal with both of these tendencies because in their own ways they are both undermining our unity and effectiveness. sorry if I wasn't clear I've been fairly upset by all the shit in genoa and am only just getting my thoughts together.

also, maybe it was not expressed clearly but i feel that it's just as bad for the relatively militant black bloc types to expect us all to be like them as it is for pacifists to expect eveyone to, for example, put their hands in the air while they get hit and arrested...

finally, the link between some in the blac bloc and fascistic tendencies is obviously not applicable to most but when there are people (paid or not) smashing up people and property apparently just for their own gratification and/or wanting us all to adopt their relatively macho worldview then it does make me nervous.

again, I do believe that there were police tactics in Genova to discredit the blac bloc, and many of the comments I've seen here and elsewhere from people involved in the bloc suggest that there is a feeling that this must not happen again. but will people involved in blac bloc stuff really be able to focus their attention and organising skills on how to make sure it never happens again in very practical terms - not just issuing statements? it might be that to do that they/you should for the moment ignore 'outside' people like me who clearly do not know as much about how and by whom this can be done.

good luck in this if it's your mission, and please report back to us non-black blockers when the autonomists work out a a better way of self-organisation... thank you.

Intransigent – I have not read many pieces attacking the black bloc in the sort of angry way you seek to defend it. I have read many pieces saying don’t divide the protesters up into violent and non-violent, don’t witch-hunt or scapegoat the black bloc

If I choose a different tactic it does not make me a reformist or a liberal.

I defend your right to use this tactic. And I defend my right to use a different one from you – and I think you will have to live with the fact that most choose differently form you and that has generally been the case and will probably continue to be the case. I don’t want to be rude but your intransigence can sound like dogmatism, like everyone else has to wake up and start seeing the world your way, lets leave that to the Leninists. I don’t know if I like these anarchist/libertarian/socialist/leftists labels – if they mean that we cannot disagree and still both be right

The boundaries are more fluid than black bloc versus not black bloc. Lets not get stuck in fixed identities. Many reading this would support Trident ploughshares actions of property destruction on MOD targets so is that ok but MCDonalds is not. Also often people actually seem to mean rioting (ie fighting back when the police attack) versus not rioting – there were lots more people rioting than just those in black. I have been on protests where it was not my intention to riot but I found myself doing so – probably most people who riot do so due to provocation.

Context is important

The state may or may not have put forces on to the streets dressed in black bloc clothes. They have along history of doing this sort of thing. We should not be surprised. The fact that they can do this shows the tactic needs reflecting on.

But the answer is not to isolate those who use the tactic but to improve coordination and communication. If black bloc wishes to take a role of defending protests then it needs co-ordinating and tactics agreeing

Of course one way of fucking the state up would be to sometimes yellow bloc – or purple block or green block

Also we know that the state does put people dressed in plain clothes into our demos taking pictures – maybe the organization and courage of the black bloc could be used to deal with this

But intransigent let us have dialogue about this rather than accusations of reformism because some of us choose a different tactic from you and ask you to reflect on refining yours so it is not imposed on others

I don't really know who the black bloc are so I won't pass judgement on them. I will pass judgement on people who smash things and this includes the bloke (I assume you are a bloke) who reckons that everything must be smashed even working class people's cars "if this is deemed necessary".
You ARE in it for the adrenaline, admit it. And it IS a macho thing - just how many of you are girls? You give us peaceful protesters a bad name and you give the media the perfect excuse to damn us. Nobody needs to break anything. We DO want to get rid of capitalism but physically breaking things isn't going to achieve anything -it's just going to piss a lot of people off. Please don't do it. Has anything you've done really made anything any better? I bet when you hit 30 you'll think "I can't be arsed with this anymore" and you'll drop your anarchist beliefs and be like everyone else and you'll look back on your days of smashing things for fun "in the name of freedom" (my arse!) and think how silly you were. I bet you wont stick by your anarchist principles. Because they're not really that important to you anyway, you just like breaking things. I play crap music.

