As if the term ‘separation of time and space’ wasn’t vague enough, in practice it’s completely subjective. If you’re marching with a black bloc, ultimately you are there to provide cover for black bloc activities. From the perspective of the black bloc, your function is to happily be a meat shield. The person who decides [...]

To me, this is the true Battle For the Soul of Occupy. My understanding of Occupy (admittedly local) is that veal-pen Democrats and middle-of-the-road liberals were shown the door months ago. The critical debate is whether Occupy is going to endorse and encourage property destruction, violence-advocacy, strict anti-capitalism (including small businesses), and a tactical focus on [...]

At some point it seems like the decision was made to economically ‘save’ the United States by turning it into the policeman/hired thug for international finance and corporations, with US dollar being backed solely by the US military’s capacity to inflict violence.

Yes, and why wasn’t there a companion book to the Death of the Liberal Class called The Birth of the Liberal Class? Lazy Hedges.

A couple things: the anarchists/insurrectionists aren’t all ‘kids.’ A lot of their guidance comes from older academics and intellectuals like Graeber and others. And violence, property destruction and rioting aren’t new concepts they invented–there are long histories for all of those things. Even the bandannas have been around for a while. Since October, no has [...]

The anarchists involved with Occupy I’ve spoken to are actively opposed to movement-building. Period. They see Occupy as a place to kickstart militant action and nothing else. So don’t pretend the anarchist element in Occupy is interested in building a broad-based movement. Anyone who has had experience with the anarchists knows otherwise. The anarchists/insurrectionists want [...]

More great work, dan. I think there may be an opportunity for introspection for some of the more inflexible factions within Occupy after the coming May Day actions. My sense is that there is nowhere near enough momentum currently for successful general strikes, though I’d be happy to be wrong about that. I hope at [...]

Another great post, dan, recommended. I’m amazed at how similar responses to certain criticisms are at Occupys in completely different parts of the country–almost like there’s a democratic centralism dynammic in play.

I’m trying to be skeptical of this, but I can’t figure out what other other word he was possibly trying to say.

I can only speak from my experience at my local occupation, but my reaction was similar to Carol’s–the main influence I’ve seen since January is from the insurrectionist faction, and they seem to be doing a good job of excluding anyone who isn’t sufficiently radicalized (i.e. ranting about battling the police in the streets). I [...]

Thanks for this diary and your last one, danps–very comprehensive and accurate. I’m amazed at how similar (identical, really) your interactions with VAs have been to my own. In particular, their sensitivity to even having the conversation about VAs using NVAs as cover during BB activity. This is an important conversation–people are moving to the [...]

Chris Hedges’ column was clumsy—as has been pointed out ad nauseum, Black Bloc is a tactic, not necessarily a group. But if you substitute Black Bloc with ‘insurrectionists’ or ‘insurrectionist anarchists,’ I think Hedges makes a valid point—violent revolutionary rhetoric and low-grade, untargeted vandalism isn’t helping build the OWS movement. In fact it’s mostly having [...]

Unfortunately the debate about effectiveness of tactics is short-circuited by the non-strategic inclination of insurrectionist activists. It was a surprise to me to learn that many of these activists are opposed to movement-buillding itself, and see Occupy groups as simply a place to kickstart militant actions. Personally I can only hear the terms ‘diversity of [...]