Anonymous Comrade writes "" 'Black Bloc' Protesters Make Their Mark in San Francisco: Anarchists in Masks Responsible for Peace March Vandalism, Police Say"

Tom Abate, [San Francisco] Chronicle Staff Writer, Monday, January 27, 2003

San Francisco -- The band that broke away from the Jan. 18
peace march along San Francisco's Market Street and spent 35
minutes vandalizing the Financial District marked the Bay
Area's introduction to "black bloc" protests, police say.

The black bloc, named for its activists' black attire,
couples a confrontational style of street protest with
anarchist philosophies. It arose in Europe during the late
1980s.

Americans first saw the black bloc in 1999, when black-clad
vandals in masks provoked a police counterattack that turned
a Seattle rally against the World Trade Organization into a
riot.

Although the recent window-breaking and spray-painting spree
in San Francisco was not even close to Seattle's experience,
Deputy Police Chief Greg Suhr said the vandalism was
unexpected and worrisome.

"We've had splinter groups break away from marches in the
past and block traffic, but the level has never before
reached to the malicious mischief that happened this time,"
Suhr said.

Bill Hackwell, a Vietnam veteran and spokesman for
International Answer, which organized the Jan. 18 rally,
said his group hadn't known about the breakaway marchers in
advance and had no connection to them.

He said the relatively minor damage caused by the splinter
group of about 200 people -- who broke windows on four
buildings, tagged various offices (including The
Chronicle's) with graffiti and dragged news racks into the
street -- should not detract attention from the estimated
150,000 to 200,000 marchers who swelled Market Street to
demand that the United States not attack Iraq.

But Hackwell refused to condemn the black bloc tactics.

"If there is violence, let's keep a perspective on it," he
said, citing estimates that there would be 500,000
casualties and 9 million refugees if the United States goes
to war with Iraq.

David Graeber, a Yale anthropologist who has written about
the black bloc, said the reluctance of the rally's
organizers to criticize the splinter group stemmed from a
desire to avoid exacerbating tensions within the left.

Graeber said the black bloc activists who staged the
breakaway march were probably frustrated with the
less-than-militant stance of the march organizers.

None of the breakaway protesters in San Francisco wanted to
be interviewed Jan. 18, and subsequent attempts to contact
those who took part in or organized the black bloc action
proved fruitless.

John Zerzan of Eugene, Ore., an author who espouses black
bloc tactics but did not attend the San Francisco protest,
said, "Things are not going to be stopped with polite and
well-behaved marches."

Barbara Epstein, a professor of the history of consciousness
at UC Santa Cruz, said the peace movement needs to have the
same internal debate that occurred in the anti-global
movement after the Seattle riot.

The large, orderly wing of the anti-global movement and the
tiny, headline-grabbing black bloc failed to settle their
key difference -- whether vandalism hurt the movement by
giving it a bad image or helped it by attracting media
coverage -- but the two wings nevertheless came to an
understanding, according to Epstein.

"They tried to organize (anti-global) demonstrations to
leave room for different sectors, so there would be
everything from totally peaceful to black bloc," she said.

An opponent of black bloc tactics, Epstein said the peace
movement, which has mushroomed in recent months as war talk
has intensified, must reach a similar accord or risk
frightening away the ordinary folks who filled Market
Street, many of whom brought their children along.

"There hasn't been any discussion of black bloc tactics in
the context of the peace movement, and so they come out of
the blue as far as most of the marchers are concerned,"
Epstein said.

The black bloc action that occurred this month in San
Francisco caught police by surprise. Suhr, the police
commander, said that after an Oct. 26 peace march, a small
group of protesters in black garb and masks halted traffic
on several streets before dispersing. But in San Francisco,
that's no big deal.

So when a similar group briefly blocked the intersection in
front of The Chronicle at Fifth and Mission streets Jan. 18,
police on bicycles and horses simply watched from the
sidelines. After leaving the intersection, however, the
black bloc raced through the larger body of marchers
streaming down Market Street -- losing their police escort
-- and did more damage.

Now Suhr is concerned about what might happen if the United
States goes to war before the next rally, Feb. 16.

"Will the level of agitation at the demonstration rise if we
go to war?" Suhr asked rhetorically. "Yes. We expect it."

Zerzan urged restraint on those who might decide to dress in
black and smash or spray-paint property on Feb. 16.

"Your responsibility is that you don't put people in harm's
way who don't want to do it the way you do," he said."