An Honest Critique of the Black Bloc Tactic.

Let me start off by stating that this will not be an anarchist bash post. I believe I have a legitimate critique of the tactic when it is being used incorrectly. *disclaimer; This is also not a call to use violence or a call to attack the pigs. I write this solely out of concern for the brain matter of my red and black brothers and sisters.

The Black Bloc tactic is a simple genius idea, the pigs can't tell the difference between people and so when actions are committed, with a simple Dosi doe among the crowd the cops cant tell who committed the action. This is not where my problem lies with Black Bloc tactics. My problem stems more from a tactical stand point then an idealogical one.

When the NATO protest took place this year (2012) in Chicago the black bloc separated from the main march and ran through the streets causing mass confusion among the police and the police even with their cars and police vans could not corral or contain the black bloc-ers.

But what happened the very next day? For those who don't know; the black bloc and the pigs had a little fight in the street.

Who won this battle in the streets? The pigs did. They left multiple black bloc members bloody a few bruised and roughed up a couple others.

This naturally leads to the next question; why did the anarchist lose? Were they weak and undetermined? Of course not. It is a simple answer of 'tactics'.

You see the first night when the black bloc broke off from the main march and they had the police scattered and scrambling to catch up is when they should have chosen to fight in the streets. They could have used hit and run tactics and had a more level playing field. They may have even had the advantage. However they chose to do the fighting in the middle of the day when the cops were highly concentrated and organized. They tried to fight the cops on the cops terms and when the conditions were least favorable for the anarchist to win.

Lets break it down to the most basic level; Cops: They are armored and armed to the teeth. They have (basically) a helmet with an eye shield, a bullet proof, padded vest (some have padded sleeves as well,) and a gas mask. They are bare minimum armed with a baton, tasser and spraying mace. Also they have the numbers and superior training.

But there is a down fall and a weakness in this as well, they are not highly mobile and can be fatigued easily when made to pursue in full dress. So when keeping these basic things in mind the number one thing a person should do is say to their-self;  'self, if we fight them in roman style battle where we are out armed and out armored then we will be slaughtered.'

Now the other side; Black bloc members are mostly not armored they wear a black hoodie (or shirt if it is hot, it is detrimental to wear a hoodie in 100+ degree weather) a bandana over their face and are usually not armed with anything and the ones that are usually only have a flag pole or something similar. This screams out one thing to me "not equipped to fight a head to head battle with the before mentioned forces."

With simply studying guerrilla warfare tactics it would be easy to turn the tide in these street exchanges.

One; Never engage the enemy on their terms. AKA when the pigs are standing in a line in full battle gear do not engage them with a smaller ill armed and less armored group of people in head-to-head fighting.

Two; Use the advantages available to you/Use the enemy's disadvantages against them. AKA The black bloc is not weighed down with armor so use your mobility to your advantage. Make the police chase you and wear them down before engaging. Possibly they will even scatter and break their lines in chasing you and you can hit and run, thus angering them further and causing them to give chase and making them more tired etc. repeat etc. AKA #2 "when the enemy attacks we retreat" is what I'm saying. "When the enemy is tired/resting we pester" hit and run and strategic retreats should be constantly used in these street fighting confrontations.

Three; Use your ideology for inspiration. Don't yell "fuck the pigs" yell "power to the people" or "for the people" don't give the liberal media free propaganda against your cause.

Be careful out there comrades! 













 

Qaddafi and Libya: A Self-Criticism.

I am writing this post to do a self-criticism of sorts because as a Maoist I see it as most important to be able to point out when you are wrong or when you have made mistakes on an issue or when you have given a false analogy.

When this conflict started Libyan leader Qaddafi was no less guilty then the so called rebels of being imperialism's friend with his connections to the UK and the Italians. But since the conflict has started and even more so recently, the battle lines have been drawn. All of Qaddafi's imperialist friends have turned their back on him, leaving him to fight off a NATO intervention.

The rebels on the other hand have used prejudice persecution of any African immigrants suspected of being a mercenary. Also the rebels dedication has even been brought into question. One has to wonder if the rebels would still be around if not for the NATO intervention. John Lee Anderson says of his first hand account that some rebels are offended when the Libyan army uses live ammo(1). How can we take any armed group seriously when they don't think live ammo should be used in a war? We can not take them seriously.

Not to mention there is no clear ideology among the rebels. This coupled with the fact the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Qaddafi I think the battle lines are even more clear(2). It is now all to obvious that the rebels will allow imperialist free reign in their nation if their side is the victors. The ICC will only issue arrest warrants for people who are not imperialist running dogs. Notice how no warrants have been issued for Uribe the ex-Colombian "president" or any leaders who have had their citizens murdered.

This is to say that the battle lines are more clear today than when this conflict started. Today it is clear what side the communist and anti-imperialist should be on. We should now be clearly on the side of Qaddafi. To where earlier on the battle lines were fuzzy (though I'm sure that some groups that jumped the gun with supporting Qaddafi just because he has an anti-US history will claim they knew and were right all along no matter how big of a lie that would be) because both sides had imperialist interest invested in them, and the rebels at the beginning wanted only supply aid and opposed intervention. Today the rebels want ground troop (probably because they are afraid of and offended by the use of live ammo) intervention and have even sold some oil to their imperialist masters, including the US.(3)

As an anti-imperialist my first desire for all nations is the right to self determination. The Libyan people have directly stood up in favor of their leader Qaddafi. There is no question in my mind that if had NATO never intervened that the rebels would have lost this fight months ago. There for my desire for the self determination of the Libyan people has left me with no other group to support than that of the Qaddafi regime.

I believe that in light of recent events and in light of recent information it is the duty of all revolutionaries and anti-imperialist to support the Qaddafi regime.

Death to imperialism, and all of their running dogs!
Self-determination for the masses of Libya!



Written by: Dustin Slagle




(1)Anderson John Lee. Who are the rebels. The New Yorker. 4/4/2011. Web. 06/05/2011
(2)Schreck Adam, Corder Mike. Gaddafi Arrest Warrant Issued by International Criminal Court. Huffington Post. AP. 06/27/2011. Web. 07/06/2011
(3)Crawford Jamie. Libyan rebel group sells first oil to U.S. CNN. 06/08/2011. Web. 07/01/2011