Karen Beck of MoveOn says she will call the police on #Occupy if their actions upset her

[starroute]

122. Even if you disapprove of the black bloc, calling the cops on them is not the answer

I'm not sure how well I can explain this, but you can't both fight the system and depend on the system to pull your coals out of the fire for you. It's not just a contradiction in terms -- it's ultimately self-defeating. It's one of those "first they came for the communists and I said nothing" situations. By relying on police repression, it validates police repression.

Instead, Occupy needs to be self-policing. I don't know exactly how that could be done -- it's something they're going to have to figure out as they go. Since much of the property damage takes place at night, after the major events, perhaps having more people hang around after dark would help. Or there may be other alternatives.

I'll be the first to agree with you that violence is a problem Occupy needs to deal with. It's not just that it drives away well-meaning middle-aged ladies. It also drives away women in general by fostering macho attitudes. It destroys the transparency that is essential to direct democracy by creating a need for secrecy.

But on the other hand, I've seen suggestions recently that focusing on civil disobedience as a tactic can create the same problems. It may even be worse than black bloc violence, since it tends to become the centerpiece of the movement and excludes anybody who feels they can't afford to get arrested.

On balance, I would say that I do believe Occupy needs to adopt less confrontational tactics. But at the same time, it needs to be revolutionary rather than reformist in its ultimate goals. This means it cannot compromise with the existing system of privilege and coercion. It cannot reinforce that system in any way but needs to demonstrate the system's irrelevance by demonstrating that it is possible to operate effectively outside it.

And it needs to be very, very wary of anyone who might reduce the purpose of the movement to merely petitioning the system for minor cosmetic tweaks.