Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Besides getting away with public criminal acts, there are other reasons to act in a bloc. Bloc participation can be really exciting, and good for morale?acting in a mass of people who are ostensibly prepared to do what they believe is right regardless of police intimi- 129

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dation is often a hell of a lot more empowering than chanting weakly with the liberals, and matching battle-dress is a ritual for inspiring courage that need not be abandoned to our uniformed enemies. A bloc presence may convey important information: to the powers that be, don't juck with this march, or don't you dare rig that jury; to allies or possible allies, don't despair, we're with you. Finally, anonymity: there are countless reasons to conceal your identity at mass actions. Even if you do not plan on committing any crimes, even if you don't mind the secret police capturing your image for their files, you still do a great service to others by masking up and increasing the number of people who are disguised, thus making it more difficult for the police to keep up with all of you. Those others might not just be criminals, either; they might be foreigners who don't want their participation in radical activities to be used as grounds for deportation, or teachers who don't want to risk losing their jobs. Sometimes a masked crowd is unnecessarily intimidating to the public; sometimes few enough people are masking up, or police attention is so focused on the bloc, that you may deem it safer not to draw attention to yourself by doing so, even if you may engage in illegal activities; and sometimes it's better to show your neighbors where you stand, or let the public and the cameras see that not everyone involved in radical activity is young, white, and male. Otherwise, if others are masking up, you might as well do the same.

Those masks don't necessarily have to be black ski masks, anyway; there are plenty of more fun, family-oriented ways to obscure your identity. Beyond the black bloc, endless possibilities open up: pink blocs, clown blocs, doctor blocs, maintenance worker blocs . . . Wherever a bunch of people are wearing identical clothing or costumes, the bloc tactic could be deployed, utilizing the matching crowd for camouflage. Halloween, for example, could offer a great opportunity for bloc action?as could a high

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Black bloc actions have been a hit at mass actions over the past couple of decades: there have been blocs in the protests at meetings of such despicable gangs as the World Trade Organization, at political events such as debates between presidential candidates, at antiwar demonstrations and solidarity marches with communities that are suffering police brutality. Wherever there is a mass gathering of protesters, it may make sense to deploy or call for a bloc.

In such environments, the bloc can serve many purposes. As mentioned before, it can simply be present as a promise of solidarity, or a threat. It can act as a Hne of defense for or a distraction from other activists doing civil disobedience actions such as lockdowns and blockades, who will be unable to defend themselves from the police. It can engage in property destruction?this can achieve economic ends, such as inflicting financial losses upon wicked corporations, or other practical goals: a city can be persuaded never to risk hosting another vivisection conference, or alienated workers (and even activists!) can experience firsthand that the stranglehold their oppressors seem to have on reality can literally be broken. A bloc can attempt to prevent delegates from reaching an unwanted meeting, or trap them inside the meeting space to make sure they get the message that their shenanigans are not welcome. It can reclaim urban space, opening up and protecting a street or park for others to reinterpret and enjoy, or rerouting a permitted march into unpermitted areas. It can engage the police in conflict, and thus disrupt business as usual?a meeting in Quebec City to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement had to be halted temporarily when tear gas from the streetfighting below entered the vents of the building hosting it. It can offer the possibility of contesting power and control in immediate actions, rather than mere words, and thus keep spirits up and appetites whetted. A bloc might attempt to set off full-scale rioting, in hope of precipitating an insurrection?or it could simply create a spectacle, to emphasize the anarchist presence and foreground its romantic appeal; liberal carping

Where and how can the bloc tactic be applied?

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