The argument that you only smash up corporate/business property ignores the realities of fighting back against the police. In every riot in inner city Britain since 1981 till this years uprisings of Asian youth in Oldham and Bradford the rioters have smashed up their own areas to use as weapons against the cops - because that is where they are and the terrain they have to fight on. It may come as a shock to some of you that there are not convenient Gap stores or Starbucks coffee shops on every council estate so that anti-capitalists can ideologically correctly smash them up when the time comes. So in Genoa when the corporate targets were too well protected by cops then the anarchists were forced further back and had to use anything that came to hand to fight back. Some one moans that a bus shelter is destroyed! Should we stop fighting back because there is no politicallly correct material to throw at the cops. The reality of the situation is that we do not get to choose the terrain we fight on - so we fight back with whatever comes to hand. So presumably all those inner city rioters over the last 20 years are similarly to be criticided for smashing up their own working class areas! GET REAL! By any means necessary means exactly that. Resistence is not to be constrained by moral platitudes and posturing of those who dont have the guts or stomach to fight back. Incidently what a laugh to see all the SWPers scuttling in terror back to their cosy train with Noreena Hertz and their other liberal journalist pals suffering ftrom shell shock.

These were found in various indumedia stories.
One is the Black Block statement and another a
statement by a White Overall activist ( I will
post the second separately).

They should be useful to see that the BB tactics
are different than those used by the fake "BB"
to discredit the BB, anarchists, the demos and
to split the movement.

And I should note that there is a difference
between the riot and the activities of the BB.
To confuse the two would be a mistake.

***************************

A statement from black block activists
Genoa, July 21st 2001,
by participants of the Black Block
(from Italy Indymedia)

We are speaking out for a part of the black block.
We do not want to submit helplessly into the politics
of the powerful. We have come to enter militantly
the red zone and to stop the g8 meeting.

Yesterday the police acted brutally against the
protesters. Protesters were beaten up, were attacked
with tear gas and shock bullets, they were imprisoned
and tortured. The police brutality
culminated in the murder of one protester.

In the published opinion the black block was made responsible for
the whole violence.

Day by day, the capitalist world order produces a
diversity of violence. Poverty, hunger, expulsion,
exclusion, the death of millions of people and the destruction of living spaces is part of their policy.

This is exactly what we reject.

Smashed windows of banks and multinational companies
are symbolic actions. Nevertheless we do not agree
with the destruction and looting of small shops and
cars. This is not our policy.

However, we also do not let us be divided. To divide resistance is a
usual way to weaken resistance. We appreciate and count on
solidaric criticism.

We are angry and sad about the murder of Carlo Giuliane. Let us
turn our grief and anger into resistance.

If windows rattle then you cry,
but you are silent when people die.

History does never end. Viva la revolution
************

The Magical Mystery Tour of the Fake Black Bloc in
Genoa
by Wu Ming

We should not criminalize the Black Bloc or accuse anarchists, for
what happened in Genoa has very little to do with their tactics, and
there is ever more evidence that the top trashers were cops in
disguise. I was in Genoa, and I came back worn out, angry,
disappointed, feverish, with the ligaments of my knees destroyed
and completely out of voice, and I say: do not go hunting
anarchists, do not criminalize the international Black Bloc. It is our
duty to draw distinctions between the Black Bloc and what
happened in Genoa. It is our duty not to charge with being a
carabiniere in disguise anyone who took direct action in Genoa.
Pogroms and paranoid conspiracy theories do not belong to our
culture.

