40 people or so marched through downtown Portland streets on a very snowy Saturday night in solidarity with the insurrection in Greece and against state repression everywhere.
Chants of "from Portland to Greece, these are our streets!" and "rain or snow the police must go!" were met with cheers by many of the people who were downtown during the blizzard, some even joined the march with their own chants of "F-ck the Police!"
The march encountered only one cop who was laughed off when he asked "who is the leader?". a window broke at a large department store (nordstrom rack?), and circle A's appeared on on doors and buildings in the wake of the march.
It's a beautiful thing to join together in solidarity and exercise your right to protest and express yourself! Especially in light of the weather being as such - I found it hilarious when a person commented that we had succeeded in shutting down the city with our "anarchist powder"
It's a confusing thing, however, when the words "peace and justice" are used in the same march with throwing cops on the top of a bonfire and killing people...this, for me, equals murky waters as far as what one is trying to express and promote, and can in effect be counter-intuitive! I understand the violence, in some very particular cases, needs to be used...but I felt like these words were being shouted without the complete understanding of their implication.
Doesn't anarchism, to some extent, put forth the idea that all should be given the opportunity to fulfill their latent human potential without control from a power structure in whatever level that may be - family, relationship, government, etc.?
Aren't cops just as conditioned by the hierarchy of the power pyramid into thinking that what they are doing is "serving and protecting"? By no means am I condoning the ridiculous and inhumane treatment that cops around the world exhibit - it's completely appalling! But I think chanting "F**k the police" down the street isn't necessarily promoting awareness about the issues of inequality and insanity in the capitalistic world we live in. (There were about 5 cops, by the way, only one that we verbally came in contact with)
There seemed to, in the rally last night, be a sense of disorganization which I know is not an attribute to be given to anarchism, when done well...yes, tis true there may not be a leader - which indeed created laughter when the cop inquired where this individual may be, but that doesn't mean that organization and clarity of purpose is devoid.
Leaving the demonstration I wondered to myself what actually had happened...we marched from the park blocks, someone markered circle a's and short phrases on windows and signs, a window was broken, some chants were verbalized, we came in contact with a police officer, got to pioneer square, stood around wondering what to do next, threw a couple snowballs at the Starbuck's windows, then decided to go back to the park blocks to "return the protesters back to where we found them, a common courtesy"
It is extremely important to raise awareness about the incredible events taking place in Greece and throughout Europe and the general unrest of the world based on capitalism, as well as recognize the people who have died and the atrocities committed at the hands of the bourgeoisie and this obviously flawed system, but I felt like these were necessarily addressed last night.
I anticipate more commentary and would love light to be shed based on others opinions of last night's event!
The Passion for Destruction is not a Passion for Violence
I agree with your points. A bit of cohesiveness wouldn't have hurt. Also, the invocations of violence and war seemed very counter-intuitive to me as well, and although I found the chants empowering they simply didn't send the message which I attended to address. (They said it, sure, but how can they be interpreted by those we passed but as cries for aggressive, destructive violence rather than cries intending to expose and transcend the violence of the state?)
Some brainstorming might have helped come up with more profound chants, and I think this is fundamental. Otherwise, we're just tooting our own horns, and not playing music. Protest and demonstration are means of communication, and if our message was misunderstood (even if the participants empathize), then the only mark our march left was a broken window, graffiti, and a bunch of people saying to themselves, "Well, whatever they're doing, they sure are pissed off."
And yes, we are pissed off. We have good reason to be. And if those people knew what our reasons were, they might be pissed off too. Our ideas and views are ignored consistantly not only by the mass media and CEOs, presidents and capitalist pirates, but also by our neighbors. Maybe we should wonder if we are sending the wrong message. Rather than, "F*ck this, f*ck that," why not, "The state and the police are repressive to the beauty and freedom of human potential, because X Y and Z, and we think that's f*cked up!" (Not a catchy protest chant, but we could slim it down.)
While I sensed plenty of (albeit justified) anger in the demonstration, I also laughed hysterically at some of the brilliant jokes I heard! I remember at one point when we were walking in the street a snowplow came up behind us. Someone cautioned, "Don't get snowplowed," and someone added jokingly, "...by the state! Oooh!" In hindsight that would have been a great chant. "Don't get snowplowed by the state!" That's poetry! It would allow anyone observing the protest to empathize with, rather than "Otherize" us. 'It's freezing outside, yeah! And the state is a lot more powerful than us, yeah! And they do kind of push us around like a snowplow, don't they? '
A good rule of thumb would be to remember that people empathize with suffering, but are often repulsed by the odd ways in which groups view pleasure. While we might like to see cops (metaphorically) on fire, other people are going to be horrified by that! "But without cops, we'd all just get raped and murdered! O' mercy me!" We have to open avenues of discussion in which we can dispell the myths of anarchy and reveal its potential to transform our world into a place of cooperation, peace, and creativity, and that won't happen if we isolate ourselves with mantras of violence. Especially when institutional violence is what we're fighting in the first place.
If something scares us, it is the return to normality. For in the destroyed and pillaged streets of our cities of light we see not only the obvious results of our rage, but the possibility of starting to live. We no longer have anything to do, other than to install ourselves in this possibility and transform it into a living experience: by grounding on the field of everyday life, our creativity, our power to materialize our desires, our power not to contemplate but to construct the real. This is our vital space. All the rest is death.
-from a statement from the occupation of the Athens School of Economics and Business
...have a spokes council before protests so that affinity groups have time and information to plan individual actions, individual messages, and what supplies to bring. It also helps make sure that all necessary supplies and Specialized Affinity Groups are present. I think that's the essential coordination that has been missing from local protests for a while now.
I understand the necessity for secrecy and the need for public actions to APPEAR magically organic. Spokes councils are organized by word of mouth with rotating representatives of affinity groups. It's not snitch-proof so property destruction and illegal acts are never discussed. Just logistics, supplies, basic message, basic coordination models/street formations, and street decision making models are decided. This is still somewhat sensitive info and additional security needs to be taken when possible.
Chants of "from Portland to Greece, these are our streets!" and "rain or snow the police must go!" were met with cheers by many of the people who were downtown during the blizzard, some even joined the march with their own chants of "F-ck the Police!"
The march encountered only one cop who was laughed off when he asked "who is the leader?". a window broke at a large department store (nordstrom rack?), and circle A's appeared on on doors and buildings in the wake of the march.