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Prague Black Bloc Women Speak Out!

MOLLY MAYHEM (fwd) | 10.11.2000 23:23 | Prague/IMF/WB | World

Molly gives us a piece of her mind on some of the reaction to the events in Prague s26.

poster adds: I too was pretty disappointed with some meetings back in the UK after the momentous events of Prague. But I have had some very good positive meetings as well. I guess some may be offenened by Molly but it is good people tell it like they feel.


MISSIONARY IMPOSSIBLE: HAS THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT
COMPLETELY LOST THE PLOT?

When I got back from Prague I was expecting (it now appears naively) the British anarchist movement to be in a state of euphoria because of the IMF summit prematurely disbanding due to the black bloc violence.
I was therefore a tad shocked to face the current state of the majority of anarchist opinion: No feelings of being inspired by the truly wonderful sight of 5,000 black clad anarchists marching together
through the streets of Prague, accompanied by a black clad band (with not a Trot paper seller or fluffy in sight); no applause for the bravery and heroism of these anarchist fighters - the ones who courageously stuck it out at the very front amidst the tear gas,
water cannons and police violence; no seeing it as a victory for us (the demonstrators) that the IMF delegates were shit scared and did fuck off home early; and certainly no mention that it actually was
the violence that brought the summit to an early end.
So what reaction do we get from the majority of our anarchist comrades on home soil? Every fucking post Prague meeting I've been to has been full of wingeing middle class fluffies droning on about the violence "spoiling it" for everyone (oh, you naughty black clad
anarchists), about people with "mohicans" (do this lot all read the Daily Mail?) damaging shops fronts and then legging it and not getting nicked (since when has hanging around making a martyr of yourself been a virtue?), and spreading sensasionalist lies about the black blockers being agents provocateurs. The fluffies confide in us that the Czech riot cops they'd spoken to on the demonstration said they were
scared and would rather be drinking in a bar (sighs of sympathy please), and then go on to list the torture and terrible treatment arrested demonstrators are being subjected to in Czech prisons by these same cops. I'm sorry, my pacifist friends, there seems to
be a little confusion here: we're being asked to feel sorry for some cops because they'd rather be swigging a few beers who then brutally arrest a load of demonstrators and then batter the fuck out of them.
The Czech cops are fascist announce the fluffies to
their attentive audiences at post Prague meetings, sounding shocked and personally hurt at this sudden revelation (never thought of that one, had you chums - cops fascist, no, can't believe it - surely some
mistake...). So, can someone please explain this to me: What's the sudden problem with fighting fascists?
I always thought that was what we were meant to do! Imagine the situation in the Spanish Civil War if a load of rainbow clad middle class idiots had surrounded the anarchists chanting "no violence, no
violence" - do you think this would have put the anarchists in a moral dilema as to whether or not to fight back?? I somehow fucking doubt it. So has the anarchist movement suddenly become totally divorced from reality, or what?!

The fluffy sisters seem to have a major problem with me supporting violent actions because I'm a woman.
Well girls, its a bit like this see: I don't go along with the dictates of patriarchy which say that as a woman I should be submissive and passive. Women and men are attacked daily by the aggressive forces of capitalism, so why should only the men fight back? Why whould women suppress their anger and act as victims? Capitalism is violent and therefore can only be destroyed by a violent revolution. To not fight back is to condone the brutality of capitalism.

What does worry me about these fluffy women is their similarity to the missionaries of old - their christian feelings of worthiness fulfilled by helping the poor and needy in the third world, saving them from Satan-like capitalism. The poor are victims to
be pitied, and they can rescue them by their self-righteous sermonising. And needless to say, as with the missionaries of yesteryear, our pathological pacifist sisters also deplore swearing and the consumption of alcohol (only suitable for "fallen"
women no doubt). Their view of how we react to police violence is that we should passively accept it - lying down, a demure smile on our faces, thinking only of capitalism. Well, fuck you sisters, I'm not going to be dictated to by your tedious moralistic victorian
shite! Is it any wonder there's not a proletarian face amongst them, what working class woman could relate to all that load of bollocks?

