Old News Story about Potential Leftist Action during Oakland Riots

[tachosomoza]

http://pajamasmedia.com/zombie/2010/07/08/leftist-groups-plan-a-riot-as-oakland-boards-up-downtown/

I like how the writers characterize the leftist groups (Communists and anarchists) as "white outsiders". When I was in the Bay Area, I noticed the presence of a large anarchist scene comprised of many people of color. Just another bougie attempt to keep us divided on superficial characteristics. :lol:

[bcbm]

3. Outside far-left political groups are also seeking to piggyback on the riots and to make them so large and violent that they become a national story, and (hopefully) become the spark that ignites a revolution.

lol wut

[Jimmie Higgins]

We're always "outside agitators" according to them. Don't mention that the majority of cops in Oakland PD don't actually live in Oakland and on top of that Oakland brought in police forces from other cities and that the police were "agitating" the crowds at the first couple of marches... no, they are obviously not the outside agitators.:rolleyes:

However, I do think that the experience of these protests against Mehserly's murder of Grant show some weaknesses of some of the ways people (both anarchists and communists) organized. There was a lot of blaming of other groups and suspicion and there was some "protest" hopping by many people (often identifying loosely as anarchist) who were not involved in organizing, were autonomous because of black-bloc style masks... and largely white though it was not as homogenous as the media made it out to be. By not organizing openly, the city was able to divide the movement and make people suspicious of each-other - old people thought that young black people in the movement were "thugs" who wanted to steal, black activists thought that white people were "anarchists" who did not care about Oscar Grant or racial profiling and were just there to break windows. All of these claims of "white non-oaklander anarchists" and "black criminals" were just a ploy by the city and propagated through NGOs and the media - but the problem is that it was to some degree successful and the breaking of a few windows, at these protests, rather than inspiring people or speaking to widespread anger, allowed the city to isolate the legitimate anger that these acts represented and isolate the young or blocked-up activists.

I don't want to derail this into a discussion about tactics, because I think tactically, this movement showed some of the strength and weaknesses of direct actions. First, it was the anger of people and taking to the streets that led to Mehserly even being arrested. Oakland allowed Mehserley to chill in Reno (across state lines) for a week and it was only a mini-riot (started because the cops were trying to shut down a peaceful though un-permitted march) that put the coals under the feet of the local government. But then after that, there was much more of an intention to "start a riot" and this had diminishing returns while allowing the city politicians to maneuver a way to divide the movement (using NGOs - who rely on the city to exist - to "urge peace" and to isolate anyone who wanted to do anything stronger than a vigil) and try and link the coalition to the "anarchists".

Essentially there was a lot of anarchist-baiting going on from the city and the more toadie liberal groups and while I think all radicals need to reject that shit, amongst ourselves (I mean fellow radicals) I think it shows some of the problems with this kind of protest-style. Not organizing openly made it easier for the city to play on supicions and divide the movement - making the less radical have to apologize or even try to confront and stop people from breaking some chain-store window. Also not even organizing together meant that people showed up, some did want/expect a fight with cops but there was never any point or ability to learn or grow from these protests. Just showing up, waiting for sunset and throwing things at cops became less effective each time and only gave the cops practice in how a highly organized and coordinated force can more easily round up small groups of uncoordinated people with limited tactical abilities.

[Jimmie Higgins]

For example, this poster has been plastered all over the city. At the lower left, you can see a drawing of bandanna-wearing white anarchists participating in the planned riot, and it’s almost certain that anarchists designed and distributed the poster. And sure enough, if you go to the local Bay Area anarchist blog (http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/11623), you can find them justifying their role in the riot incitement: Ha. Ok, I know that artist. First of all, the images used in the poster were from photos of the 1st "mini-riots" and the poster was produced after... so "participating in the planned riot" is just a ridiculous statement. Does the author also think that the painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware was instructions for how George Washington should cross the river?

Second, "White anarchist"? How could you get that from a 2 color silk-screen? He's wearing a bandana so you can't even claim it's from facial features! This is typical of the way the media tried to paint any white activists as "outside" riotous anarchists... because obviously, no white person would care about racial oppression of other groups unless they were some kind of riot-junkie who actually didn't care about police brutality anyway:rolleyes:


(The photo above has nothing to do with the pundits, but I thought it was a similarly unsettling and disturbing message: “Jury Immunity: Juries cannot be punished for their verdicts.” The implication seems to be that this law is a bad thing, and that the Meheserle jury ought to be punished if they come back with the “wrong” verdict. At least it seems to imply this within the pressure-cooker context of pre-riot Oakland. Update: Commenters point out that the sign may refer not to the Mehserle trial but instead to the ability of juries in drug cases to return innocent verdicts if they disagree with the law. Could be….)Yeah, could be or in fact IS. These signs have nothing to do with Oscar Grant and the movement - they are posted on all the pot-clubs. What a fucking idiot this author is. Yes he cares so much about the well-being of Oakland that he has never even been downtown before.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Honestly, after that verdict, I wanted a re-creation of the French banlieues circa 2005, or the Greek cities in the winter of 2008. Maybe an immature desire, but that was just such a disgusting, vulgar statement of police domination. Just sickening to watch. You really just want a dramatic statement that members of the community won't be executed without serious repurcussions. But no one can force that kind of reaction; it has to come organically from the community, and I guess that in this case the community wanted none of it.

This situation really illustrated to me how much NGO's suck, too.