This week I’ve been following up on the Greek anarchist riots and while I’m inspired by their moxy, I haven’t been terribly impressed at the men’s fashion I’ve seen. It brings up a serious discussion about anarchist fashion, and one that I will try to pose to my readership as a question rather than a solution, though honestly I’ve had it up to here with the fucking 99′er black hoodie, so I will probably be a little biased.
To me, one facet of anarchism is the discussion of ends versus means, and never getting into a situation where the ends justify horrible means that will ultimately sacrifice the ends anyway, (read: fuck communism). I think that is essentially what is happening with the black bloc though, we’ve taken that particular fashion direction for granted and allowed it to dictate all our other fashion choices.
May 68: a successful riot without a black bloc:
I mentioned before that mainstream men’s fashion was forged in the military and then foisted on the male populace as a nation building technique. In anarchist circles, the black bloc has the same result. Obviously, no anarchist has orchestrated this, but the results are the same. Many anarchist men I meet are afraid to wear color, to be non utilitarian, to be sensual or outwardly express their sexuality. Anarchist men’s fashion seems permanently mired in street fighter and militia man, and with it comes the same vulgar credo as the army, “be prepared”. Is it worth it? Are the victories we’ve won with this tactic enough to justify the effect on our mansies?
Pictures from the Stonewall Riot, note the absence of a black bloc:
Paris 2005, again without a black bloc:
I’m not convinced that the black bloc is that effective of a tactic anyway, most insurrectionists I read or talk to, admit serious, serious faults with the tactic in general, so much so it seems remarkable it keeps getting used! The only reasons that I’ve found supporting the black bloc is being disguised from the police and building team unity, however, neither seem that successful or at all guaranteed.
I also think it was a huge misstep in general that anarchists have chosen the color black for our “national color” and the black flag as our “national flag”. Anarchism is the only philosophy which rejects the very foundation of the nation and all it’s bullshit, so why are we engaged in the same hierarchical nation building rituals?
Flags, team building rituals, uniforms. Count me out.
Mansy fashion icon: Mattilda in a pink bloc:
Now everyone knows that black is a fashionable color for garments, it makes the wearer look slender and allows for a myriad of palette options, but there is such a thing as too much black, and baby that time is now!
Forgive me because of my ignorance/ lack of comprehension, but I think in this case the irony is an anarchist doesn’t want to be controlled, yet the black bloc uniform is a ‘rule’, in a sense!
Great article! This truly broadens my horizon and I get to understand fashion in an anthropological way. Thank you very much!
An open letter to anyone…
Every once in a while,
A thought goes through my head.
I can’t quite pin it down but,
I think that it defines me.
Like a revelation or epifany but without the divine intervention.
A one line manifesto,
Everything in one sentence.
Like an explosion,
But without a bomb.
Violence is too primitive.
Like a flower,
But without the beauty.
It’s impossible to describe,
Unless you’ve been there and You,
Know who you are.
You know who “We” are,
You know what I’m talking about,
When I say “Us” and,
The feeling of fraternity,
The unity(community) left unsaid,and un-proclaimed,
Maybe it’s fear that holds the silence,
Like a vine choking a tree,shouts of “it’ll never work”
But it’s there,you can feel it,the thousands who,
Wait and watch and gather sometimes,
Talking and sometimes not.
The endless nights.
The revelation that,
Nothing really matters.
It’s not about recruiting,
Or having someone cram it down your throat kicking,
And screaming.
It all goes back to the thought in my head the one,
That I can’t quite pin down.
It’s about you,
When you’re finally tired of the world in which you live, tired
Of working for nothing and,
Buying and buying and,
Feeling no satisfaction,
Being used and,
Being rejected and,
Being a cog in a machine.
How about stepping into ours?
It’s more like stepping into yours…
We’ll be waiting.
Before the police used such extensive surveillance, taking so much video and so many pictures of the crowds, and keeping extensive files, you could feasibly get away with not masking up.
Also, in cases like the French riots, when revolt is widespread enough that the police have too much on their plate to track down and capture individuals, you can get away with it. Still, many people used hoods and masks there.
In my town the gang enforcement unit singles us out at demos for photos to catch us with masks off. They have our faces on file, probably our names too, and if we get caught doing anything illegal on camera undisguised, they can just find us and arrest us. It isn’t without precedent. When people aren’t careful, they get tracked down and nabbed. The RNC should have been enough to teach us that lesson: slight details overlooked by rioters lead to being tracked down and arrested in their homes.
Many people probably still wear masks in Greece because they had a military junta and they know about surveillance and to what effort police will go to find and arrest the members of the crowd most willing to act. They have more opportunity not to wear masks, though, because revolt is so widespread and the police in such a poor PR position that tracking down and arresting people is out of the question (for now).
I agree with you about extending that style of dress to all other places in our lives, as it does seem to carry over that ‘macho’, ‘militant’ attitude into inappropriate places. I also agree that colors aside from black could be used. But I think it’s dangerous to show pictures from very specific contexts and say, hey, everybody should riot undisguised because these people did it and some or most of them got away with it.
Lastly, since when is team building a bad thing? And the flag thing has long been an issue, you’re not the first to bring it up. It’s useful, dramatic, visible, symbolic, etc…. there are lots of pluses. Personally I don’t feel oppressed by it.
This is certainly an interesting critique on far left masculinity and the way it tends to dominate anarchism across all nations…even ladies’ fashion choice is determined by men in black block! Spanks, Mansy, a real winner.
Personally I think fashion is a fraud. I wear bland clothes because i don’t want to waste my time thinking about something as unimportant as fashion or style. I think that fashion being used as a tool to demonstrate ones individuality is a practice of fetishism (replacing a part for the whole) and essentialism, a practice of reducing the complexities of one’s persona to a one-dimensional display of self. The Black Bloc is a utilitarian approach, but to me it takes on a different meeting, that of the rejection of current image obsession, just as the black flag was originally envisioned to be the anti-flag, a rejection of all flags. Perhaps my viewpoint is a reflection of the post-revolution world I’d like to see, one in which fashion culture does not exist. That’s not to say I think everyone would be going around wearing a brown coverall, but that we would learn to express ourselves through a more meaningful and multi-dimensional medium, i.e. thoughts, ideas, abstractions. I would never try to force anyone toward my viewpoint, but i think there are more important priorities than fashion.
That’s crap. Fashion exists whether or not we like it to. The black bloc is just as intentionally a fashion statement as the most frilly get up would be. We spend hours, days, even months preparing for actions. An action always carries with it messages and much of that is conveyed by what we put on that morning. Maybe it’s time we be as imaginative with what we wear as with the fancy direct action skills we employ.
Now those are some sexy photos!
I agree we need as much diversity as possible,
but can we really compare now to 68?
we have a different surveillance now, where there is reason to where all black.
But youre right anarcho-fashion needs to step it up! Personally, I love wearing bright colors and running in black
This article is very foolish and its advice could be dangerous for anyone engaging in direct action. Tt is much easier now than in 1968 for police to track down and arrest people after an action, based solely on photographs and surveillance video recordings that they take. Anarchists in Greece don’t mask up when they hold demonstrations, but they very often do wear gas masks, bandanas, etc when they are fighting with the police.
Resist wisely
-Anonymous
What’s foolish is prescribing the same medicine to every dead horse that you keep beating over the head with a broken record. My point is still true, the only reason people mask up is out of a sense of nationalism, which at it’s roots holds everything that made me an anarchist in the first place. We have flags, a logo, uniforms and now we have our own soldiers. Fuck me, I thought this was anarchy, not a cult!
boulevardier, you have such a good attitude!