Ash writes: "Non-violence has been bedrock to the meteoric success the Movement has achieved, and to the support the Movement has enjoyed. Those who sought to take that for themselves last night through their violent actions have no chance of attracting any broad-based support from anyone for any purpose. That simply will not happen."
An Anarchist symbol painted on a window in Oakland last night, 11/02/11. (photo: Noah Berger/AP)
Anarchy v. Non-Violence, The Movement Is Tested
03 November 11
hat started out as a triumph for local community organizers descended into anarchy last night in the streets of Oakland, California.
Yesterday's remarkably ambitious plan by Occupy Oakland organizers to coordinate a General Strike actually succeeded to a greater extent than anyone had predicted. Adhering strictly to non-violent civil resistance guidelines, a march into the heart of Oakland's port district resulted in the world's 5th largest port being shut down. A truly stunning achievement.
The focus of events then moved back to the city's center, the area surrounding Frank Ogawa Plaza (renamed Oscar Grant Plaza by Occupy Oakland participants), where police one week ago rousted the Occupy Oakland encampment. From there things turned ugly quickly. While details are still sketchy, it appears that small splinter factions broke away from the Occupy Oakland march and began to basically trash Downtown Oakland -- indiscriminately.
The damage in the Downtown area was fairly extensive. Moreover, there appeared to be some degree of coordination of the part of those who sought to drive events in a violent direction. Black clothing, black masks and the anarchist symbol marked the identity of those who sought to turn what had been a disciplined non-violent action into a riot.
There seemed to be a consensus on the part of Occupy Oakland organizers, Oakland Police and local residents that the violence was being committed by a select few and not representative of the broader Occupy Movement. Occupy Oakland organizers apparently endeavored to mitigate the scope of the damage last night and to further confront those responsible this morning. The Occupy Oakland camp meeting this morning was tense, bordering on open conflict as calls for further violence by "black-bloc" elements were met with staunch resistance from Occupy Oakland organizers, almost leading to blows.
As many have noted, Oakland is rapidly becoming a focal point for the international Occupy Movement. The Movement which has gained an amazing degree of respect and momentum in a remarkably short period of time, is now fundamentally challenged by a small group of individuals who would basically commandeer the movement wholesale and convert it to their vision.
The Occupy Movement is not just the Oakland encampment. It is a world-wide movement of dedicated activists working in a very focused way to effect change. The broad-based support that the Occupy actions enjoy is based on their level of achievement and the manner in which the demonstrations and encampments conduct themselves.
Non-violence has been bedrock to the meteoric success the Movement has achieved, and to the support the Movement has enjoyed. Those who sought to take that for themselves last night through their violent actions have no chance of attracting any broad-based support from anyone for any purpose. That simply will not happen.
The Occupy Movement is now facing a challenge, perhaps its greatest to date. The threat that police violence represents to the Occupy encampments pales in comparison to the damage that can be wrought by individuals using the cover of the Movement for violent initiatives.
Can the Movement maintain discipline? Success or failure likely hangs in the balance.
Marc Ash was formerly the founder and Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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Comments
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1. A man in a mercedes plowed through the crowd and police ignored the action even when protesters asked for intervention. Where is the investigative journalism tracking down the driver and learning about his background?
2. The vandals were dressed alike in black pants and hoodies. Most were wearing masks. Again no police intervention. They brought paint to the march so it was a planned action. No arrests of these vandals, no knowledge of who they are.
3. Limited coverage of the real OWS cleaning up the damage caused by the vandals.
4. No coverage of OWS directing traffic when police failed to step up and direct.
The question we need to ask is who profits the most from the violent behavior. Certainly not OWS. The 1% must be smiling now. We need to be ever vigilant and questioning. Even more important we must keep in mind that the 'mainstream' media is corporate media with its own agenda promoted by the 1%. Stay alert, pay attention, gather data and draw your own conclusions. Never rely on paid lackeys reading the news on major networks.
But don't forget that in that moment in history when the breakdown of governance of India by the British was actually happening, the Indian people pitted religion-against-religion, Muslim against Hindu, and the fighting was massive and bloody, not peaceful. India broke up, created Pakistan as a separate place for Muslims to live. The Hindu who lived in that area marched back toward "their" India. Fighting was rampant, a civil war that did not stop but for a while after Gandhi fasted nearly to death. And then, the anarchists killed him.
Yes, we must maintain peaceful protest, modeling satyagaha, but we must be aware of who wants the Occupy movement to fail. Follow the money. And don't forget: though 15.1% of Americans live in poverty, most are invisible, not enough people see it, though it is there. And so, we're not yet "poor" enough to fully change. But get ready.
