From Roar Mag - by Jerome Roos
The media may be puzzled by the emergence of anarchists in Tahrir, but the truth is that anarchism was behind the insurrectionary impulse from the start.
When tens of thousands of Egyptians swarmed back into Tahrir Square on Friday to commemorate and continue the revolution that started two years ago, a remarkable and unexpected spectacle began to unfold itself. After two years of broken promises and continued state violence, a group of activists – vowing to protest fellow protesters — positioned themselves at the barricades dressed in black from head to toe, brandishing improvised flamethrowers and clubs, and wearing self-made security force uniforms.
Participants in the Egyptian ‘Black Bloc’ at the barricades on Tahrir Square
When approached by journalists, the masked activists said they refused to talk to the media, but mysteriously “mentioned anarchism” as a source of inspiration for their tactics. A day before, the Associated Press already reported the emergence of a “previously unknown group calling itself the Black Bloc,” who had warned the Muslim Brotherhood not use its “military wing” to crack down on protesters and who claimed responsibility for recent fire-bombings of Muslim Brotherhood offices.
So what is the Black Bloc, and why is it suddenly emerging on the streets of Cairo? While commonly reviled by the liberal and conservative media as a hardcore wing of violent thugs, the Black Bloc is in reality not a clearly defined group but rather a tactic of direct action, whereby (sometimes militant but oftentimes peaceful) activists dress in similar clothing in order to present themselves as a unified front and to not be recognized by security forces. While most participants in Block Bloc actions explicitly oppose violent acts against people, targeted property destruction is one form of direct action that makes up the arsenal of their ‘diversity of tactics’.
In this respect, Egypt’s anarchists are clearly inspired by some of the Black Bloc tactics we have seen elsewhere: from the German autonomist Left of the 1970s to the alter-globalization movement and the Battle of Seattle in 1999, on to the more recent 2008 youth uprising in Greece in response to the police killing of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos. But while inspiration from movements elsewhere certainly played a role in the Black Bloc’s recent emergence in Cairo, the truth is that anarchism is not new to Tahrir. Indeed, anarchist activists, ideas and practices have been at the heart of Egypt’s leaderless popular uprising from the very start.
Many of the politicized football fans – the so-called ‘Ultras’ who gave the militant impetus for the overthrow of Mubarak – have long identified with anarchist ideas, while anarchism was one of the main sources of inspiration behind the style="color: #000080;"> style="text-decoration: underline;"> href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_6_Youth_Movement" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','en.wikipedia.org']);">April 6 Youth Movement, whose solidarity action with a factory strike in El-Mahalla El-Kubra in 2008 is commonly cited as an important antecedent of the 2011 uprising. The ranks of these movements have recently been strengthened by disillusioned youths who fought in the front-lines against Mubarak’s security apparatus, only to encounter the same state forces under Islamist rule. As one activist style="color: #000080;"> style="text-decoration: underline;"> href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/25/egypt-violence-anniversary-revolution" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','www.guardian.co.uk']);">put it, “We are only ruled by bastards.”
href="http://media.roarmag.org/2013/01/156345_414660505278527_743692684_n.jpg" >
title="156345_414660505278527_743692684_n" src="http://media.roarmag.org/2013/01/156345_414660505278527_743692684_n.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="356" />
Now that the Muslim Brotherhood has effectively halted the revolution’s “long march through the institutions”, and now that opposition parties have amply demonstrated their woeful inability to pose a credible counterweight to the forces of fundamentalism, many young Egyptians have simply style="color: #000080;"> style="text-decoration: underline;"> href="http://roarmag.org/2013/01/egypt-tahrir-second-anniversary-uprising/" >lost their faith in the ability of representative institutions to realize the revolution’s demands for bread, freedom and social justice. In this era of shattered illusions, many of these young revolutionaries find that anarchism – with its radical emphasis on direct democracy, horizontal self-organization and mutual aid – provides the only hopeful alternative to further tyranny.
It is here that the struggle of the Egyptians begins to visibly connect with the ongoing struggles in the West. While Egyptian anarchists are taking an active stance to stamp out fundamentalist rule and state violence more generally, their counterparts across the Mediterranean are now one of the href="http://roarmag.org/2013/01/in-greece-the-criminals-live-in-other-villas/" >last remaining bulwarks against the spread of anti-immigrant violence in the streets of Athens. Members of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party have recently been implicated in racist attacks on non-Greeks, including Egyptian fishermen. But while the state sits back and allows Golden Dawn to href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/26/golden-dawn-infiltrated-greek-police-claims" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','www.guardian.co.uk']);">infiltrate the police force, the anarchists have chosen to fight. Raiding Golden Dawn offices and riding through poor neighborhoods in thousands-strong anti-fascist motorcycle rallies, the Greek anarchists are now greeted as heroes by the city’s terrorized immigrant minority.
And what about the unmistakable anarchist roots of the most spectacular social movement to have emerged in the West in recent decades? As numerous observers and activists have noted, the refusal of Occupy Wall Street to make demands on the political class, its commitment to horizontal modes of consensus-based decision-making, and its emphasis on prefigurative politics gave Occupy not only its innovative character, but also made it resonate with frustrations about the crisis of representation elsewhere, allowing it wash across the globe like a tidal wave of popular indignation.