There were these maniacal-looking middle-class american women in Prague who had managed to self-elect themselves as workshop "leaders" and spokespersons for us all. For anyone who didn't have the experience of beholding these women with their own eyes, or speaking
to any of them: - believe me, they were totally utterly fucking bonkers! They all had these glazed intent staring eyes and would rock backwards and forwards clutching their heads between their hands if
anyone disagreed with them - so painful for them that anyone should question their dictates on non-violent behaviour. They gave the impression of being very way-over-the-top therapists, but it wouldn't surprise me if one day it all came to light they were CIA
plants. They are truly grotesque examples of pacifism racing around the arena of the insane. I just wish I knew what the fuck we could do to make them go away - those mad staring eyes still haunt me on a dark
night... If they make another Psycho film, I suggest Norman Bates dresses up as one of these women - ten times scarier than his mother!

And as for those fluffy men... I've had several experiences (over the last couple of years and post Prague) where I've been either at meetings and let my feelings be known about fluffy tactics, or on
demonstrations where my attire and lack of billowing colourful trousers have given my allegiences away, and been subjected to amazingly aggressive and violent behaviour (both verbal and physical) from these peace loving boys, with a load of misogynist insults no man
on the left would dare utter in public! Interestingly, on the occasions when the testosterone peace squad have tried to have a pop at me at meetings, the male comrades I've been with have been
left alone or ignored, while Mr Pentup Pigfucker rants and raves at me like a demented squaddy. Some analysis here anyone? There's obviously a lot of stuff these boys have to keep a lid on if they're not allowed to express their anger. And I do wonder (not
voyeuristically of course!) what must go on in the bedrooms of our fluffy comrades - very little I imagine, with their repressed puritanical victorian attitudes. The foreplay probably consists of
following what the likes of George Plummy-Monbiot, Chelsea Overpriviledged-Mozem and Starhawk Recycled-Tampon dictate is wholesome and suitable enough for their tribe of worshippers (forget the stocking and suspenders folks), followed by a lengthy
discussion about what you can do between the sheets that doesn't constitute an act of violence (no orgasm or penetration for you tonight dear...). And there'd be no arguing about it as arguments are surely an act of violence as well.

I'm sick to death of the lot of them. They get in the way and intrude, and they're so fucking precious, swanning around with those ridiculous serene smiles on their faces, pitying the rest of us for not attaining their heights of saintliness. The anarchist movement
is now swarming with the scumbags. Its been taken over by these moralistic middle class fucking nuisances with their god bothering tactics. Why the fuck they call themselves anarchists beats me. Since
when has boring the pants off people preaching about not fighting cops been an excuse for calling yourself an anarchist? One of the fluffies' more irritating habits (apart from having ever been born) is trying to enforce their compulsory code of non-violence by going
round ripping peoples' face masks off during demonstrations, with the posessed fervour of witchfinder generals driving the demons out. Well,
I'd like to rip their fucking halos off their sanctimonious heads and shove them up their well-bred arses. My only hope is that in a year or so they'll all have moved on to yuppy careers, lecturing in social studies or full-time therapists or counsellors.
Or maybe, just maybe (and this is my fantasy) they'll all indulge themselves in a mass suicide pact somewhere in mid America, and move on from this horrible world that's so full of bad language, people
who behave in a bawdy fashion, and people who believe in fighting back rather than sitting around singing stupid folk songs and protecting Nike shops. I mean really, isn't the idea to fight capitalism, not protect - or have I been missing the point all these
years.

MOLLY MAYHEM.

MOLLY MAYHEM (fwd)
- e-mail: mollymayhemuk@yahoo.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

thanks!

11.11.2000 06:32

molly, right on. 'no violence' keeps everybody in their seats - if we had to rely on that nothing would ever move...

ha!
mail e-mail: x@abc.nl


nice, but...

