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Title: N30 Black Bloc Communiqué Author: ACME Collective Date: December 4, 1999 Language: en Topics: anti-globalization, black bloc Source: Retrieved on September 1, 2009 from http://www.geocities.com/kk_abacus/ACME.html
A communiqué from one section of the black bloc of N30 in Seattle
On November 30, several groups of individuals in black bloc attacked
various corporate targets in downtown Seattle. Among them were (to name
just a few): Fidelity Investment (major investor in Occidental
Petroleum, the bane of the U’wa tribe in Colombia) Bank of America, US
Bancorp, Key Bank and Washington Mutual Bank (financial institutions key
in the expansion of corporate repression) Old Navy, Banana Republic and
the GAP (as Fisher family businesses, rapers of Northwest forest lands
and sweatshop laborers) NikeTown and Levi’s (whose overpriced products
are made in sweatshops) McDonald’s (slave-wage fast-food peddlers
responsible for destruction of tropical rainforests for grazing land and
slaughter of animals) Starbucks (peddlers of an addictive substance
whose products are harvested at below-poverty wages by farmers who are
forced to destroy their own forests in the process) Warner Bros. (media
monopolists) Planet Hollywood (for being Planet Hollywood).
This activity lasted for over 5 hours and involved the breaking of
storefront windows and doors and defacing of facades. Slingshots,
newspaper boxes, sledge hammers, mallets, crowbars and nail-pullers were
used to strategically destroy corporate property and gain access (one of
the three targeted Starbucks and Niketown were looted). Eggs filled with
glass etching solution, paint-balls and spray-paint were also used.
The black bloc was a loosely organized cluster of affinity groups and
individuals who roamed around downtown, pulled this way by a vulnerable
and significant storefront and that way by the sight of a police
formation. Unlike the vast majority of activists who were
pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets on several
occasions, most of our section of the black bloc escaped serious injury
by remaining constantly in motion and avoiding engagement with the
police. We buddied up, kept tight and watched each others’ backs.
Those attacked by federal thugs were un-arrested by quick-thinking and
organized members of the black bloc. The sense of solidarity was
awe-inspiring.
Unfortunately, the presence and persistence of “peace police” was quite
disturbing. On at least 6 separate occasions, so-called “non-violent”
activists physically attacked individuals who targeted corporate
property. Some even went so far as to stand in front of the Niketown
super store and tackle and shove the black bloc away. Indeed, such
self-described “peace-keepers” posed a much greater threat to
individuals in the black bloc than the notoriously violent uniformed
“peace-keepers” sanctioned by the state undercover officers have even
used the cover of the activist peace-keepers to ambush those who engage
in corporate property destruction).
Response to the black bloc has highlighted some of the contradictions
and internal oppressions of the “nonviolent activist” community. Aside
from the obvious hypocrisy of those who engaged in violence against
black-clad and masked people (many of whom were harassed despite the
fact that they never engaged in property destruction), there is the
racism of privileged activists who can afford to ignore the violence
perpetrated against the bulk of society and the natural world in the
name of private property rights. Window-smashing has engaged and
inspired many of the most oppressed members of Seattle’s community more
than any giant puppets or sea turtle costumes ever could (not to
disparage the effectiveness of those tools in other communities).
Here’s a little something to dispel the myths that have been circulating
about the N30 black bloc:
anarchists from Eugene, we hail from all over the United States,
including Seattle. In any case, most of us are familiar with local
issues in Seattle (for instance, the recent occupation of downtown by
some of the most nefarious of multinational retailers).
circulating that we are followers of John Zerzan, an anarcho-primitivist
author from Eugene who advocates property destruction. While some of us
may appreciate his writings and analyses, he is in no sense our leader,
directly, indirectly, philosophically or otherwise.
destroyed property on November 30^(th).” In reality, most of the people
in the “Autonomous Zone” squat are residents of Seattle who have spent
most of their time since its opening on the 28^(th) in the squat. While
they may know of one-another, the two groups are not co-extensive and in
no case could the squat be considered the headquarters of people who
destroyed property.
of passive, non-violent protesters.” To answer this, we need only note
that tear-gassing, pepper-spraying and the shooting of rubber bullets
all began before the black blocs (as far as we know) started engaging in
property destruction. In addition, we must resist the tendency to
establish a causal relationship between police repression and protest in
any form, whether it involved property destruction or not. The police
are charged with protecting the interests of the wealthy few and the
blame for the violence cannot be placed upon those who protest those
interests.
this might be a more positive representation of the black bloc, it is
nevertheless false. We refuse to be misconstrued as a purely reactionary
force. While the logic of the black bloc may not make sense to some, it
is in any case a pro-active logic.
it belies a disturbing ageism and sexism, it is false. Property
destruction is not merely macho rabble-rousing or testosterone-laden
angst release. Nor is it displaced and reactionary anger. It is
strategically and specifically targeted direct action against corporate
interests.
