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Egypt's Black Bloc—An Exclusive Interview

Fri, 02/01/2013 - 13:41 -- worker

From Vice - By Jared Malsin

All afternoon last Thursday, demonstrators in Egypt were tearing chunks from a concrete wall on Cairo’s Qasr Al-Aini Street, hurling the stones at riot police who attempted to disperse them with tear gas. The wall had been built by police to keep such protests contained to Tahrir Square, but now it was providing the protestors with ammunition. Suddenly, two youths wearing black ski masks, black sweatshirts, and matching black Adidas athletic pants sauntered up to the wall, carrying lit Molotov cocktails. The pair moved with an odd air of casualness as they scaled the barrier, hurled their fiery payload at the police, then rejoined the crowd.

The attack was one of the first appearances in Egypt of the Black Bloc, a protest formation, long used by anarchists in Europe and North America, involving the use of black masks and clothing to conceal protesters’ identities and project an image of ominous unity. No Western media groups have been able to talk to Egypt’s black bloc—but on a visit to Cairo last week, we scored an interview.
Black blocs popped up in Cairo and Alexandria last weekend during the huge marches marking the second anniversary of the revolution that ejected President Hosni Mubarak from power. They were seen blockading bridges, waving huge black flags, guarding the entrances to Tahrir Square, and joining thousands of other protesters, masked and unmasked, in clashes with the police.

This new mutation in the protest vocabulary instantly triggered a spiraling debate in the streets, on the Internet, on talk shows and in the pages of Egypt’s politically diverse newspapers. Depending on who you ask, the black bloc is either a serious response to state repression of protests, a violent menace to public order, or an exercise in adolescent silliness.

With violent demonstrations again roiling the country, the black blocs also provided the government and its allies with a convenient new scapegoat. Muslim Brotherhood officials and state-backed media have already blamed the groups for all manner of mayhem, from exchanging fire with security forces to attacking Brotherhood offices. On Tuesday Egypt’s chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of anyone participating in a black bloc, with a spokesman calling the blocs an “organized, terrorist group.” The state news agency announced the arrest of 18 alleged black bloc members on Thursday. Local media also reported that Salafis were forming a “white bloc” to combat the newcomers. The hardline Islamic Group announced that it was prepared to “kill, crucify or cut off the hands and feet” of black bloc members, if so ordered by the president.

Black blocs were originally used by the anti-nuclear and squatter movements in Germany in the 1980s and gained worldwide notoriety for smashing Starbuck’s windows at the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle. Activists said that the impetus for using the tactic in Egypt came in response to a shift in the local dynamics of street protests. Hassan, a 20-year-old engineering student, explains that activists were looking for new means of self-defense after the melee outside the Presidential Palace in early December 2012, in which throngs of Muslim Brotherhood supporters had attacked an opposition sit-in. Five people were killed in the ensuing fighting.

“After the palace events, we saw that the Brotherhood were very organized,” he told me, sitting in a dim glazed-window café in downtown Cairo. “We had to organize ourselves. Basically the idea is to defend the revolutionaries.” Activists had seen videos of European black blocs on the Internet, he said, and began to spread the black bloc idea on Facebook in early January. The tagline on one of the largest pages was, “Get ready for hell.”

Egyptian activists and protesters have been well-versed in the tactics of street clashes since well before the 2011 uprising, and demonstrators have been covering their faces for decades, so what will the black bloc do differently to defend protests? Hassan wasn’t exactly clear. His response suggested that the black costumes are at least in part a sort of street theater. “It’s a new face for the defense of the revolutionaries,” he said.

Hassan (not his real name) is one of the administrators of a pre-existing 66,000-strong Facebook page which in January was completely re-made with Black Bloc slogans and imagery of black-masked demonstrators. Hassan is himself a supporter of mild-mannered opposition figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei and talks a lot about anti-fascist movements in Europe.

When asked if he had joined a black bloc over the weekend, he waffled. “Not exactly,” he said, then admitted that he had in fact joined demonstrators the previous Friday in blocking Cairo’s massive 6 October Bridge while wearing a hood and a scarf over his face. Later, while walking through Tahrir Square to join the ongoing battle with police on the Nile Corniche, this time sporting jeans and a purple scarf, he said the black bloc is just “an idea that anyone can adopt.”

The fact that the black-clad demonstrators appeared in multiple cities on the same weekend after, however, indicated that there was a concerted effort at a nationwide rebranding. How much coordination among groups, and who is behind them, however, remains a mystery. One of the bloc’s axioms, borrowed from their European counterparts, is “anti-media” and masked protesters routinely wave off requests for interviews on the street.

