my names Harsha,
um, id like to start by acknowledging we're gathered here
on unceded occupied Coast Salish Territory,
Burrard, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Sḵwxwú7mesh land.
And thank you to the organizers for hosting this discussion.
Um, i have to admit, in terms of this debate,
i know its been going on for a week,
but ive only just read all the facebook mesages,
and all the emails that are floating around this morning,
as i was trying to prepare my thoughts,
so im really frustrated and really angry to be quite honest.
Um, and im not gonna be kind of engaging in esoteric generalizations about diversity of tactics,
because i think just that very starting point is problematic,
and ill explain why.
So ill try to be as specific as possible,
um, about what happened on saturday,
um, and what the organizing of that looked like,
so that we can be as specific as possible
rather than generally making you know
huge generalizations about diversity of tactics.
Um, i want to locate myself within this dialogue first.
i dont personally engage in black bloc tactics,
but as a long time community organizer
and as a woman of colour
i want to stand in full and firm support of diversity of tactics,
and in solidarity with those who do,
and particularly those who are facing police repression,
um, during this time.
i did march on february 13th, um, in the Heart Attack demonstration,
with other members of No One Is Illegal,
which as people know is a collective of predominantly people of colour,
and non biologically male identified members,
and in communication with other affinity groups,
which included the Indigenous Environmental Network,
some Downtown Eastside elders,
the Pink Clowns,
two members of whom were arrested,
and StopWar.ca
While i cannot speak for the personal motivations and intentions
of those who engage in black bloc tactics,
i think the distance that i do have from those tactics
is somewhat useful in this debate.
Firstly because theres this idea
that only those who engage in black bloc actions support black bloc tactics.
And this is an attempt to marginalize and isolate our comrades,
which i hope my presence and the presence of others here will counter.
Secondly, theres a dichotomy that is being created between
so-called community day-to-day organizing, and insurrectionary actions.
Critics of this past saturday have made false digs about the lack of organizing
and commitment to movement-building by anarchists.
i am a self-identified anarchist.
There are countless examples,
but one that i will provide that is current is the Olympic Tent Village
because its being thrown around a whole lot in the context of this debate.
Um, as people know, the Olympic Tent Village is happening right now at 58 West Hastings,
on a Concord Pacific lot thats currently being leased out by VANOC.
And a anarchist, self-identified anarchist, members who engage in black bloc actions
have put in countless hours.
And by countless hours, i mean 16 hour days,
to contribute to the tent village.
That includes graveyard shifts to do security,
and this might, um, be a surprise to someone,
but that includes de-escalation with law enforcement,
which the black bloc is completely capable of doing;
construction, cooking, and cleanup of the site,
under the leadership of DTES residents and elders.
So i want to take a moment here to thank everyone,
particularly black bloc, and black bloc identified anarchists
who are supporting the DTES tent village.
As someone who is on the site over 20 hours a day,
i can say that sadly the same cannot be said to be true
of those who appear to be strategically utilizing actions like the tent city
and debates about movement-building.
Finally, one of the --
im talking generally here--
finally, one of the criticisms of the black bloc tactic
is that it is undertaken by predominantly white males
and therefore inherently oppressive,
is inherently opporessive to women of colour,
and indigenous women in particular.
As a woman of colour with a myriad of precarious systemic barriers
including legal status and health,
and i can only speak for myself,
but i can say that the black bloc tactic does not in itself oppress me,
or render me more vulnerable in protests.
So id appreciate it if other white men did not make such pronouncements on my behalf,
or decide what would keep me safe.
And perhaps instead they can focus
on their own organizational and personal patterns of dominance and privilege.
So that being said, i want to make 10 quick points
on the black bloc.
First of all, the black bloc is a tactic.
Like any other tactic, it cannot be judged in itself,
but can only be judged as part of a spectrum of a much broader movement,
and as part of a spectrum of tactics that we all engage in.
Um, the black bloc has various utilities,
both defensive and offensive.
I think one point thats often missed,
is the defensive strategies around the black bloc.
