Chris Hedges Is The Defacto Government Agent Here.

"So, how are we two interpret this 'tale of two Hedges?' Perhaps Maxim Gorky, an intellectual in Russia who supported militant direct action against the state at a time when his fellow intellectuals did not. Against the Tsar, the people fought and toppled the regime, and Gorky wrote incisively, "Nobody in Europe bewailed life so loudly as the Russian intelligentsia. The whole of the intelligentsia was chained to the shackles of the capitalist state, this lifeless and corrupted state that which was poisoning the people. [Now that there is action] the intellectuals languish ... in melancholy and idleness, the remnants of their strength fast vanishing, and at heart regretting only one thing: sitting around a samovar, [as] they waxed eloquent on the subject of the tyranny of autocracy, of their love for the people, and of the inconvenient way in which the universe as a whole is organized." Gorky continues humorously concluding, "And it is likely that if Prometheus himself, having stolen some new fire to light of the secrets of life, appeared to them and interfered with their tea drinking, they would invoke their curses on Prometheus too." http://queertoday.com/profiles/blogs/thank-you-chris-hedges

One thing that Mr. Hedges has probably noticed is that only a tiny fraction of a percent of the eligible 99 % has so far made the choice to actively join the Occupy movement . This is why the matter of that even much smaller group among the Occupiers who choose to express themselves by occasionally smashing things is worth looking at.

One of the previous commenters would have you believe that the people -at- large are not all on board yet because the regular Occupiers aren't confrontational enough. Or maybe , not enough busted cinder blocks have been expressively bounced off enough storefront windows yet by beginning street thespians who think anonymous bad action- art is , like, totally therapeutic, if not inspiring. Especially if you use found materials and don't know what you are doing . Hmmmmm.

I don't know. Here in Detroit, we actually have un-masked , bad artists who have diligently played around for YEARS amidst the vast crumbling physical desolation afforded tourist and residents alike, both broken glass and rage being in over supply and cheaply accumulated as well, but to no visible avail as far as building a stronger resistance movement than anybody else.

I have smashed things before and been seriously smashed by a few crazed cops in the street during a 5 -year labor strike and the first thing had nothing to do with anything but making me feel better for a split milli-second. Didn't inspire anybody. In fact , the smartest people around were KIND enough to insist that I stop being an idiot without first yelling , " Hey asshole... " to get my attention. I never thanked 'em. The second thing, in my experience could only be successfully abated by getting larger and larger crowds of people to show up. That takes organizing .

I believe that's what concerns Chris Hedges, and I agree with him.

The neoliberal and neoconservative status quo in the U.S. is very difficult to please if you are a protester of any sort. The comical part is that the early Tea Party protesters were protesting Obama's bailout of the corporate banks with taxpayer dollars. However, Obama bailed out the banks as GW Bush had first bailed out the banks before Obama. Neoliberals in the media reminded everyone that GW Bush was the first one to bail out the banks, thus making Obama "innocent" as the "lesser evil" copycat of Numero Uno Diablo GW Bush. Eventually the Tea Party was marginalized by the corporate media as "racist" and finally co-opted by the Koch brothers.

Then the Occupy Wall Street movement began in NYC to protest the bailout of the banks by Obama at taxpayer expense, and the connections between Wall Street and the military-industrial complex were additional points of disagreement. The neoliberals in the Obama administration wanted to get a hand on the protests and sent in their Democrat infiltrators to help "guide" the Occupy movement towards a more "positive" direction. The corporate media painted them as mostly homeless hippies and assorted space cadets with a sprinkling of communists mixed in.

The "Black Bloc" of anarchists were around from at least the beginning of the GW Bush regime's invasion of Iraq (2001). The Blac Bloc is opposed to most of the aspects of capitalism that pit people against one another for the benefit of the wealthy corporate elite and generally adhere to anarchist principles (no god, no master, no state). Was lucky enough to be there when some black bloccers jumped on a trolley car and shut down an intersection in SF. Once the police arrived in force the black bloccers had disappeared into the crowd.

Most oppessive governments that hold power with tyranny are deposed by guerilla warfare. That is the unfortunate reality that liberals like Chris Hedges have an ethical problem with, as guerilla warfare involves some degree of violence against the state infrastructure. The "non-violent" resistance of Ghandi to British Imperialism omits historical data that there were more militant activists in the hills of India demolishing British munitions outposts and train lines.

