To look for reasons misses the point

Now that the angry left has moved from the Occupy phase to the Destroy phase, I can’t help feeling unpleasantly nostalgic:

“Oakland Police responded to a late night call that protesters had broken into and occupied a downtown building and set several simultaneous fires,” the statement read. “The protesters began hurling rocks, explosives, bottles, and flaming objects at responding officers. Several private and municipal buildings sustained heavy vandalism. Dozens of protesters wielding shields were surrounded and arrested.”

When I read about the violence in Oakland, I was reminded of the professional anarchist demonstrators who live in and are trained to do these things in Berkeley.

As people in Oakland keep saying they are not from Oakland, I naturally find myself wondering how many of them are from the Berkeley training ground. Not that such a distinction matters greatly, for Oakland and Berkeley are immediately adjoining geographically and overlapping culturally.

But it does trigger feelings of nostalgia.

Oakland police Chief Howard Jordan said that he believes a small group of anarchists is responsible for vandalism that struck five businesses in Oakland Wednesday.

The vandalism occurred at a Whole Foods store and several banks, he said.

Jordan said the police believe about 4,500 people participated in the general strike Wednesday. He said most protesters were peaceful but that about 60 to 70 anarchists, who he said “were bent on creating problems,” caused the vandalism.

He said the anarchists dressed distinctively and wore all-black clothing and handkerchiefs.

Naturally, the good liberals and the establishment left are trying to distance themselves from the “bad” Occupyers, saying they have crossed the line. The Republicans don’t have to do anything except maybe avoid the urge to gloat. As I said before, I think this stuff will resonate with ordinary American voters to the GOP’s benefit in next year’s elections.

By way of “explanation” (if that is the right word) I found a statement from the anarchist faction which struck a familiar chord. They simply do not care what anyone thinks, they are unwilling to negotiate, and they have no demands. They only seek civil war:

What makes the radical contingent of those who inhabit Occupy Oakland so threatening to the social machine is that they have pushed for a refusal of demands, a refusal to negotiate and ultimately a negation of the social relationship that allows the radical contingent to be perceived as being on the same plane as the state.

It is the imperceptible nature of the demandless occupation that makes it toxic towards the current social relationship.
In the refusal to negotiate must also be the refusal to interact in conflict based upon the state’s understanding of the form. This is not the time to stand ground, because what makes us so threatening is that it is not their ground that we want. We do not care about their park, about their city hall. The most incendiary move at this point would be to wait for the police to amass, and then to leave in style.

If you fight them militarily you will lose, there is no doubt about that.

It is not a military war we are involved after all, is it?

This is civil war.

What makes our amoral position so useful is that we value nothing. We do not have a front line to attack, because all that can be considered valuable, be it mystified property or luxury cars can be turned into our weapons, and then abandoned on a moment’s notice. Their Mercedes can quickly become our $80,000 barricade, and we do not blink an eye.

The occupation was not worthless, it was useful, it has been used.
Discard their real estate and find the appropriate moment to skilfully exit.

It is the only way in which this can be called a victory.

After all, all they’ll have is their rat infested park back.

How utterly familiar it is. Such a mindset was one of the things I found so frustrating when I served on the Berkeley Police Review Commission. The job of the professional anarchist demonstrators was simply to be unreasonable, disruptive. The police review process itself was seen as the enemy. It is impossible to reason with, debate, or even have dialogue with such a mindset. They know it, and they are proud of it.

I’d say they almost make Communists look reasonable, except I think that may be the whole idea.

UPDATE: Via Glenn Reynolds,

“I like to say that we are a social experiment in chaos, and it’s working.”

Cap and drill. (Or something like that.)