Oakland: Tent city to address topic of destructive anarchists

[robdogbucky]

Occupy Oakland Live Blog: Tent city to address topic of destructive anarchists
Oakland Tribune

Posted: 11/03/2011 07:36:22 AM PDT
Updated: 11/03/2011 10:40:08 AM PDT


10:20 a.m. Tent city to talk about destructive anarchists

The campers will be discussing at their morning meeting how to keep out the destructive anarchist element.

"It's not us, it's a bunch of guys who wear black masks," said Michael Porter, 24, who works full-time selling DirectTV and has been camping at the Occupy Oakland site. "It's messing with our movement. They leech off our numbers -- they only show up when there's a rally."

Porter will be leading a discussion at the meeting starting soon.

"There's a handful of us trying to confront them but they just gang up on you..."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19255461

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. They leech off our numbers -- they only show up when there's a rally."

Right on the money. It is the very same situation in SF. I have seen them show up for anti-war rallies, pro-choice rallies, pro-tenant rallies -- the matter being acted on is meaningless to them, only the opportunity to confront the police and break some windows is all that matters to this asshats.

Good on Oakland for taking some action.

[DirkGently]

2. Might be Republicans. The only guy at Occupy Orlando actually wearing a mask was.

The little kerchief deal, like a cowboy movie bank robber. Kept pulling it up over his nose while other people were making signs, setting up equipment, etc. I noticed he had steel-toed shoes on, too. Sketchers, for gawd's sake. Didn't want his picture taken. In case Mom or Dad was watching, I guess.

:silly:

[robdogbucky]

3. In the real old days of 1967 in Madison

They used undercover police officers to infiltrate and instigate. One of them got shot and their operation was exposed. One of the cops was from my old high school.

I realize that there are radical anarchists active as well, but they rarely have the sophistication displayed yesterday and last night in Oaktown.

Back when, the police in Madtown (and J. Edgar) called them "affinity groups."


Same old, same old. All for the same reasons by the same people.




Tinfoily this morning.

[robdogbucky]

4. Dup post after it was rejected on first try, but there it is now - ?????

Weirdness abounds this AM

I had better leave the computer alone for a while and check back in after I run errands.

[butterfly77]

5. I wouldn't put it past..

the teabagging republiCONS to send in the clowns,they think that this will stop the movement if anything it will make it bigger,and the majority is not on their side.

[Leopolds Ghost]

6. The OWS movement is anarchist in form and function.

You don't seem to know what anarchism refers to. "Destructive anarchists" = typical media rhetoric.

Anarchism is a term for left libertarianism, i.e. people who believe in the elimination
of authoritarian forms of governance and its replacement with direct democracy.

Also, if there was an anarchist black bloc, you would have heard from them.

To the best of my limited knowledge, these folks are not black bloc in any organized sense.

They are not agents provocateurs, they are simply angry kids.

If the economy gets worse, you can expect to see more of them like they have on the streets
of every other country in the world that experiences actual economic unrest that we are just
barely feeling at the present time.

Tl;dr: stop scapegoating anarchists and dividing the movement.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. In SF the Bloc are not "angry kids" --

the are white, suburban brats whose main point in life is to break things and fuck with the cops. They have been a part of my political life for 15+ years here.

Are there angry kids out there? Sure there are, and I have marched with them and readied to face riot police with them. They are NOT the Bloc.

[Leopolds Ghost]

13. Why is it ok for us to confront riot police so long as we're not radicals?

Most Americans don't know what angry is, and neither do these supposed "black bloc" kids.

Anypony can claim to be an anarchist, but if that just means a ticket to break stuff then they don't know what the term means. Just as anyone can claim to be in favor of free speech.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. I am not necessarily against being "radical" --

as part of a solution -- I think the Black Panthers was a justified and logical response to what was happening in Oakland back in the day. I just think that we can get there more quicky/effectively engaging in widespread, nonviolent civil disobedience -- it's a proven winner. Should that fail -- well then, all bets are off.

[Leopolds Ghost]

17. duplicate n/t

[Leopolds Ghost]

18. Methinks masked bloc is an inappropriate tactic right now, so we don't disagree.

It's another reason we don't see a lot of actual Anon's wearing Guy Fawkes masks to the protest. Those are the Ron Paul guys, I suspect most Anons aren't repping that because it would be counterproductive to the message of the 99%.

My interpretation of this is: A mask either means one is trying to seek anonymity from individual harrassment and retaliation, or anonymity from the majority of the population. Given the popularity of the OWS movement, the former option isn't really an issue at present, and given that they want to represent themselves as the moral majority in any event, they can't afford to make it an issue, so average people would be inclined to assume the latter and not associate themselves with a group claiming to represent everyone if they all donned masks.

[sabrina 1]

11. Wrong, they were photographed and 'angry violent people' are

not part of this movement.



OWS doesn't dress in black and wear masks. My guess is they are police provocateurs since so many have already been exposed since the beginning of this movement.

This movement rejects violence so anyone engaging in it is not part of it. It really is simple.

Maybe you should stop trying to undermine the movement and show respect for THEIR position, which is 'NO VIOLENCE'

[Leopolds Ghost]

12. They dress in black and wear masks. OWS doesn't wear black

Black is out of fashion for suburban white kids this season :shrug:

[sabrina 1]

15. 'Suburban white kids'?

What is your point in using that, now long debunked, mis-characterization of OWS? If it is sarcasm, then my apologies. But that was the initial claim, quickly made irrelevant in the first week, by the operatives working for Wall Street around the internet. They were forced to give it up as it simply was impossible to continue to lie in the face of the evidence.

It isn't about fashion, it's about violence v peaceful protests. Legitimate members of OWS, ordinary Americans, do not hide their faces or engage in violence. And violent people do not belong to this movement. It's pretty much understood by all except by those who would like to discredit the movement who are a real threat to the Wall Street money that has taken over this government.

This was anticipated so most people understand that any violence is simply an attempt to undermine this growing movement and I don't believe it can stopped now. Too many ordinary Americans have now been affected by the corruption, across party lines.

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. Considering #Oakland caught police infiltrating (Political Videos forum)

they are probably police.

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. I'm simply left-libertarian, very non-violent

But it'd be interesting to know what the average age of the group accused with smashing windows is.

The older they are, the more likely they are not who they claim to be (especially if they don't claim anything.)

In general, smashing windows strikes me as more of a fascist tactic. It does no good beyond angry youths citing an excuse to fuck shit up.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. Or older provacateurs creating an excuse for the mayor to call for a complete shut-down of the camp.

See: Bloomberg versus Liberty Plaza. They've been picking at the camp since it went up, sending drunks and rabble-rousers there (again, see Political Videos forum), stealing their generators just before the first freezing rain...this is systematic, this is orchestrated.

Also, please watch the video about #Oakland proving cops infiltrated. The police chief's words about infiltrating and getting them to do what they want are quite telling, and goes to police going to any lengths to destroy anything they don't like.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=630232&mesg_id=630232

[MisterP]

10. Bloomberg's "they're violent" didn't work, now the catapulters are going for "they're suburban

brats" (again)

of course, my analysis isn't meant to detract from analysis and identification of actual provocateurs: OWS is big-tent, ad-hoc, encourages anonymity, and, lest we forget, an occupation: a protest with a permit is a parade, they say