Chris Hedges

I like Hedges a lot, too. Very strong leftist, and a great activist. He’s walked the walk and risked his life on numerous occasions. But he’s not perfect. Like any person, he has his blind spots — as do we all.

David Graeber points to one here, and it was an important one. Kinda long article, but worth a read. I don’t know if Hedges ever did change his mind about anarchists and Black Bloc groups.

Concerning the Violent Peace-Police

Excerpt:

I am writing this on the premise that you are a well-meaning person who wishes Occupy Wall Street to succeed. I am also writing as someone who was deeply involved in the early stages of planning Occupy in New York.

I am also an anarchist who has participated in many Black Blocs. While I have never personally engaged in acts of property destruction, I have on more than one occasion taken part in Blocs where property damage has occurred. (I have taken part in even more Blocs that did not engage in such tactics. It is a common fallacy that this is what Black Blocs are all about. It isn’t.)

I was hardly the only Black Bloc veteran who took part in planning the initial strategy for Occupy Wall Street. In fact, anarchists like myself were the real core of the group that came up with the idea of occupying Zuccotti Park, the “99%” slogan, the General Assembly process, and, in fact, who collectively decided that we would adopt a strategy of Gandhian non-violence and eschew acts of property damage. Many of us had taken part in Black Blocs. We just didn’t feel that was an appropriate tactic for the situation we were in.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Billy_T.