Black Bloc(k) - What role do you feel that they play?

So after doing a quick search, I've found that there doesn't seem to be a post about Black Bloc(k). I wouldn't specifically know if Sythe already covered this. He covers Socialists and Communists, but I don't know if his ideas fall into the Anarchist community.

For starters, what is Black Bloc(k):

A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding or other face-concealing items and often carry some sort of shields and truncheons. The clothing is used to avoid being identified, and to, theoretically, appear as one large mass, promoting solidarity.The tactic was developed in the 1980s by autonomists protesting squatter evictions, nuclear power and restrictions on abortion among other things. Black blocs gained broader media attention outside Europe during the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations, when a black bloc damaged property of GAP, Starbucks, Old Navy, and other multinational retail locations in downtown Seattle.


So essentially, Black Bloc(k) is a usually large group of people, most of the time with the protest forming because of anarchists, who go about during the protests, and smash things. At first, you may think that the random violence is no better than that of the UK riots that went on days ago. And in some ways I feel this is true. If you have ever watched Battle of Seattle, you can see that what happened there is essentially what Black Bloc(k) turns things into.

Unfortunately, I find that the police's incompetence in controlling such action helps push an idea that the police were ill equipped for the task and need more money to help stop more of these types of incidents. This is usually not the case, as shown by the UK riots, where police stood back, only defending financial districts, allowing destruction to happen. This pushes the media's viewpoint to condemning these things.

On the other hand, this destruction starts from anarchists, anti-capitalists, and others, who feel that their solidarity as a group makes a big point. The destruction they create centers on police, banks, and corporations.

But what role do you think they play? Are they the activist revolutionaries that people should look up to? Are they hooligans that need to be crushed? Are they people who need an outlet to vent their frustrations against the system?

 

It depends what they stand for. A black block isn't an actual organization, so It doesn't have any morals or values. It is simply a strategic way of protesting while defending it's members and appearing vary clearly on the media. I don't think that you can really judge a black block at all, since that is like judging a military formation.

 

You'd have to ask what reason there is for it to be in place. Even so, no matter what it's meant to stand for, every person taking part will have their own background and their own story/reason to be there. It's a good way to protest aslong as hooligans don't come on en masse and there's a real need to be out there.