Not just non-violence freed India from occupation;

"Although the British committed many atrocities, one event in 1919 is especially important. At Amritsar, Punjab, about 20,000 demonstrators protesting British rule confronted troops commanded by General Reginald E. H. Dyer in an open space known as the Jallianwalla Bagh. The troops fired on the crowd, killing an estimated 379 and wounding about 1,200. The shooting was followed by the proclamation of martial law, public floggings, and other humiliations. Although the event ended Dyer`s career, the governor of Punjab, Michael O`Dwyer, publicly supported his actions. This event left a permanent scar on Indo-British relations and was the prelude to Mahatma Gandhi`s Non-Cooperation movement.

This event brought about the emergence of many revolutionary Punjabis, including Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh. Many of these Sikhs took a violent road in achieving independence, in stark contrast to the methods of Gandhi.

Bhagat Singh was born into a family of Sikh farmers in the Punjab in 1907. His father, grandfather, and uncle were all politically active, working to achieve reform and independence in India, and Bhagat would soon develop similar ambitions. He grew up in the uneasy aftermath of the Jalianwala Bagh massacre, visiting the site when he was only fourteen. Although he began his political career by printing and distributing pamphlets and newspapers in an effort to raise political awareness in India, Bhagat Singh soon became one of the many Punjabis who elected to drive the British out of India by violent means. In 1928, he shot a British officer as retribution for the beating death of an Indian protestor. Bhagat was eventually arrested, and hanged in 1931.

Born in 1899 in the Punjab, Udham Singh was an eyewitness to the events at Jallianwalla Bagh. That event was a turning point for Udham, who devoted the rest of his life to liberating India. Between 1919 and 1933 he traveled to America, India, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, and Russia, making many contacts with other revolutionaries. He eventually entered England in 1933, determined to execute O`Dwyer. He laid low for seven years, waiting for the perfect, public opportunity in order to gain the most publicity for his cause. He finally succeeded in 1940, shooting O`Dwyer at a public meeting in London. He was hanged later that year. Under interrogation in prison, Udham Singh consistently used the name of Mohammed Singh Azad, even after the police had discovered his real name. This alias, which incorporates three different religions, symbolized that his sacrifice was for all Indians, regardless of their ethnicity or class.

Both Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh became legendary heroes for the Indian people. They were the subjects of countless Bhangra songs, and youth throughout the country idolized them. They went on to become symbols of bravery and the struggle to free India."

http://www.punjabonline.com/servlet/library.history?Action=Bhangra







There was no successful revolution in recorded history on Earth won against oppressive regimes by asking the tyrants nicely to "pwetty please" stop being such mean bullies. Revolution is not always fun and games and Fidel didn't get to take nice long hot showers every night while waiting in the Cuban jungles for his chance to achieve justice for the poor people against the wealthy plantation owners.

Overall my response to Chris Hedges attack on the blac bloc is;

"get a fucking clue bro!"

Chris Hedges has made it very clear that he is for the Occupy Movement because it is a non-violent, non-militant protest. He also makes it clear that when protests become militant, they become just as bad, or worse, than the power they destroy; they become military run dictatorships.

...people here in Fresno, I've found that there was support for the Occupy movement until Occupy Oakland went sideways into violence due to the inept Black Bloc'ers and their ilk. Now, the majority of folks just want the cops or the military to go in and clean OO out. All violence gains ultimately is repression. In that Hedges is absolutely correct.

The very public pulling back of OWS participants disappointed me, too, until I realized that they had gone underground and were starting to organize. Some would say - I would say - you can't really fight the system by living in the system. In order to stay in the park, OWS would have had to turn violent, and there was such diversity of people there, including older people and kids and pacifists - that it may not have been the best tactic at the time. But they have not disappeared.

What seems more promising to me today is not to go around shouting "mic check" and carrying a sign, nor donning black and maybe getting into a confrontation, but disentangling myself from this society, learning a skill I can share and survive with, build local communities and stop paying taxes, turn off the TV, teach children to be critical thinkers, fight in every way I know how for the kind of life I could have without this terrible thing we call "democracy."

Don't be disappointed, but wait and see. I don't think its over yet.

"Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal"

Phil Ochs -
the entire song, and lyrics are here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u52Oz-54VYw

Lloyd - you mention "100s of thousands of dollars squandered". This is the really sad part - esp. in New York, where an operation that could have cost nothing blew $100,000 on the live stream operation - the prima donas and their internal conflicts are too embarrassing to recount. They were more effective before they had money, and their own hierarchic control system - mimicking the social order we hope to criticize effectively.