Slog Comments
Did Police Put an Undercover Plant at Last Friday's Anarchist March?
1
Stuff like "ACAB" and "fuck the police" are why I dont participate in marches like this one, despite my relatively rafmdical beliefs. Turned me off of occupy as well, although I started out a camper.
3
It wasn't just that the clothes were new, but that each of these "black bloc" folks had gloves on (on a warm sunny day) and little markers like pink duct tape and pink armbands, which would be very helpful to ensure other cops know to leave them alone. (Pictures at this post...http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/1869)
4
@3: If you look at the two photos, several protesters have stylish pink accents on their anarchist club uniforms.
7
This is a glimpse of our rafmdical future, wherein your ability to participate in the political process will be determined by whether a shouting group of playacting morons thinks your clothes are right.
10
I don't know about the Anarchists, but it looks like some cops infiltrated Kiley's laptop and broke his keyboard judging by all the typos in that post.
11
I could see his hoodie had a tag from Red LIght on it. 'You bought a hoodie just for this? You didn't have any hoodies already?' I queried the could-be-cop. 'My other ones all reeked of MIlk of Magnesia," whined the possible policeman. 'And your nose ring,' I persevered, as his porcine-ish-y eyes darted desperately from my steely gaze, 'it appears to be a clip-on, not an actual piercing, is that right?'
'I used to have a pierced one,' he whimpered, 'but it got infected. My nasal passages were all swollen. I gave it up, I couldn't smell a thing. Look, I gotta go take a serious shit.' WIth that the agent-probablement-provocateur hastened away on his not-creased-much boots.
Couldn't smell a thing, eh? thought I, narrowing my eyes at the crypto-storm trooper scuttling away. Smells like bacon to me.
'I used to have a pierced one,' he whimpered, 'but it got infected. My nasal passages were all swollen. I gave it up, I couldn't smell a thing. Look, I gotta go take a serious shit.' WIth that the agent-probablement-provocateur hastened away on his not-creased-much boots.
Couldn't smell a thing, eh? thought I, narrowing my eyes at the crypto-storm trooper scuttling away. Smells like bacon to me.
12
Nobody had the presence of mind to take face photos of these guys? When everybody has a camera on their cell phone?
13
There are undercover cops at all these protest marches. The real question is whether they are there to observe, or to incite.
14
Anarchist March - Oxymoron (unless someone is celebrating Anarchists in the month of March, but it doesn't seem that way).
15
@14,
You mean "= Oxymoron", I presume? And seriously... Because they advocate for an anarchist agenda they're not allowed to have a single organized event or structure to their lives? Are they allowed to store food in a refrigerator or cabinet or does their chosen ideology require them to subsist on warm ketchup packets splattered against a wall?
You mean "= Oxymoron", I presume? And seriously... Because they advocate for an anarchist agenda they're not allowed to have a single organized event or structure to their lives? Are they allowed to store food in a refrigerator or cabinet or does their chosen ideology require them to subsist on warm ketchup packets splattered against a wall?
18
This is the kind of stuff that drove me away from the Occupy movement. I, too, had clean looking clothes, and a fresh haircut, and they acted like they thought I was a cop. Basically if you didn't look like a bum, you were accused of being an undercover cop. If your hair was short, they thought you were a Nazi.
21
god damn . there where "balckcopbloc" at the march and all this bickering is pointless as the protectors of the 1% say "get a job"
22
I can put aside the ninja attire. I also understand wanting to avoid special attention by the "20% of the time, we'll fuck you up every time" SPD, but I don't understand why gloves are necessary...
23
If the choice is between messy markets and buggy democracy on one hand, and a smelly paranoid mob on the other...count me in for the establishment.
25
If the good cops stand idly by and say nothing while the bastard cops are being bastards, the good cops aren't quite as good as they think they are.
26
Brendan,
Thank you for the best non-anarchist coverage of anarchist politics and action that I've ever seen. That said, your digression about ACAB is really off base. It may very well deserve a break, just like "Whose streets?" and "This is what democracy looks like," deserve permanent retirement, but to assert that if all cops are bastards then all of us are bastards is stupid. We are all to some degree complicit in the capitalist machine, but we by and large have no choice. Cops have a choice: they could by plumbers, or work at Dick's, or take tickets at a movie theater, or they could just live under abridge somewhere. I've known cops, some have the capacity to be caring and warm individuals, but they are still cops, meaning their job is to maintain the power structure that anarchists oppose. There is no reconciling that. Sure, maybe liberals, leftoids, and progressives don't like it, but anarchists aren't interested in watering down our beliefs for the sake of building a mass movement. It surprises me that this has still managed to escape you.
