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O22: Black Bloc Against Police Terrorism

by anarchist future now
Oakland, California, October 22 2001: Black Bloc against police violence, corruption and racism. Oakland Court Building (amongst others) were vandalized. One person was arrested.
oct22polbrutalityoakland.jpg
by Bongload
Hooray! Vandalizing buildings - how heroic! Now they can spend the money on fixing the buildings rather than putting it into the schools...
by yeah
the whole point is that they *arent* spending it on schools. they are spending it on jails and new police billy clubs. thats the whole point of the protest, or did you miss that?
by tag, you're it!
do you see people "vandalizing buildings"????
by former mask wearer
Why did people wear masks? Personally most of the time its a combination of "rebel fashion" meets the romantic revolutionary. Do the people wearing masks even consider the current terrorism hysteria in their fashion statements?
by sigh
sigh. masks are worn for solidarity, with zapatistas and people fighting all over the world, as well as those in the u.s. who feel like they need to wear a mask at a protest for more than a fashion statement. and it is also a fashion statement, indicating that we want more than just reform. etc etc. don't let the "climate" get you down
I was at the protests and I did not see one person vandalizing or breaking any thing. Even if people do break things or vandalize buildings, there lies a deeper reason for this. It is an attack on market liberalism which holds money and property over human life
by don't worry bout it (apag [at] altavista.com)
you wanna know why we wear masks. it is because of people who feel the need to take pictures of people without their consent. At a time when bush is seriously clamping down on all radicals, We have to wear masks. I also want to tell people that they shouldn't just assume someone is a part of the black block. I have nothing against the black block at all but I certainly wasn't part of any black block activities at this protest. People should really fully understand something before they print it in public. The black Block is not an organization and no one that was pictured in these photographs vandalized anything that I could see
by jimmy (hellbent [at] hotmail.com)
Umm I thought people were supposed to wearb black as a sign of mourning
by dave
Although I can't argue with your points about police brutality, I see no point in vandalism. Vandalism just wastes tax payer dollars and makes the whole city look like a ghetto. Stand up for you cause, but quit acting like a bunch of punk-asses.
by anarchist
Yes, I agree with these messages. If we just write friendly letters and hold peaceful protests that we work with the police to have, the police will reform themselves! Its just that easy! We should all quit rioting and vandalizing and creating chaos -- all this does is destabilize the police and city! We don't want that! We just hope that someday they will listen to our whining. GROW UP EVERYONE
by European Anarchist (pennywisedeluxe [at] hotmail.com)
I'm not completely sure about what actually happened in Oakland, if it was a general attack on all buildings or just buildings belonging to the state, or to multinational corporations.
But as anarchist it should almost be our duty to wreck as much havoc as possible when dealing with buildings belonging either to the state or to m.n.c's.
But it should be done in such a way that;
1.the statement that it is supposed to express comes out clear to the people. That isn't always easy. So what you see in mainstream media, isn't always the truth either.
2. That no persons, rich or poor comes to harm. Use of violence should only comense when the anarchist are under attack, from per example the cops.

Why should we as anarchists smash windows and buildings? To show that we oppose all forms of private ownership, that we oppose capitalism and that we oppose state control of the people. How most people see that on television, should not be thought of before starting such "raids", because the mainstream media is always on the states side when it comes to leftwing radicals.

I really don't know why i wrote this, but I just wanted to. It seems to me that you just havent thought enough about it, Dave.You cant start a revolution by sitting at home and writing on your computer, you have to go out and participate in the demos. But of course, i dont know if you did that, so i should maybe not say anything.

Anyways, continue the fight. It's probably more difficult to fight in the conservative U.S. than in Europe.

Sol.
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