Of course, it goes without saying, the Black Bloc also sucked at the #G20

I've spent a great deal of time chastising the politicians and police and have left the black bloc mostly alone recently. That's primarily because lobbying the black bloc doesn't do much good - we don't vote for them and they're not paid to protect us. I will point out though, for those in the 'support the police' camp and others that I don't support the black bloc - neither do most who protested during the G20. My first comment on the G20 was an appeal to the black bloc not to bring violence to Toronto.

That I don't like the black bloc does nothing to justify the actions of police who allowed the black bloc to rampage, and then attacked everyone indiscriminately for 36 hours after. The black bloc though does bear some blame for how things went. Their tactics and approach are cowardly and do nothing to advance any cause at all. Many of them believe that they stand for something, which I'll get to in a moment, but whatever message they are trying to convey is lost in the damage they do and the violence that inevitably follows.

If you honestly believe in something you do not feel the need to hide your face. Many of the heroes of the left, internationally, have gone to prison for their beliefs and have done so with their head held high. Additionally, while it can be noble to put your safety at risk for something you believe in, there is nothing noble about putting the health and safety of others at risk without their consent.

How are we even supposed to take you seriously when you hide behind a mask, put others at risk, and attack mom & pop shops in the name of whatever message you are trying to spread? (The message, as I've said, is completely lost.)

The whole 'diversity of tactics' line is also bullshit. Organizers claim that they respect a 'diversity of tactics' when working with people who plan to engage in violence and vandalism. Are you really so desperate for supporters that you're willing to ally yourselves with groups who will put the safety of everyone who comes to your demonstration at risk? Who promise to drown out any message you try to convey in an orgy of fire and broken glass? If so I hope that people have the common sense to stay away from your events. If you want to earn public support hold your event and tell the black bloc to stay away. Even if your group is smaller for it it will have more of an impact, your message will at least be heard.

One final point. The black bloc are equated with anarchists. I do not believe that all of the people responsible for the vandalism in Toronto were anarchists. I suppose that anyone who wants to can become an 'anarchist' on the spot - not alot of rules as I understand it. But it seemed to me like many of those doing the damage just wanted to break some glass and maybe score a free cell phone.

At any rate anarchists, as I understand it, want to tear down borders and governments and have an equal government with democratic local rule from the bottom up. Did you get that from the burning cars? Neither did I, I looked it up. Noble though some of their goals may be many of them could be achieved democratically, if they could convince enough people we could have smaller, more local, more transparent and accountable government with more empowered citizens. That would actually have a great deal of resonance - but no one is going to hear that from someone in a mask holding a brick.

Actual anarchy, where no one is accountable to anyone else and is free to do as they please won't work of course. If you managed to get rid of greed, lust, corruption, deceit and any tendency toward violence we might achieve it - but we're not anywhere close to that.

At any rate I wanted to take a moment and make sure that people understand that I and most of Toronto condemn the black bloc before returning to criticizing the police and our so called leaders. Had the police decided to engage the black bloc when they were rampaging they would have gotten nothing but cooperation from most demonstrators, and the vast and overwhelming majority of Toronto would now be helping them find any who got away - sadly they didn't and they are now turning to the public to ask for help. It is too bad that they are doing this after they have burned the trust of most of the eye-witness' to what happened.

It is also not helping that they have no comment on this guy - one of the chief instigators of the violence. Police refuse to comment on him and he is not on their wanted list.