Thank you for the best non-anarchist coverage of anarchist politics and action that I've ever seen. That said, your digression about ACAB is really off base. It may very well deserve a break, just like "Whose streets?" and "This is what democracy looks like," deserve permanent retirement, but to assert that if all cops are bastards then all of us are bastards is stupid. We are all to some degree complicit in the capitalist machine, but we by and large have no choice. Cops have a choice: they could by plumbers, or work at Dick's, or take tickets at a movie theater, or they could just live under abridge somewhere. I've known cops, some have the capacity to be caring and warm individuals, but they are still cops, meaning their job is to maintain the power structure that anarchists oppose. There is no reconciling that. Sure, maybe liberals, leftoids, and progressives don't like it, but anarchists aren't interested in watering down our beliefs for the sake of building a mass movement. It surprises me that this has still managed to escape you.
27
NICK: ...hate cops, Guido. I'll always hate cops!
GUIDO: Yeah, Nick, I hate cops too!
PAOLO: Yeah! Me too!
NICK: I'll tell you guys what I'm gonna do! I'll tell ya' what! I'm gonna get even with every rotten cop in this city!
PAOLO: Yeah! Me too!
GUIDO: How ya gonna do it, Nick? How ya gonna do it?
NICK: You know what I'm gonna do?
GUIDO: No, no, Nick! Whatcha gonna do?
NICK: I'm gonna... turn in my badgel
GUIDO: Yeah,.. YEAH!
PAOLO: Yeah! Yeah!
GUIDO: Yeah! I'm gonna burn my uniform!
GUIDO: Yeah, Nick, I hate cops too!
PAOLO: Yeah! Me too!
NICK: I'll tell you guys what I'm gonna do! I'll tell ya' what! I'm gonna get even with every rotten cop in this city!
PAOLO: Yeah! Me too!
GUIDO: How ya gonna do it, Nick? How ya gonna do it?
NICK: You know what I'm gonna do?
GUIDO: No, no, Nick! Whatcha gonna do?
NICK: I'm gonna... turn in my badgel
GUIDO: Yeah,.. YEAH!
PAOLO: Yeah! Yeah!
GUIDO: Yeah! I'm gonna burn my uniform!
28
26, The conversation about whether cops would exist if people simply didn't apply for the position, versus the system's reliance on a police force, versus the (any?) other options out there for maintaining civil justice in an inherently chaotic system is a long and hairy one. I have had thoughtful conversations about what it would take to successful evolve society to a point where cops are simply not necessary. I don't believe there are any simply or easy or even obvious solutions, and I'd be happy to empanel a discussion group about that very topic.
That said, running around yelling ACAB! is actively counterproductive. 1. It will bring more heat on you, as in the cops will be specifically interested in tracking you down, because of the implied potential you will do them violence of one form or another. 2. It alienates people like me who have radical politics but knows when and where to pick their battles. 3. It alienates most other people as well, who like it when the cops return their stolen car, or catch the burglar in their apartment. 4. It is wholly ineffective, as the goal of abolishing the police is so far from achievable that you are effectively wasting your time.
So you isolate yourselves into a small, hardcore, angry group, and attract extra police attention.
Not a very effective strategy, assuming you want to actually, you know, change society for the better.
You can say "we're not watering down our beliefs for the sake of building a mass movement", but you're clearly NOT building a mass movement in any sense of the word. You don't have to water down your beliefs, you can still dislike the police all you want. But you have to know what is achievable, and when to focus on goals that serve your greater strategy. "ACAB" fails on many fronts.
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That said, running around yelling ACAB! is actively counterproductive. 1. It will bring more heat on you, as in the cops will be specifically interested in tracking you down, because of the implied potential you will do them violence of one form or another. 2. It alienates people like me who have radical politics but knows when and where to pick their battles. 3. It alienates most other people as well, who like it when the cops return their stolen car, or catch the burglar in their apartment. 4. It is wholly ineffective, as the goal of abolishing the police is so far from achievable that you are effectively wasting your time.
So you isolate yourselves into a small, hardcore, angry group, and attract extra police attention.
Not a very effective strategy, assuming you want to actually, you know, change society for the better.
You can say "we're not watering down our beliefs for the sake of building a mass movement", but you're clearly NOT building a mass movement in any sense of the word. You don't have to water down your beliefs, you can still dislike the police all you want. But you have to know what is achievable, and when to focus on goals that serve your greater strategy. "ACAB" fails on many fronts.
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