the thing about people who say that all black bloc are cops is

[ellenrr]

they are so cut-off from reality that they cannot imagine that
yes - Virginaia-
there are people in the US, like there are people all over the world,
who when so-called peaceful means of struggle get nowhere, will engage in so-called violence.
You can think this is a good tactic, or a bad tactic, but to deny that it exists as a modality shows great ignorance, and really it is a shame that people who have such a lack of historical knowledge about this country, as well as the world,
do not educate themselves before they open their mouth.

They must think that the Boston Tea Party was made of up of English undercover agents.
that John Brown was actually a KKK agent.
That Stokely Carmichael was an undercover cop. and so was Malcolm, who called for "by any means necessary".

[Scuba]

1. And to deny that there are infiltrators trying to discredit the protesters is naive.

[Ykcutnek]

2. There will always be a violent element in large gatherings of people.

We just need to accept that, learn not to misappropriate the actions of a few to a whole group, and stop debating it every time it happens.

I think people just get so sick of pearl-clutchers screaming "OMG A BROKEN WINDOW!!!!111" when the majority of the crowd is being peaceful that blaming it on the cops has become a defense mechanism.

[peace13]

4. Not always..

At the anti surge demonstration in the early days of the Iraq war over 500,000 people demonstrated in DC. People of all ages. No violence! It was amazing!

If you find yourself wondering if there are infiltrators near you, check their feet. There are many documented events where the cops show up at peaceful demonstrations wearing their work boots, moving in gangs and wearing street clothes. Check the feet of the first rock thrower and you might be surprised!

[KingCharlemagne]

3. The so-called 'Black bloc' argues that it can use provocation to make

the implicit violence of the system explicit, presumably with an eye toward waking everyone up to the implicit violence of the system.

My problem with anarchism (and its black bloc iteration) is that it proposes no alternative to replace the system it so rightly exposes as the brutal exploitative machine it so clearly is.

I think all revolutionaries have a sacred duty to propose an alternative and a strategy for getting there from here.

[logosoco]

5. Your second paragraph is right on!

Even I have to admit that when the announcement was made here in St. L, there was something very primal in me that was saying "burn it down".
It is like an instinct when one is being beat down by another.
But, then my reasonable brain wakes up and knows, when that happens, EVERYBODY gets hurt, and not so much the target.

I wish I had an answer for "what now".

Watching the peaceful protests, I see love and unity, and I also see each community paying a lot of money for all the extra security. If I was on a town council right now, I would surely be demanding that the police change their tactics, because it is hurting people, and it is now costing money that is needed elsewhere.
But, I don't know if it can be that simple. I know Obama is now talking about changes in racial profiling, but I am not sure that would work for those people who have a rotten soul to begin with!