Last Friday in Genoa were some German anarchists of the
Schwartze Block. They hit such precise targets as banks and big
corporate offices. They had no intention to attack other
demonstrators. On Saturday a Dutch journalist of Vrij Neederland
magazine met them while they were packing and maybe going
back to Germany. They told him they were pissed-off because of
what other "men in black" had done. In fact what went on Saturday
had very little to do with the BB's modus operandi: the BB has a
method. One may disagree with them, and yet they have a method
and go their own way without interfering with other forms of
action. On the contrary, in Genoa the carabinieri escorted the
trashers all day long, and never charged them, not because they
were too fast and informal, as someone commented. No, they had
all the time to go inside banks, trash them accurately and set them
on fire, an operation which requires more than a quarter of an hour.
In the meanwhile, the carabinieri hanged on in the street, waiting
for them. When the trashers went out, the magical mystery tour
went on. The carabinieri quietly accompanied the trashers to the
places where many other people (belonging to the GSF) were
demonstrating in other ways, as if they were walking their dogs.
There are hundreds of testimonies. All along the path the men in
black attacked small shops, set fire to cars that certainly didn't
belong to millionaires, destroyed very little gas stations and so on.
Then they were unchained in the square where hundreds of
members of the Lilliput network were doing a sit-in. The
carabinieri followed them and beat up women and children, boy
scouts, peaceful demonstrators.

Then carabinieri and trashers left again and went to the
convergence center in Piazza Kennedy. The carabinieri assaulted
the place, then the merry party directed to Brignole station and
bumped into the demonstration by the civil disobedience bloc,
which was still far from the Red Zone. The carabinieri charged the
demons. In the meanwhile, some of those fake Black Blocsters
broke into the ranks of the white overalls and assaulted some
comrades. A very big comrade from Venice-based squat "Rivolta"
was knocked down by a guy that surely was a very well trained
martial artist. After that, the carabinieri kept attacking the demo for
seven hours, while people were trying to go back to Carlini
Stadium. The last attack took place less than 600 yards from the
camping. The men in black had completely disappeared. This has
nothing to do with the praxis of the Black Bloc. In fact many
people saw these fake black blocsters coming out of carabinieri
vans, putting on the balaclava and starting to raise hell, trashers
discussing plans with marshalls, carabinieri giving crowbars to
fake black blocsters etc. The press is reporting these stories, and
the national TV is showing shocking footage.

On June 19th, after Gothenburg, the White Overalls of Bologna and
the Wu Ming collective put into circulation a document titled
"Stop the Encirclement of the Black Bloc". Here it is:
-------------
"The Black Bloc is no bullshit. It should not be trivially associated
with vandalism and irrational devastation. It is an informal network
of affinity groups, mostly - but not exclusively - anarchist ones,
and it extends all over North America and continental Europe.
They've been active for years, elaborate strategies and tactics and
are willing to transform them in relation to contexts, alliances and
aims. It should be clear that so far the Black Bloc hasn't
manifested itself in Italy.

As the recent history of the movement proves, the Black Bloc are
not static and can adopt different tactis and seek "cross-
fertilisation" like they did in Quebec City during the anti-FTAA
mobilisation. In those days they acted in full respect of the town
and its inhabitants, and concentrated all efforts in tearing down the
"Wall of Shame". They even chose to use symbols and practices
devised by the white overalls (pads, shields, position holding etc.)
and co-operated with other affinity groups in the street. In
Gothenburg the Black Bloc talked with the white overalls and
decided to take action in a common frame including more peaceful
protesters. Troubles started when the vast majority of
spokespersons and co-ordinators were "preventively" arrested
during the Thursday night raid. The morning after, the cops cut in
half the demo and isolated a section of it, which was labelled as
"Black Bloc". These demonstrators could only defend themselves
by throwing stones, and a few shop windows were broken [...] The
peak of police violence was reached at an apparently peaceful
moment: on Friday night, when the cops surrounded a park where
hundreds of youth had organised a rave party. They attacked the
ravers, which tried to resist unbecomingly [well, you can't always
be stylish], then the police fired. Certainly the rave was not
organised by the Black Bloc.

Black Blocsters are political activists, we may disagree with their
praxis and theory, but we don't deem them as brainless Pavlov
dogs foaming at the sight of truncheons.

Moreover, they are more fanciful than people think: a few months
Black Blocsters split off a demo in Buffalo, entered a destitute
neighborhood and picked up garbage. When journalists asked what
the fuck they were doing, they answered: "You wrote that we
would trash the town, we decided to pick up the trash!". We're
witnessing a very serious attempt at criminalising 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".

White Overalls of Bologna / Wu Ming"