The Egyptian black bloc also has a burgeoning online presence, including dozens of Facebook pages, a “Black Bloc” rap song, and video communiqués recorded by masked demonstrators. These social media fragments, however, have added to the confusion about whether the black bloc is simply a tactic or an organized group. In one YouTube clip, a masked youth claiming to represent Black Bloc in Alexandria proclaims that the bloc is a group of individuals, with no connection to opposition leaders like ElBaradei. He then presents a list of the group’s demands: revolutionary trials for members of the old regime, a raise in average wages, reform of the Interior Ministry and other government institutions, job-creation projects, and “punishment” for “crimes” committed by subsequent governments since 2011.

It is also not clear whether the social media pages have anything to do with the black bloc’s presence in the streets. The administrator of one such page called me in response to a message I sent him. “I am Citizen X,” he told me, before claiming that the Black Bloc maintains no Facebook pages and refuses all contact with the media. “There is no information,” he said. Citizen X agreed to a meeting in Tahrir Square, but then failed to appear at the interview.

Some dedicated revolutionaries assailed the black bloc as a meaningless stunt orchestrated by teenagers. Mosa’ab ElShamy, a respected photojournalist who participated in the 2011 revolution, told me, “I think whoever is behind them is very immature. All they've done is given the government more excuses to clampdown on protests.”

In ElShamy’s view, the group’s claim to protecting protesters is hollow, and the group actually invited more aggression from policy. “They haven't been able to protect any protesters. They've harmed protesters even more,” he said. “They’re basically the new boogeyman.”

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Comments

Submitted by collards (not verified) on

BUGABOOOOOO.

Naw but really, imagine the stupidity of someone claiming that after two years of outbreaks of streetfighting, burning pol parties and police precincts, etc., that it was this small crew that was the scapegoat providing an excuse for the State to attack protesters. WTF....this line "works" in the US because often the bloc is the only thing kicking off, but in Egypt 2013? Theyre stealing the recuperators' lines from the US, but ITS NOT THE US. The state there has been murdering protesters for two years - blaming a new tactical formation (not really new there, anyway...) is a joke.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

I think the Egyptian state is afraid of anarchist ideas. I really do.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

While every state might not be afraid of anarchists they are all afraid of anarchist ideas.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Hear hear!

That quote should pass into parable.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

these kids are on to something, why don't americans in black bloc demand job creation projects from the government, we could be living in a keynesian utopia by 2015 if we just attach some practical demands to our petty vandalism.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

I agree with this. Part of the reason why the black bloc isn't catching on in North America is because of a failure to communicate to the people. Furthermore, if we have no demands and we wish to simply knock down the pillars of capitalism then we don't take it far enough. Sure, we smash their windows, but why doesn't a firebomb follow that? The Egyptians and the Greeks and many others have it right. They aim to destroy their enemies, not just give them a bloody nose.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Last I heard the Greeks were "marching" and the fascists were taking over. Maybe they "aim" to destroy their enemies, but they are not pulling the trigger. At this point hardly anyone is.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Yeah well we're all skirting that line between hating the powers that be and open warfare with them. The whole idea is to operate in the realms where they can't just shoot you down with their bigger guns, game, set, match done. Although in egypt, this isn't just a metaphor.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

What? That "inbewteen" realm is one where anytime we do anything at all the state can imprison or beat us, and also they can do that whenever they like even if we didn't do anything. So that doesn't sound like much of an inbetween realm to me. That sounds like they are winning and we are losing, unambiguosly.
In Egypt it sounds like they don't care so much about reprisals and are more in a state of wanting an all out fight but are pursuing this path just as inarticulately and un-tactically as large mobs generally do. Which appears to have all of the disadvantages and few of the advantages of real war. Please correct me if I'm mistaken, I hope that I am.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

You aren't wrong unfortunately. At the moment, it seems like the insurrection in Egypt is mostly at the mercy of the mob. They have legitimate complaints to be sure, but they lack practicality in their tactics. Firebombing the Muslim Brotherhood offices is definitely a good start, but it has to keep on happening or there's no point to it.

The best alternative I can point to here is the Free Syrian Army. They knew when it was time for armed insurrection because Assad decided to murder every dissident along with anyone who happens to be in the same city as them, guilty or not. A call to reason failed because he's a psychopathic despot who won't back down. His father, Hafez al-Assad, was a violent dictator as well (see The Hama Massacre of 1982). Like father like son. That meant open war. Kill him and everyone who doesn't defect to the opposition.

It hasn't reached that point in Egypt yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that changes over the next couple of years. Morsi/The Islamic Brotherhood are interested in power and little else so it seems. They are determined to enforce their religious law upon all Egyptian people and are willing to lock up, torture and/or execute anyone who tries to fuck with them (the Black Bloc, the Ultras and others). This will escalate the situation. Before long, the people will see parallels between the Morsi and Mubarak regime because they literally just threw the bastard out two years ago. At that point armed uprising feels inevitable.