Unfortunately, there are still those who somewhat naively emphasize more old-fashioned, party-based and state-oriented models of political activism. Putting their faith in elected representatives or placing all their hope on abstract theories about the inevitability of some cataclysmic future Event, these ‘revolutionaries’ continue to rely on others to make the revolution for us. But as Tahrir transforms itself once more into the world’s forefront of popular resistance, an important message is clearly being driven home to us: in the globalized struggles of the 21st century, it is the anarchists who are carrying the revolution forward.




Comments
more:
more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21228852
One of the Black Bloc's founders, Sharif al-Sirfi, has said the group has adopted the slogan, "Vengeance or Revolution".
https://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/masked_black_bloc_a_mystery_in_egypt_un...
The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, which has depicted the group as fueling violence, said that Black Bloc members tried to break into a five-star hotel near Tahrir, and fired guns in the air when other protesters tried to stop them.
Also, black bloc rap straight outta Egypt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnZ1vmBC5Og
Well activists on the ground
Well activists on the ground tell a different story. They say that the black bloc defended a hotel from an attack by an armed mob, and it was greatly appriceated.
It is true that the state-run television has called the black bloc a terrorist organisation, warned people from dressing like them and the state has said that it aims to arrest all members of the black bloc.
Shit is gettin real.
rough translation of black
rough translation of black bloc rap:
chorus
black block means young free men
black block means embodying the literature/knowledge of the struggle
black block means we're charged with persistence
black block means we're not afraid of the oppression or of siege
chorus repeats
i'm egyptian just like you are, i'm not a terrorist
but i got offended (i think thats what that means), when oppression knocked on my door
got up and calculated, i prepared my arsenal
we got up and made a group a few of my and my friends
said lets protect the revolters, i want to protect my brothers
not afraid of the goons or the armor of the Sargents
we made the tough decision, impossible to go back on
die for my brethren but its impossible to go kitty (pussy out i guess)
chorus
we stand with the people, we are not again the sharieyeh (the shariyeh law and the term is generally seen to mean justice or the law of justice)
so long as u killed my brother you are not friendly (the opposite of hostile)
i dont know why you think your murders are not visible
and you fool the people in the name of the islamic shariyeh (in this context they dont mean justice they mean specifically the islamic sharieyh laws)
treasonous brothers, (this is a play on / reference to the muslim brothers which is how we say the muslim brotherhood group))
killed young men, cowardly humans (directed at the brotherhood),
that could do anything and still be a king with a sceptor
we came to you with good will, thought you would keep a vow /promise
in time we saw you are all dogs amongst eachother
we'll address you / send you a proclamation / declaration
in the name of god, as follows
black is our garb, and anger is in our face
and injustice floods us
a government after another comes and blood is still here
wheres the actualization of punishment!?
how are we oppressed with bullets!?
when injustice walks free then security/stability disappears
justice shall be realized or with chaos we're satisfied
chorus
written on the screen at the end is
you have armor and weapons from your customers *your business partners, i think its a reference to the west / countries that supply the gov't with arms*
we have nothing but the souls of the martyrs
and god almighty promises
glory to the revolution
glory to the struggle
glory to the martyrs
thanks for taking the time to
thanks for taking the time to do that!
That Egyptian hip hop track
That Egyptian hip hop track about the black bloc is pretty fucking dope. I mean the beats a little whack, but it's still sick.
"ROAR aims to bring you some
"ROAR aims to bring you some of the world’s most inspiring news, stories, analysis, ideas, actions, books, poems, tunes, photos, videos and doodles from the front-lines of the Global Justice and Real Democracy Movement."
their front page has pieces by chomsky and subcomandante marcos. it's like the 90s alterglobalization movement somehow got a website in 2012.
i appreciate the trolling but
i appreciate the trolling but I never want to hear the word "alterglobalization" again please.
say it to myself in the
say it to myself in the mirror EVERY MORNING
"The continuation of the
"The continuation of the conflict between the different political forces and their differences over how the country should be run could lead to the collapse of the state..."
- Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, head of the Egyptian Army.
Inshallah
Inshallah
muslim brotherhood, was the
muslim brotherhood, was the next state apparatus in line and doing exactly as such now in temporary power; while the media in west tried to muster a scare to their gaining power in egypt, politicians and technos knew that they could deal with them and wrap them in imf funding trap and other bureaucrap. black bloc, on the other hand, is a true radical line of force: all power to them to mess up the statist structures. are we seeing a post-nation-state opening for anarchy to live and become resonator for others around the globe?
Damn this shit is crazy.
Damn this shit is crazy. Never would have thought.
anarca-Islam ....&....Islam &
anarca-Islam ....&....Islam & Anarchism: Relationships & Resonances ...see/read...
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mohamed-jean-veneuse-anarca-islam
&
http://www.akpress.org/islam-anarchism.html
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