As people know, a lot of black bloc activity which predates the Heart Attack action,
going back to the '70's and '80's in Europe,
includes really important actions including de-arresting comrades,
and the very basic principle of "no comrade left behind",
that we do not leave people in the police lines
and decide to flee,
and for that the black bloc is deeply courageous,
and i think the idea that they are simply testosterone driven,
um, is a smear tactic that i dont think we can buy into,
because from my perspective,
whether or not i choose to engage in black bloc actions and black bloc activities,
the fact that there are comrades who are willing to stand in the front lines,
and defend other comrades is deeply courageous and absolutely demands our support.
In terms of issues, just realted to that,
i want to quote Barbara Eherenheich,
who suggests that one of the biggest utilities of the black bloc
is it really "breaks the heavily ritualized nature of modern civil disobedience".
And when we talk about tactics,
we have to be able to gauge black bloc tactic amongst many other tactics.
So the fact that other tactics may or may not be more effective
does not in itself render the black bloc tactic any less effective.
I think thats important to state.
Um, because its all been reduced to whether window smashing is effective or not,
and i think that as a starting point is fundamentally problematic
because this movement is about more than window breaking,
and is also about window breaking.
In terms of the protest tactic of the black bloc,
um, i want to touch on a second point,
or sorry, i want to finish on that point in terms of the black bloc tactic and the mask,
because Derrick brought up specifically
a point of anonymity.
And i think that the fact that people are anonymous
in not simply,um, unique to the black bloc,
as we know, people don masks around the world,
probably the most romanticized of which is the Zapatistas,
um, yknow, and if we're going to be able to have solidarity with global struggles,
we have to understand that the reasons for wearing a mask are the same,
whether its in Chiapas, in Palestine,
or its the black bloc on our streets.
State surveillance, and state policing
particularly in the context of the olympics,
where people have had visits by the vancouver integrated security unit,
means that people need to protect themselves.
To me, the black bloc is not anonymous,
it's a tactic,
and the members of the black bloc are people that are known to me,
if people want to come down to tent village,
youll prbably meet many of them.
Um, my 2nd point that i want to make in terms of the black bloc,
and i wont spend much time on it, cuz i dont think theres much debate here,
and that is if the black bloc engages in violent tactics.
and you know, the only response ir eally care to make to that,
is that we're asking the wrong side the question about violence.
If we're going to talk about violence,
we need to be talking about corporate sponsors,
we need to be talking about the state,
we need to be talking about the military,
we need to be talking about the police
who daily commit violence on people.
As far as we know, not a single individual, and not a single animal
has been harmed in black bloc tactics.
What has been harmed is lifeless windows.
Ok?
So lets be very clear about what we talk about violence
before we start to perpetuate mainstream media rhetoric about violence,
and play into and feed into our enemys rhetoric.
The 3rd point, and ive already talked about this,
and that is that all tactics should be judged from the same starting point.
And i think this is for me the crux of the argument.
For me, its not that black bloc tactics in specific contexts are immune from criticism.
If people have criticisms about the 13th that are involved in organizing--
i need water, im really worked up--
If people have criticisms about the 13th,
then lets talk about specific criticisms,
but all that we have seen
is a general denunciation of property destruction.
And as far as im concerned every tactic is immune to criticism,
that includes if we're gonna have mass rallies,
where politicians are given a free stage to speak,
despite their daily obscenities and the daily violence that politicians in this government
are responsible for.
We can talk about the fact that, you know, symbolic rallies once a year are equally ineffective.
So if we're going to talk about ineffectiveness,
we need to be able to have the same starting point for every single tactic.
And from everything that ive seen,
we dont have these debates.
im thankful for this debate,
but the next time that theres a rally at the vancovuer art gallery
appealing for a national housing strategy,
lets talk about its effectiveness, right?
Lets not condemn it, let's talk about its effectiveness.
And i think thats important to state,
because everything that is happening in terms of denouncing black bloc tactics
relies on simplistic characatures about what it means.
All it relies on is these characatures of white, young, males who are hooded in black
and go around and smash shit.
And black bloc tactics is so much more than that,
this is a strategy that is part of a movement.
Um, and we cant romanticize or generalize either way, right?
So tactics can be effective,
they can be ineffective,
but inherently they are neither.