Nan
Just as Marxists have to recognize the Stalinists, Trotskyists, Maoists, etc., as their kin, so do non-violent, principled anarchists have to recognize the BB'ers as their kin.
Struggle with them.
quote: occupy is not a discourse (and much less an ideology or ism)"
Okay, I'll bite. I agree, likewise anarchy only ideology is to dismantle authority's grasp on power. That is why OWS is in fact anarchy. All that they are upset about are things sanctioned by our Gov't. OWS does have democratic methods and this is not necessarily out of line with a structure that has no recognizable structure(just because we don't recognize it doesn't mean it doesn't exist). It is evolving... but to apply such techniques on a grand scale is ridiculous, hence decentralizatio n may be the only "recognizable" structure it has and that is pure ANARCHY TO THOSE WHO HOLD POLITICAL POWER. And this scares the hell out of them so much so that it is reasonable to presume they would send thugs to create violence. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
Why New York’s Zuccotti Park is filled with people is no mystery. Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: “Why are you here?” But it’s clear they are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied the country.
That's a good quote from Bill Moyers' speech, Vardoz, but you ought credit the source when you use it.
Another example of anarchism: traditional Native American governance. No one could tell a brave what to do. The tribes operated by consent.
The car incident is really bothersome. A man plowed into the crowd and was allowed to drive off without:
1. a DUI check
2. an insurance check
3. an identity check
4. a driver's license check
He was allowed a free hit and run or in his case a hit and saunter off. I think you are right that the costume, black masks, were probably signals for police to ignore them. The black masks hit a Whole Foods for god's sake. I don't know what to do or where to go. We are probably sending our daughter to UBC in Canada for grad school and at least she will be out of the country. Truly, I don't know how to get back to reasonable culture. When I read the idiots posting on cnn I know it's hopeless.
The movement has to develop a thoughtful and effective means of isolating these Black Bloc'ers and delegitimize their approach. In Seattle and in several of the European demonstrations, police agents have infiltrated the ranks of demonstrators, a tactic made much easier by the decision to adopt masks as the uniform of the BB.
The masks, and the embrace of the color black as a symbol of the "boogeyman" is a dumb tactic, frankly. It serves the interests of the security forces and undermines popular acceptance of the legitimate movement for a better world.
Again, which are the police agents and which are the true radicals, dedicated to a LONG struggle for justice?
Mohanraj, v.M.
"backed" and empowered by legions of smart, purposeful, peaceable people -- whom the loons can never hope to understand.
Or maybe we are dealing with deliberate, vicious and violent "plants" -- placed and set in action by the fat-cat forces that the "Occupiers" are struggling to overcome.
Whatever, the vandals are disaster, an added burden on our Army of Conscience -- as if bad cops and nature's elements are not enough.
Internal self-policing is the only acceptable answer. By now most of the Occupiers know that the task they set for themselves will never be easy. And the rest of us need to know that we MUST support them every way we can -- or it's back to the fields of the old Fat Cat Plantation, for us and our children, as far ahead as we can see.
do we suffer our people getting roughed up and then feel shame and blame for striking out at property?
what does capitalism value more, people or property?
how much *daily* institutionaliz ed violence is done by capitalism in the form of incarceration, bombing, starving, proxy wars, and assassination?
are we worried that upper middle class people aren't going to approve? do we care more about that than the fact that institutionaliz ed violence destroys lives systematically as part of the cost of doing business?
just a bit of perspective cuz the really shocking shit is what's done in our names every day of every week of every year.
"peaceful assembly" to air our grievences...with the ruling bodies.
As I understand thw OWS movement it is about "We the People" having our voice(s) heard and get our elected officials to be responsive to the people, not the corporations. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I also saw some of the baby-ninja "black-bloc" kids suiting up for violent acts. From the look of it, they're not demonstrators at all; rather they're merely a bunch of spoiled suburban brats and low-life punks with no real political belifs; their goal appeared to be to provoke the police into a violent confrontation, as much out of boredom as anything else. They they could take BART back to SF or their mom's houses in the suburbs and smoke a joint and tell their friends about how cool they were. They in no way speak for or are even part of any movement.
It's a mistake to even call them "demonstrators", "activists" or even "anarchists"; they're just spoiled, angry, and fairly stupid children. I fully supported the OPD in arresting them. No public interest atttorneys should bother getting them out. Hopefully, they'll get heavy public service time..make them pick up their messes...
In Eugene Oregon a couple of years' ago a neo-nazi group called "Pacifica" had inspired the hate of the whole community, which showed their feelings with large peaceful protests-- but then a gang of black masked, drum beating ("anarchists?") managed to turn public opinion and the media against them with their obnoxious behavior. Not easy to become less popular than nazis, but they managed, as may also happen in Oakland.
And as many of you noted,they may be agent provocateurs as well.
