black block debate

DOUBLE STANDARDS

If we can applaud militant resistance in the Intifada, why not in Europe, why not against the EU and the G8?

Or are we saying that violence is too uncivilised for European proletarians?

When a comrade has been shot, murdered, crushed under a jeep,by the state,how then can we turn around and look for someone to blame- say "the black bloc"- for causing trouble?

Or are we saying he was asking for it?

Given that the police and paramilitary arrive at demos heavily armed, why is it that violence is blamed on protestors?

Or is a demo only non-violent when the working class is disarmed?

Capital's war on humanity must be met with resistance.

It is bizarre to condemn the destruction of a McDonalds whilst millions upon millions upon millions starve, sweat and suffer.

The only issue is whether militant actions are a useful _tactic_ at particular times. It is in this context that we should approach the issues.

you wrote: "The only issue is whether militant actions are a useful _tactic_ at particular times. It is in this context that we should approach the issues."

Let's approach the issue in this context, as you suggest.
1. is violence the one and only militant approach?
if not so, are there alternative ways to build a militant approach?
2. is violence a 'useful' tactic? 'useful' to what use?
3. is there really no difference between the European proletarians and the proletarians of the third world? are we all proletarians? or do some of us feel entitled to represent the proletarians? why? i certainly cannot strictly define myself a proletarian, at least not at the moment, yet i the fight against capitalism belongs to me as well.
4. capitalism forever, however 'mitigated', is a perspective most of us, including myself, do not consider acceptable. Do we consider violence forever, however 'useful' or 'tactical', an acceptable perspective? Are capitalism and violence so different? Capitalism is the rule of those who control the means of production and their repressive forces, and its origins, roughly speaking, are rooted in violence. Who can be sure that violence as a tactic would not turn into violence as a system? who wants to act as the police do?

My questions are real questions, I do not have any ready-made answers, and I would like to discuss these issues.