12.11.2000 03:52

good rant, nice ideas, unfortunately flawed in reality

the fact is you wouldn't get 10,000 people turning up if they were all anarchists, you might get 100, but they'd all be too shit scared of the 20,000 pigs that have been denied leave to conquer this momumental threat to society

its the peaceful protesters that stop the demonstrations being a bloodbath, and stop the police who are much *much* better armed than any anarchist group from steaming in attacking anyone they see

i think the anarchists have little option but to stick with the so-called fluffies now, since any protests with purely anarchistic motives would surely be crushed by the police

may i suggest to any anarchists reading that you carry out your merc bashing and mcdonalds trashing while nobody is watching...

the people are not going to revolt, and i think most people in this movement are not strong enough in their beliefs to really fight to end capitalism

maybe that time will come but this is no simple revolution, people seem to be happy enough with the world and its miseries, and until people can see better, the real battles will remain underground

good luck.

no
mail e-mail: kissmyass@fuckyou.com


Any means necessary

12.11.2000 16:33

That's a little pessimistic, but it raises a good point. We can't afford to take a hard line attitude. Labelling all pacifists as "fluffies" won't help, because non-violent civil disobedience undoubtedly helps our cause, and it's the right of anyone not to get involved in more radical methods of resistance if they don't want to.

Obviously, idiots who try to stop other activists from damaging corporate property or resisting the police shouldn't be welcome at protests. They're the ones who are divisive, by excluding dedicated activists from our movement.

Special message for George Monbiot: FUCK OFF.

Lemming
mail e-mail: lemming@grandtheftcyber.com
- Homepage: http://www.grandtheftcyber.com


Who are the 'fluffies'?

12.11.2000 17:11

'Fluffies'

The way I use the word fluffy. I believe 'fluffy' first entered the activist vocabulary in 1994 during the campaign against the 1994 criminal justice bill, that brought together various groups in opposition. A leaflet was put out in the name of a umbrella organisation of opposition to the CJB called the Freedom Network, called 'keep it fluffy', in run up to October demo (just before bill got royal assent and became an act). It called on its supporters to identify 'troublemakers' to the police, by spraying them with purple paint. Freedom Network stewards had removed peoples balaclarvas outside downing street at 2nd big anti CJB demo in July.
This lead to people getting sentences of 3 months. It is unclear to me as the Freedom Network had little internal democracy, how much this represented the views of those involved. Anyway it led to the sidelining of the group.
Several leaflets was put out in response called keep it spiky. Some of these equaled the opposite view to the keep it fluffy one as anti pacifist. Which has confused things ever since.

Movement Against the Monarchy have put out a anti fluffy sticker, which was available in Prague, and I was happy to see stuck up. But a leaflet by them seems to go beyond slagging fluffies/ soft cops to a general attack on pacifists and 'hippies'. It is unhelpful to confuse the issues.

Those who believe in NVDA as a tactic or are even pacifists, it they want to adopt the fluffy badge would be wise to make it clear what there position is in relation to original 'keep it fluffy' statement. There are debates to be had between us but they should be had between us, not with the cops.
It good to see many people who believe in NVDA realising they have to distance themselves from the soft cops if they are to be persuasive that NVDA is way forward, or has bigger role to play. ( http://web.archive.org/*/http://www.satyagraha.org ) It is good to see groups supporting all s26 prisoners. Anything less is
siding with the cops.

So basically in my eyes a fluffy is a soft cop, (aka by label peace police). I do not use the term for pacifists, or just people who believe in tactic of NDVA in suitable situations. For me the fluffy vs. spiky debate is not the same as violence vs. non violence (which I believe is a false debate) or the debate over what tactics best, and how these tactic complement each other or now. Fluffies feel people should behave in a certain way (which is difficult without training). For example I once attended a meeting a few years at the Big Green Gathering which was discussing RTS street parties which had 'all wellcome' flyers and no end time on flyer, yet despite this fluffies (none of whom were involved in organising the street parties) at this meeting felt people who stayed on the street in the evening when the police asked them to move where troublemakers who should be forcible removed (doing the polices job), in order to avoid bad publicity of the confrontation when the police.
They were arrogant to assume their views on how people should behave were given, and took on the role to punish the 'troublemakers'. Luckily these sort of fluffies have disappear mainly because if they had not the movement would not have had a chance of growing.

