letters from the front
it's late, or very early in the morning. i can't sleep. i'm heading to tampa soon as an activist and an independent journalist. for the first time i'm armed with a press pass, and a camera, and my computers. we're to cover the conventions, for this, the great election cycle of 2012. the end of the mayan calendar, the beginning of a whole new world, the zombie apocalypse upon us. the democrats and the republicans have spent a total of 50 million dollars a piece on security for their respective conventions, and the air is brittle with the anticipation of mayhem in the streets. it's gonna be a shit show, folks, with homeland security, militarized police, trapwire, and animosity aplenty, toward anyone who dares to say no to the political machine and the police state that is slowly and silently gnawing with their rotten teeth on the tongue of our free speech.
i've watched the corporate media in it's endeavors over the past few months, furiously working to instill fear in this nation's citizens against protestors as the new "enemy of the state". laws have been passed, most notably on the federal level NDAA section 1031 which authorizes the indefinite detention of american citizens without trial or charges, and HR347 which makes it a crime to be present at any event where the s.s. has established a safety zone, a freedom from protest zone, that is. to be arrested under this law carries up to ten years in prison. this is more time served in prison than that of some murder charges. so, having the courage to speak up at events (like the republican or democratic national convention) in these zones is worse than killing a man under aggravated circumstances. word has it that while protestors have the right to bear arms (and that is not to be confused with baring their skin), carrying a child's super soaker will land you in jail. what? did you read that right? yes, yes you did. i would like to encourage every activist to arrive in tampa with their license to carry and their loaded handguns strapped to their side. this might (but i seriously doubt it) drive home the absurdity of the state's judgement insofar as their laws and loopholes go. problem is, a great deal of activists are staunch pacifists. they don't own hand guns.
despite the much anticipated presence of the black bloc contingent, and the mainstream press touting that mayhem will be spread by their desire for violence, and their willingness to smash the state; this is NOT the case. black bloc is not a group of activists, anymore than the occupy movement had "heads" or "leaders" of their various locales. anyone who claims to have been head of an occupy anywhere is an impostor of delusional proportions, or is working for the man, erm, men in black ... you know, the feds. (see link below for info on this program) apparently, fox news 13 does not check the credibility of their "aficionados." clearly, parisi has SOME history with identification of black block tactics, as is easily discernable by checking his website, where he is dressed in black bloc and uses this silhouette in a back drop of flames for his 'witchy tom' radio personality. he and private investigator bill warner of sarasota, florida, apparently both have a deep seated hatred of protestors, and most specifically an agenda to identify protestors in general with occupiers, and occupiers in general as promulgators of black bloc violence. to quote, bill warner urges, "Cops in the Tampa area need to gear up with rubber bullets and tear gas, shoot on sight 'Black bloc' should be the order of the day. 5,000 cops will be brought in from surrounding areas and from out of state, helicopters with the latest in high speed down load video equipment, three armored SWAT vehicles, new cameras hidden all over the city and plenty of tear gas and rubber bullets, lots of rubber bullets (aim for the face and knock out their teeth)." how is it that men like parisi and warner become mouthpieces as "experts" for the press? clearly, mainstream press is NOT as objective as they claim to be.
first and foremost, black bloc is a tactic. activists (who have been demonized by the corporate media) wear all black and obscure their faces with bandanas or ski masks, in an attempt to avoid becoming possible future targets of harassment for their political beliefs. these days more and more good citizens are attempting to veil their identities because of the new era of mcCarthyist anti-americanist witch hunting taking place. those who are engaged in black bloc tactics, march in the front and along the sides of large bodies of protestors to act as a human shield against police brutality and engage in tactics such as destruction of property of select corporate targets, when necessary, to pull the bully clubs off their fellow pacific protestors. one could say, that the tactics of black bloc or the work of black bloc, is most generally to defend and protect their community. does that sound familiar? is that not what the police force used to be enlisted to do?
now they are lined up in full riot gear and too readily pumping the citizens with rubber bullets, charging them with bicycles, horses, dogs, even motorcycles, in order to serve and protect the state and the corporations. i am happily going into the center of the storm folks. i'm damned excited to have the right to tell the government and it's henchmen that i am unafraid to speak up, and to try to take back the rights which every citizen of the united states has ignorantly allowed to be leeched by the onslaught of new laws and the industry of control. while i usually wear the "yellow hat"* in support of those being oppressed or repressed, i will be leaving my all black clothes and bandana at home, to stand on the front lines and say, "i am not afraid to fight for freedom in my own country".
*in the 1600's in seville, spain, prostitutes were mandated to wear yellow bonnets to set them off from the other women of the general population. all the female citizens donned yellow bonnets in solidarity with the prostitutes and the law was soon abolished.
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further reading:
van deusen's paper on the history of black bloc
with an excellent treatise on new capitalism, radical commidification, and consumerism (section lll)
The Emergence of The Black Bloc and The Movement Towards Anarchism,
Section II New Capitalism And Its System Of Radical Commodification And Consumerism,
Section III Counterculture as Social Revolution
- howard chelle's blog
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