2004-12-04 - 7:17 p.m.
awesome day today-
the woman from the criminal justice institute at harvard i had lunch with today turned out to be really cool-
the rally was pretty cool/interesting- really young anarchists took the front section and led the march off the permitted route. we ended up at the designated ending place, then about 100 folks went off again, led by anarchists, followed by police. we kept the group tight across the street so police couldn't pass us on their motorcycles. eventually, the motorcycle police started rushing us from the back then tried to keep us on the sidewalk. we would regroup in the street again each time. this process occurred several times. then they started to try to chase one guy and arrest him. people would try to block the police from arresting the guy. the guy escaped into the metro, then people stood around on the corner of the street for a while until it dispersed.
there were a few scuffles, one or two kids got pushed to the ground by police- the rally organizers were at a loss as to what to do generally-
the anarchists knew street protest tactics much more than the rally organizers
it was great marching down the length of yuppie shopping area Newbury St., asking, "bombs are dropping, why are you shopping?!"
the most effective tactic it seems to me is to try to shut down as much of the U.S. as possible. one way is blocking traffic in large cities. there's no point in staying in one place and allowing arrest- you can shut down more of a city with less people by moving around. blocking streets and intersections is not so much direct action as much as it is a form of sabotage in solidarity with international targets of US imperialism. but shutting down traffic is only one form of sabotage.
it seems like anarchists have good ideas for tactics but don't do movement-building work or mass work or community-building or other types of outreach, generally. at least the groups i'm aware of. i've also never observed any disciplined anarchist organizations.
there weren't many people of color unfortunately, but there was a fraction. i met a cool chinese am student from UMass, also a guild person who i'd emailed the last few weeks, and a palestinian woman who's friends with the somerville divestment people.
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i think that down orgs running candidates are a good idea- but it would have to be candidates without ambition and desire for political offices- this was true at Stanford with SOCC, i think it's true for a coalition fo orgs in a city, and i suspect it's true for social movements