ignores the eagerness of “peace police” to fight us. Of all the groups
engaging in direct action, the black bloc was perhaps the least
interested in engaging the authorities and we certainly had no interest
in fighting with other anti-WTO activists (despite some rather strong
disagreements over tactics).
of us could surely spend days arguing over what “chaotic” means, we were
certainly not disorganized. The organization may have been fluid and
dynamic, but it was tight. As for the charge of opportunism, it would be
hard to imagine who of the thousands in attendance didn’t take advantage
of the opportunity created in Seattle to advance their agenda. The
question becomes, then, whether or not we helped create that opportunity
and most of us certainly did (which leads us to the next myth):
working on this.” While we may not be professional activists, we’ve all
been working on this convergence in Seattle for months. Some of us did
work in our home-towns and others came to Seattle months in advance to
work on it. To be sure, we were responsible for many hundreds of people
who came out on the streets on the 30^(th), only a very small minority
of which had anything to do with the black bloc. Most of us have been
studying the effects of the global economy, genetic engineering,
resource extraction, transportation, labor practices, elimination of
indigenous autonomy, animal rights and human rights and we’ve been doing
activism on these issues for many years. We are neither ill-informed nor
inexperienced.
their identities.” Let’s face it (with or without a mask) — we aren’t
living in a democracy right now. If this week has not made it plain
enough, let us remind you — we are living in a police state. People tell
us that if we really think that we’re right, we wouldn’t be hiding
behind masks. “The truth will prevail” is the assertion. While this is a
fine and noble goal, it does not jive with the present reality. Those
who pose the greatest threat to the interests of Capital and State will
be persecuted. Some pacifists would have us accept this persecution
gleefully. Others would tell us that it is a worthy sacrifice. We are
not so morose. Nor do we feel we have the privilege to accept
persecution as a sacrifice: persecution to us is a daily inevitability
and we treasure our few freedoms. To accept incarceration as a form of
flattery betrays a large amount of “first world” privilege. We feel that
an attack on private property is necessary if we are to rebuild a world
which is useful, healthful and joyful for everyone. And this despite the
fact that hypertrophied private property rights in this country
translate into felony charges for any property destruction over $250.
The primary purpose of this communiqué is to diffuse some of the aura of
mystery that surrounds the black bloc and make some of its motivations
more transparent, since our masks cannot be.
We contend that property destruction is not a violent activity unless it
destroys lives or causes pain in the process. By this definition,
private property — especially corporate private property — is itself
infinitely more violent than any action taken against it.
Private property should be distinguished from personal property. The
latter is based upon use while the former is based upon trade. The
premise of personal property is that each of us has what s/he needs. The
premise of private property is that each of us has something that
someone else needs or wants. In a society based on private property
rights, those who are able to accrue more of what others need or want
have greater power. By extension, they wield greater control over what
others perceive as needs and desires, usually in the interest of
increasing profit to themselves.
Advocates of “free trade” would like to see this process to its logical
conclusion: a network of a few industry monopolists with ultimate
control over the lives of the everyone else. Advocates of “fair trade”
would like to see this process mitigated by government regulations meant
to superficially impose basic humanitarian standards. As anarchists, we
despise both positions.
Private property — and capitalism, by extension — is intrinsically
violent and repressive and cannot be reformed or mitigated. Whether the
power of everyone is concentrated into the hands of a few corporate
heads or diverted into a regulatory apparatus charged with mitigating
the disasters of the latter, no one can be as free or as powerful as
they could be in a non-hierarchical society.
When we smash a window, we aim to destroy the thin veneer of legitimacy
that surrounds private property rights. At the same time, we exorcise
that set of violent and destructive social relationships which has been
imbued in almost everything around us. By “destroying” private property,
we convert its limited exchange value into an expanded use value. A
storefront window becomes a vent to let some fresh air into the
oppressive atmosphere of a retail outlet (at least until the police
decide to tear-gas a nearby road blockade). A newspaper box becomes a
tool for creating such vents or a small blockade for the reclamation of
public space or an object to improve one’s vantage point by standing on
it. A dumpster becomes an obstruction to a phalanx of rioting cops and a
source of heat and light. A building facade becomes a message board to
record brainstorm ideas for a better world.
After N30, many people will never see a shop window or a hammer the same
way again. The potential uses of an entire cityscape have increased a
thousand-fold. The number of broken windows pales in comparison to the
number broken spells — spells cast by a corporate hegemony to lull us
into forgetfulness of all the violence committed in the name of private
property rights and of all the potential of a society without them.
Broken windows can be boarded up (with yet more waste of our forests)
and eventually replaced, but the shattering of assumptions will
hopefully persist for some time to come.
Against Capital and State,
the ACME Collective
Disclaimer: these observations and analyses represent only those of the
ACME Collective and should not be construed to be representative of the
rest of the black bloc on N30 or anyone else who engaged in riot or
property destruction that day.