A lot of people own AK47's over there.
It's completely feasible to see a guerrilla war in Port Said and Cairo.

As for the "in-between realm" mentioned earlier: I don't believe launching offensives from there is going to give us the results we want in the long or short run of things. Revolutions are bloody, messy, fucked up affairs and neither side's hands are going to be clean at the end of it. Hell, even the winners might end up with the opposite result of what they had intended whether they know it or not. However, you will never get results, for better or worse, unless you push all your chips into the center of the table.

"I'm for whatever gets results." -Malcolm X

Ultimately, that's what matters. Otherwise we're just pissing in the wind.

You guys are making me want to write an essay on tactics specific to North America.

I could also write several more paragraphs about why the anarchists aren't gunning down fascists and politicians in the streets of Athens right now. I have been studying revolutions throughout human history for a while, but I feel like this comment is long enough.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Fuck it.

Concerning Greece: There is a very technical reason why there isn't armed uprising right now. Hell, when that antifascist motorcycle brigade was prowling the streets they were chanting something along the lines of "We are going to lynch the fascists!" They want armed uprising. It's not like they aren't emotionally prepared or some shit.

It's a problem of borders and supply lines. When the Algerian Revolution happened, the rebels had a supply line of guns and ammunition from Tunisia, a country that had been recently liberated from French rule. Most of their central command was issuing orders to their guerrillas, along with their insurgents in France, from there.

Ultimately you need an organization point that is outside the control of the opposing force, because within the area of control they can change the rules of the game any time they want. Have any of you fellow anarchists bothered to read Sun Tzu: The Art of War? You might want to consider it. I hope.

The Algerian rebels launched operations out of Tunisia, bringing in explosives, guns, ammunition and plans for their lieutenants.

So, where does the Greek anarchist movement need to look for weapons? They need to look to their friends in Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Libya, Bulgaria and... Turkey? Say, haven't the Syrian rebels been getting weapons from Turkey? The Greek anarchist insurrectos may want to look into that if they have half a brain. Fuck me, I hope someone from one of their affinity groups speaks English and talks to the others because it may be time to stop being nice and just tickling the fascists with molotovs. You won't die quick when they get you. They're going to kill you slowly, like a boiling frog. That's the IMF/World Bank/EU's plan for your country along with everyone in it.

What ought to make sense though is that you should find a country with radical elements that are at least as down as you are and form some kind of relationship with each other. You may end up doing something that goes against your morals to get what you need. You need guns. You need a dependable supply line to overthrow a government of any size really.

Anyway fuck you, it's a war, right? The victors write the history.
Why do you think the anarchists are written out of almost everything?
Brutal. Police. Repression.
I want you to seriously think on that.

I guess I'm getting ready to accept that the Catalonian uprising failed because of a lack of pragmatism in their ranks. Hopefully this new generation of anarchists will wise up.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Hey man, just throwing in here that you forgot to mention Albania as sharing a border with Greece. I'm sure they have guns too. I'm not saying you don't make valid points, just be aware that you missed a spot.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Holy shit you are stupid. Stop talking about Greece. Actually, just stop talking.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Paranoia:

It's the CIA!

Cynicism:

It's the damn window salesmen.

Cynical paranoia:

It's the CIA trying to discredit the movement by intoducing a tactic that, to quote CIA documents, "C'mon, seriously, really just breaks a couple windows and pisses a lot of people off."

JUST SAYIN!

(and just kidding folks, hold onto your pitchforks)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Only drooling over the tantalizing prophecies of global revolution offered by the ANARCHIST "INTERNATIONAL" available now for the low low price of whatever LBC sells it for. Destroy the pyramids! GEIST!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Insurrectionists have offered no explanation for how rupture might be turned into revolution.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

"Insurrectionists" have instead offered a critique of revolution as the termination and defeat of rupture.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

IOW no plan for actually defeating capitalism & the state

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

I think the implication is actually the inverse of what you just said.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Capitalism and the state have no plan for defeating rupture? Doesn't that imply that they will exist indefinitely?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

"Capitalism and the state have no plan for defeating rupture? Doesn't that imply that they will exist indefinitely?"

No. Learn logic before you pretend to use it.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

not a previous commenter in this thread, but you need to read or re-read writings on rupture because you don't understand it as well as you think you do, to be making snide remarks about logic in this way.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

What comes after the global intifada is a second order issue. I know the suspense is terrible...I just hope it lasts :-)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“We had to organize ourselves. Basically the idea is to defend the revolutionaries.”

By their own words, these guys prove they are not anarchists. Just because people wear black and use blac bloc tactics does not make them anarchists.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

This is good logic, cos as everyone knows, the black bloc is a homogenous grouping, and if one person in a black bloc says something, that means they're speaking for everyone.

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