Black Bloc anarchist attacks bank window in London protests in March.
It happens over and over again, wherever a successful left-wing protest movement is underway. A peaceful march is going along, and suddenly mysterious black-clad ninja wannabes step out of the crowd and start throwing rocks through windows and throwing rocks, bottles, and firecrackers at police officers. In response, TV news shows only the violence and covers the cause that the protest was about not at all, newspapers print outraged editorials about how violent, vile and despicable left-wingers are, and the majority of people shake their heads and turn on Rush Limbaugh, who, after all, has never thrown a brick through a window.
Is the Black Bloc a COINTELPRO operation? That's certainly a question worth asking. The fact that they show up *only* at left-wing protests, not at any other events that attract crowds, is rather... odd. As is the fact that they show up in geographically far-removed places with no visible means of funding for such widespread travelling. And while the Black Bloc claims to be anarchists, anarchists of my acquaintance have nothing but disdain for the Black Bloc and their tactics, pointing out that smashing the windows of a Starbucks is hardly the same thing as smashing the power structures that anarchists believe must be removed in order to bring anarcho-paradise of voluntary syndics of like-minded people blah de blah.
So asking the question, "who funds the Black Bloc and arranges for them to arrive at left-wing protests" is hardly the odd question it might first seem. They show up in too many unlikely places to be there accidentally and appear to have no agenda other than to cause property destruction and general annoyance to police officers. If they are not paid provocateurs, they certainly behave like such. Note that I'm not saying that the individual members of the Black Bloc are all employees of X (for some mysterious X), but whoever is guiding and influencing them certainly seems to be very successful at generating news stories that discredit left-wing causes and it's certainly a reasonable question to ask, "is this a COINTELPRO operation intended to discredit left-wing causes?". Just sayin'.
Black Bloc is a tactic, not a group. It is a tactic whereby individuals wear black concealing clothing to hide identity and appear as one group. There is no group of anarchist claiming to "be Black Bloc." Do a little homework and see [Link]
The Black Bloc tactic originates from Germany in the 1977 Brokdorf demonstration. Police can certainly use this tactic, and have been caught doing it many times, since it gives them a reason to crack down. But it is not an organization that is funded. Anyone can use this tactic, and it can be done non-violently.
I am pointing this out, because the establishment would like to associate this tactic with violent anarchists, thus rendering it distasteful as a possible tactic. That is unfortunate, because in today's surveillance society, Black Bloc used properly can be very effective.