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Title: Egypt’s Black Bloc Author: Oz Katerji Date: March 13, 2013 Language: en Topics: Egypt, Black Bloc Source: Retrieved on 2020-03-08 from https://web.archive.org/web/20170218184955/https://ozkaterji.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/egypts-black-bloc
When the term “Black Bloc” is used in the Western media there tends to
be a lot of bullshit banded about. The right-wing press consider them
good-for-nothing anarchists hell-bent on draining the welfare system and
turning civil protests into bank-smashing, police-van burning riots. The
center-left on the other hand often portray them as misguided &
disenfranchised youth whose self-defeating tactics do no good for
anyone. Black Bloc are generally considered an anarachist collective,
however their motives and methods vary greatly and even the notion that
they are all unilaterally anti-state or endorse radical economic systems
is not entirely accurate as they lack a centralised ideology.
Generally the group dress all in black and stand at the front of
protests and act as a barrier between civilian protestors and riot
police and have often been known to use to violence and vandalism to
achieve their objectives.
When I think of the Black Bloc I normally conjure up the image of a
pungent crust-punk with A.C.A.B. (All Coppers Are Bastards)
knuckle-tattoos dressed head to toe in black kicking in the windows of a
Goldman Sachs building and urinating in empty Pepsi bottles to launch at
marauding riot police.
The movement was originally started in the late 70s in Germany and
Holland by squatters as a response to police violence. The idea being
that a loose collection of like-minded individuals could protest
anonymously with strength in numbers. The movement began to not only
represent squatters rights but also anti-globalisation, anti-nuclear
power, animal rights and pro-choice movements among others.
David van Deusen, co-editor of a collection of writings called the Black
Bloc Papers describes the Black Bloc as a group of “Radical
collectives—often from within the anarcho-punk scene and typically of
working class composition.”
“(They) began to urge their members and social militants generally to
assemble at demonstrations donning uniform black clothes (with masks),
and to march as a single protest contingent (among many others). With
their identities effectively hidden in temporary uniformity, they were
able to more successfully push protest actions in more militant
directions while protecting themselves from being singled out for direct
State oppression or later legal charges or both.“
Since then the movement has continued to evolve and grow, growing both
in support and condemnation from various elements of society, so much so
that Hacktivist collective Anonymous have allegedly been behind the
release conflicting statements both supporting and condemning the
behaviour of various Black Bloc factions in relation to the Occupy
Movement.
However half way across the world the Black Bloc have found a new home
far from the minor skirmishes and tear gas canisters of the G8 protests.
Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire in
January 2011 and the Middle East has been burning ever since. The world
is now a radically different place since the start of the Arab Spring
after Bouazizi’s death triggered revolutions across the Arab world.
Egypt – the world’s most populous Middle Eastern country – was no
exception. At the end of January 2011 mass protests in Tahrir Square
eventually snowballed into a full blown revolution that led to the
ousting of Western backed dictator Hosni Mubarak and the election of the
Islamist Muslim Brotherhood led by Mohammed Morsi in his place.
There remains widespread opposition to Morsi’s government especially
after the Muslim Brotherhood pushed through a new constitution that gave
the Brotherhood sweeping powers. On top of this the country is still as
corrupt as ever with Mubarak’s cronies still in place in the military,
police force and the judiciary.
Today’s Egypt can be a pretty terrifying place where even a football
riot can result in the deaths of 79 people as last year’s Port Said
tragedy demonstrates and in recent protests following the death
sentences handed out to those involved in the tragedy a further 60
people have been shot dead. Anti-government protestors are shot dead by
police on a frequent basis and dissent is cracked down on violently by
the state. From that chaos however a new wing of the Black Bloc has been
formed in Egypt and first started appearing a few weeks ago at the
protests marking 2 years since the start of the Tahrir revolution.
Modelling themselves on the anti-establishment ideals of their Western
counterparts the Egyptian Black Bloc share the same tactics and uniform
however they are a mixed bag ideologically using the monker “Chaos
against Injustice”.
Established as an anti-Islamist movement the Black Bloc is a widely
growing phenomenon, arriving in the hundreds at mass demonstration and
skirmishing with pro-government forces. The group has no qualms using
violence as a response to the brutal behaviour of Egypt’s internal
security forces and claim responsibility for the recent firebomb attack
on the Muslim Brotherhood’s HQ.
Understandably this movement has terrified the Muslim Brotherhood and
the gap between Egypt’s revolutionary youth and the upper echelons of
power could not be wider. Morsi has vowed to crack down on the group and
Egypt’s Attorney General Talaat Ibrahim has ordered the police and army
to arrest anyone suspected of belonging to the group and hand them over
to the authorities saying in a statement that “Black Bloc is an
organised group that practices terrorist activities.”
The Muslim Brotherhood have a right to fear the group that are growing
quickly in numbers, their Facebook page is only a matter of weeks old
but already has over 50,000 likes. The culture of violent repression
against dissent in Egypt has created a group who appear to show no fear
dying in the name of their cause, making their European counterparts
anti-globalisation protests look more like the Berlin Love Parade in
comparison.
In official videos released online the group claims it was established
to “fight against the regime of the fascist tyrants, the Muslim
Brotherhood and its military wing”. The group claims it is there to
protect protestors and have appeared to be quite well organised having
recently blocked the tramway in Alexandria alongside their Tahrir
protests.
Islamist groups such as Jama’a al-Islamiya have also reacted to the
group releasing statements saying, “the Black Bloc must die” and has
seen the establishment of a counter movement of Islamists calling
themselves the “White Bloc”.
What is important to note is that the Egyptian Black Bloc movement
cannot be dismissed as a group of disgruntled teenagers as they often
are in the West. The movement is highly mobile and is rapidly gaining
support from sections of Egyptian society that have witnessed
unimaginable bloodshed at the hands of government forces, the price paid
for the right to protest is far too high in this region of the world and
Black Bloc was born to counter that oppression. No matter where Egypt
goes from this point onwards, the violence shows no sign of stopping and
neither do Black Bloc.