Stand firm, stand proud, Oakland OWS!
Without violence, there's no excuse for the police to attack the Occupy movement. And police violence is necessary for the U.S. gov't to shut this movement down.
If the tear gas, rubber bullets and whatever else doesn't shut it down and also discourage growth, the gov't will perpetrate more violence and bring out more "non lethal weapons from its arsenal.
Similar to this gov't's tactics of causing destablization behind the scenes in countries it wants to invade and control, and then saying publicly it must go in to stabilize the country.
But at the point We the People are at, we have nothing to lose thanks to the so-called representatives of the American people on both sides of the aisle, so why not bring it on BUT peacefully unless it becomes necessary to defend oneself from the thugs who call themselves police?
This also gives mainstream media fodder to discredit the movement.
Without violence, there's no excuse for the police to attack the Occupy movement. And police violence is necessary for the U.S. gov't to shut this movement down.
really? was Scott Olson being violent? they busted his head open just the same.
here's the thing: never forget that the real violence is the theft of just about everything from just about everyone, with jail instead of education and a bomb on top.
i'm a law-abiding person, i use my turn signal, I pick up after my dog, and i say Have a nice day to people I don't even know. i think we should be cool while protesting, because as you say you don't want to supply any reason for additional crackdowns.
but, there's also the dimension of violence that permeates our entire society, and to worry about rage on this side instead of the wholesale destruction on the other side is backwards.
these may not be infiltrators, they may be very angry people who don't think property is sacred. it's important to think these things all the way thru instead of relying on a reflexive be-nice ideology--because the other side doesn't play nice at all.
You totally missed the point.
The violentce is by gov't infiltrators, not Scott Olsen or the other Occupiers.
There could be some crazies mixed in but for the most part the repression comes from the ruling class which wants this movement gone and needs to have excuses for attacking non-violent protestors.
So it sends in infiltrators to cause violence in order to scare people into going home and also others into not joining. The violence caused by gov't infiltrators also gives the media fodder to discredit the Occupy movement.
It's the gov't that is not playing nice.
A mob isn't very nuanced in its views of oppressors vs shop owners vs automobile owners vs...
The whole power of the movement is based on showing the public what the oppressors reply to truth. This sort of nitpicking between 'acceptable' violence and 'unacceptable' will vitiate the movement. I know. I watched it happen in the Anti-Vietnam War movement.
Aside from the obvious economic impact, I think outright destruction is bad due to the waste of resources environmentally . I think there are ways of sending a clear message without outright destruction.
However, that said, I still think it's worth struggling with those who feel property damage is an effective tactic, to at least consider who they are targeting and affecting through their actions.
Journalists, please choose your words carefully! Much is at stake. The Occupy Movement is consensus driven, all relationships are peer-to-peer. That is its core genius. Do not conflate that with chaos.
They're giving anarchism a bad name.
On the plus side, they're actually losing control, (on many fronts which I can't go into).
And yes, I agree: we should come to a consensus about how to (physically?) "deal" with rioters in the midst of a march/rally; yet we should also deal with this in a more nuanced, persuasive way, within our communities, (pro-actively, so there's less for the cops to feed on).
Remember! These guys slaughtered 3000 in the Twin Towers and framed ....who?
These Serpents would kill their own mothers to further their Secret Agendas......
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right."
Revolution - The Beatles - White Album
you think you're better than they are because you respect bourgeois property? no, this is a legitimate position to take: that the property itself was stolen, it's the result of violent exploitation. we don't owe anyone respect for that.
we absolutely must come to terms with this kind of action in our movement and understand it and where it comes from.
oscar grant died for no reason. this is the day to day brutality that many of us live with and we don't owe anyone respect for that.
unless we are brave enough to face things like this our movement will choke in the end--without the help of the cia.
The image of anarchists as a bunch of dark-skinned bomb throwers is a nineteenth century caricature invented by the established classes to induce fear in the populace. Anarchist literature tends to focus on cooperative, non-coercive relationships and behaviors. Once we refuse to accept or use the misrepresentati ons of ideas, we will free ourselves from prejudice.
No Points with me, they knew better and have a bad mark that is attaching to all movements and giving the aholes what they want.
NY and other Cities are being set up with the transients. Cops are getting their snitches/usual subjects to go in and say they are associated. OWS must wise up and see that not all homeless are nice people. You have money laying around, food so you have Mooches, most of them have Police Records. Start knowing your following.
Bloomberg and Kelly low lifes are among you in NY...so get some street smart and clean up who is hanging. You cannot stop them from being in Parks etc but you can keep them away from you. Take their pictures, turn them in, but stay away from the looters and Republican thugs
By The Way... WHY is PROPERTY DESTRUCTION Considered as "Violence"?!?!
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