Thoughts on Black Blocs,

and Introduction to "Interview With a West Berlin Autonomist"

While black blocs have recently become a popular tactic among anarchists at large demonstrations in the U.S. and Canada, there is little understanding of its origins. Black Blocs originate from the autonomist struggles in many parts of Western Europe (roughly) during the 1970s, ‘80s, and early ‘90s. The intention underlying many of these movements was to create autonomous spaces where individuals could enjoy more freedom while seeking to overthrow capitalism as a whole. Contrasting this is a tendency among anarchists in the U.S., who in an understandable quest for community, often end up reproducing the same alienating social interactions as the dominant society in their "scenes", subcultures, cliques, and "autonomous zones."

It seems that some anarchists are now trying to reproduce hierarchical and militaristic structures within black blocs. A recent issue of the Boston based "Barricada" zine (#7) printed "A Proposal to the Black Bloc from Within the Black Bloc: The Formation of a Tactical Facilitation Core," written by the "Green Mountain Anarchist Collective". This poorly written article proposes that Black Blocs at various demonstrations elect certain individuals and affinity groups within the bloc to specialized "tactical command" positions such as "acute tactical facilitator" and "general tactical facilitation core". While they claim that they "are not advocating the formalization of any authoritarian army structure," the authors offer no serious explanation as to how such tendencies would be avoided. We suggest that anti-authoritarians oppose this proposal and any others that seek to impose militaristic structures on autonomous affinity groups and individuals.

We also suggest that anarchists avoid fetishizing the Black Bloc tactic. While effective in certain situations, the Black Bloc tactic (and planned ‘Days of Action’ in general) in the current context are detached from any real revolutionary social movement.

The following interview, reprinted from "Endless Struggle #11, 1989 (no longer in print), highlights the struggle, in West Berlin, of individuals who indeed aspired to participate in a social movement for revolutionary social change. Though having its shortcomings, the autonomist movement offers many lessons for our contemporary struggles against the state and capital.

For more information on the origins of the Black Bloc, check out the article by Daniel Dylan Young entitled "Masking Up and the Black Bloc: A Pre-Seattle History" in Green Anarchy #5. For more information on the autonomists in general, check out The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomist Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life by George Katsiaficas, and Cracking the Movement: Squatting Beyond the Media by Adilkno.

Interview with a West Berlin Autonomist is not currently available on this webpage. If you would like to read it, please order a print copy of Black Star North