This is in contrast to a group like Trident Ploughshares
 http://www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/ ) who realise that being 'Non-violent' needs to be taught, it can not be expected of people. There definition of violence is only against living creatures, but in there material they consider if psychic damage can be self inflicted by aggressive activity against objects, but do not confuse this with actual violence. So they produce booklets and videos saying what they believe, they ask everyone working under their banner and attending there blockades of Faslene Navel Base to attend workshops before and sign a pledge that includes clear explicate rules. So if one wants to bring alcohol, avoid arrest (TPers believe on should be responsible for ones actions which they interpret as explaining oneself to a
sheriff in court ) etc. on an action one should choose other events to be involved with.

I can't though see how this could be applied to a mass action reacting to a one day a year event. On Indymedia a comment stated that people betrayed INPEGs rules, but I was never asked to agree to them at any point in fact. I modified them on INPEG leaflet I carried on the day, mainly because they were not clear; by saying violence against property they could mean violence against animals and slaves (which was not relevant to the day), or wanting to abolish property which as an anti capitalist I do. S26 day of action was I though anti capitalist day of action which is what I participated in.
INPEG being liberal I did not involve myself with, except as a source of information. There is a slight issue with damage to property that people near to act can be put in far and alarm which is a mild form of violence, in my eyes. When someone trys to break down my door, I consider them violent. I heard people were cleared away before Macdonald was trashed by a group on way to Namesti Miru (though footage of event did not seem to fit with this), in contrast to other Macdonalds trashings. To a certain extent different blocks had different expectations, but it is not as laid down.

For peoples information the police were hitting, robbing and dumping outside Prague s26 activists they arrested on Monday 25th and similar before, when no police had been injured. Would the police have treated some people better in days after if there colleges had not been injured on Tuesday 26th. I am not sure, alot of the brutality was routine but some of the worse abuse was due to coppers being wound up after seeing news, but they may have been just as angry in a NVDA crowd had won against them and occupied the centre, as if they had been injured.

There is a debate to be had about tactics which is not the same for me as fluffy vs. spiky debate. Whereas I see many of both NVDA and Confrontational activists as comrades. both groups can be gutsy. Fluffies are clearly on side of the cops, they go even beyond being grasses to doing polices work for them. The tactical debate should not dominate over other debates such as nature of the problems. But nor should it be dismissed with stating that it distracts from the issues (those who say this generally then spend there time discussing tactics rather than issues), or that everyone can do what they want so no need for debate (which is bad logic). I guess even those who brought the petrol to siege of the IMF/WB conference who have been unhappy if activists had brought along automatic firearms and used them in an offensive way.

I have seen statements from MST in Brazil that they will occupy land armed with machetes but not firearms. But there are photos of them with someone with a machine gun. The situation leads to a different tactical debate.

Black Dog
-
This was written for an s26 list in response to desires to adopt fluffie label by one list participent.

Black Dog
mail e-mail: blackdog1926@yahoo.co.uk


Agreed

13.11.2000 17:11

I agree. Liberal nonsense got us to where we are today. Violence is part of the capitalist system, and damage to property is in no way violence. It is a liberal assumption to give 'property' the same rights as humankind.

Proudly Illiberal.

ZeroZero
mail e-mail: zerozero@pcworks.demon.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.pcworks.demon.co.uk


Its all very good but...

14.12.2000 10:29

Lots of truth in Mollys article about how annoying liberals can be.
However there is absolutely no point in attacking each other at the moment. Without 10,000 `fluffies` in Prague the demo would have been entirely different. Without Xthousand Black Bloc the demo would have been entirely different....and so on.
As for attacking people like Monbiot - he may be very fluffy, fluff-dried even - but his work is statistical ammunition, like Chomsky and so on, to take on right wingers if you ever get on radio/TV/argue in the street and so on.
I'd say to everyone do your own thing, work with people you like, there are enough about but avoid attacking each other, its a classic mistake of everyone on the non-right bitching about each other in public.
Wait until we've won. Be disciplined.

Adam Porter

Adam Porter
mail e-mail: yearzero@flashmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.yearzero.org


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