'Wearing Nike' is hardly damning evidence of being a cop. I know plenty of anarchists that wear Nike, some bought it and others skipped it. There are no 'nice' companies.

And how would no-one turning up to protest be "a much more powerful statement of dissent with no media spin"? You don't think that, firstly, they would say 'look, the money we spent was justified - no violence!", and then follow that up by arguing that the lack of any demo shows how people support them?

It doesn't matter if there is a massive, violent demo or a tiny peaceful one, the state would have pissed that money away on something, and it would have tried to use whatever happened to its advantage PR-wise.

The most effective way you can demonstrate your dissent is by being skilled . Wearing Nike it is just the badge of being part of the market, a consumer. There is nothing wrong in being black block ....sometimes , or sometimes being pink.There is something wrong in bring dependebt on the thing you oppose .

another load of hippy liberal rubbish- straight to the bin. Previous articles crying about black bloc being police provocators were already deleted, hope this one will follow- unless you got substantial evidence, better than spotting somebody wearing nike, then please fuck off back to hole you crawled for- you are either a pig or you do their job for them you moron.

oh christ, where to start?????
police agents don't just infiltrate the anarchists and pretend to be black bloc, they infiltrate all levels of dissent, even liberal peaceniks, who seem to think they are above this level of interest from the state. Agent provocateurs don't just focus on violent dissent, they focus on all dissent in order to PROVOKE. (the clue is in the name)

There seems to be a common thread within north america at the moment that just because police have infiltrated the black bloc tactic that therefore all anarchists are cops. This is ridiculous and simply plays into the hands of the police and what they are trying to achieve. The reason why the police are usually caught out doing this is just because the black bloc IS NOT A GROUP IT IS A TACTIC, so when the police try and infiltrate it and belong to it as if it existed as a group they stand out a mile. They also infiltrate the unions, the student groups, the liberal pacifist groups etc, but they get away with this because they can infiltrate the group properly and become part of its usually heirarchical structure- an organisational paradigm that they understand. With the black bloc there is no group, there is no structure and so they are identifiable by their presence and their actions almost immediately. But, I reiterate, to suppose that the police only infiltrate the anarchists is disingenuous.

If you really believe that all anarchists are 'misdirected black-bloc anarchists' then try telling this to the anarchists of Greece, those from Exarchia and every other place in Greece. I'm sure they will gladly shove a flaming molotov up your privileged liberal bourgeoise ass whilst you practice your right to be civilly disobedient in the face of growing authoritarian power. Oh, but I forgot, you're from the States- you live in a DEMOCRACY don't you? You naive blinkered sheep.

Paul Joseph Watson from Prison Planet is a moron. Although he is right that this is a deliberate agent provocateur 'strategy of tension' policy by the police in this case (or a mini false flag event as you alex jones wonks prefer) this does NOT mean as he implies here and as Alex Jones implies in rise of police state 4 that all anarchists who use black bloc tactic are police, one of many sweeping generalisations that alex et al are prone to making.

Next let's look at the dire stupidity of this phrase- 'Why would a hardcore anarchists so dedicated to his cause that he is willing to torch a police car be wearing clothing made by a company that anarchists universally abhor, and one that has routinely been targeted by anarchists for well over a decade?'

Errrrr, because many anarchists don't buy clothes no matter who makes them, we tat them, steal them, get them second hand- a lot of us don't give a fuck what we wear as long as we don't have to pay for it (and its black). Plus in this case, when you wear clothes to a demo where you may break the law you wear clothes that you can discard/burn in order to destroy identifying evidence. Common sense is it not, oh sorry I forgot you've never broken the law have you (maybe speeded in your SUV once). Anyway in this case those two WERE cops but that doesn't mean that I or any other anarchist wouldn't wear nike trousers as temporary work clothes if we hadn't bought them and they were available.

quote- 'Imagine if more people organized peaceful festivals that coincided on those days and refused to work, buy, or watch TV for example.
Seems to me that planning a major freedom festival or event during these globalist meetings on the far side of town, away from the police, would be more productive.'

are you crazy? Do you really think that if you get together and watch tv on the other side of town the corporate and political elite will just roll over and relinquish their power. How is this 'rejecting the system with direct action'? Do you understand the nature of political power and heirarchy? They won't give up their power we have to wrest it from them and negate it to create a society free from authority and political heirarchy.

The only real lesson that we need to learn is that we should attack the institutions of domination that enslave us every day, in every way and on our terms NOT theirs. That is- not just every time there is an official demo or summit and they spend 1 billion dollars waiting for us to show up and get nicked. We should decide the terms and field of engagement not them. But ultimately we will have to use political violence in the context of social struggle or we run the risk of simply becoming co-opted reformists 'gathering at the Porcupine Freedom Fest, sponsored by the Free State Project(Free State?how is that anarchist?) in order to demonstrate our freedom'.

Sorry to be so cynical but your post is full of contradictions and seems to have no relevance to the real world me and my comrades live in.

peace -A-

Black Bloc smash stuff up because they are angry and want to directly confront the state as well as 101 other personal reasons, all completely legitimate. I know loads of people who have used this tactic who aren't a.students b.young c.agent provocateur d.middle class

The desire to fight back against a system of oppression is healthy.

Personally I feel uncomfortable that this tactic seems to represent the anarchist 'movement' more than anything else but, fuck, what sort of libertarians would we be if we stopped others confronting authority (no matter how frivolous this action may be).

Obviously the state is going to infiltrate radical groups. Obviously they are going to put spin on things that makes Anarchists look bad and them look good. But pacifying ourselves by relying on lifestyle choices and pressure protests in the hope governments will listen isn't much of an alternative.

The idea wearing Nike makes you part of the system is a load of complete bollocks. Yeah Nike sucks but wearing it doesn't mean you are part of the problem. This is an extension of the boring lifestyle politics of the liberal left. For sure boycotte stuff, drop out, grow your own vegetables but the system will still be there. Doing these things should be a personal choice not political action. It's great that people think about how there actions effect others but your own morals aren't for everyone.

These arguements are as old as the hills and if anything show a lack is some peoples understanding of anarchist/anti-authoritarian thought. This is probably due to some anarchists coming from a liberal background. Drop the liberal 'I know better than you how to change the world' bullshit. Freedom for all.

When will people stop posting this crap on indymedia?

It's nonsense to suggest that a black block participant wearing nike is not an real anarchist or whatever simply on the basis of the choice of clothing. Black blockers choose to wear clothes they can not easily be identified by and that may mean having to discard those clothes after an incident. Black blockers don't have an endless supply of black clothes in their wardrobes, the clothes have to come from somewhere and in the states that is likely to be out of thrift shops and textile recycling bins. It would be nonsense and futile to go through those clothes rejecting all those which were products of sweatshop labor or unsustainable manufacturing practises - there would be nothing left to wear.

Additionally, follow those links for photos and videos etc and you end up with the stupid 'identical boot' story, already throughly discredited on London Indymedia  http://london.indymedia.org/articles/5075#comment-1047

Stop trying to disown the smashing of stuff.