“They break in the name of an ideology with targeted objectives”
Barricades, a ransacked BMW dealership, the acrid smell of tear gas in the streets of Paris: no doubt, the “black bloc” is back. Tuesday, October 18, these militants dressed all in black, armed with cobblestones and pickaxe handles, reappeared in the Parisian processions of strikers, after having shown themselves on Sunday, at the march against the expensive life of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Who are these tumultuous militants? What do they have in mind? Thierry Vincent, freelance journalist and contributor to Mariannemet a slew of them for his latest book Inside the minds of the black blocks (Ed. L’Observatoire, September 2022), does a written work acknowledge by “morbid and idealistic fascination with the black anarchist”. Maintenance.
Marianne : Why is “black bloc” making a comeback this fall?
Thierry Vincent: He had never really disappeared. Apart from the three years of glaciation due to the Covid, it has reappeared at each major event. On May 1st of 2021 and 2022 quite serious clashes take place. But since 2016 and the labor law where the French-style black bloc emerges in a massive way, it is there at all major social demonstrations.
On October 16 and 18, at the head of the procession in Paris, dozens of these activists sneaked in, hooded, gloved, holding umbrellas and throwing cobblestones in the direction of the police. Among them several ransacked a BMW dealership, a Societe Generale sign… Are they breaking blind?
They don’t break anything. They smash what they designate as being, rightly or wrongly, symbols of capitalism: banks, insurance companies, real estate agencies, fast-food outlets, McDonalds… They will never go after the small grocers in the piece of money. Throughout the course, on Sunday, the cafes remained open. But this “targeted” breakage sometimes goes wrong: I once witnessed a breakage attempt by a Franprix. A black bloc said to me: It is a symbol of mass distribution. “Yes, finally, we will especially piss off the people of the neighborhood… And there were frightened employees behind. But this is an exception.
In your book you make a counter-intuitive distinction between “black blocks” and “thugs”…
But the police do it too. A policeman, whom I quote in the book, explains that the thugs are people who don’t give a damn about the slogan of the mobilization: they go there to take advantage of the chaos, loot or vent their violent impulses. We saw it in 2006 during the anti-CPE processions: gangs from the suburbs, according to the police, attacked young people and stole their cell phones. The black bloc does not loot. It breaks in the name of an ideology with targeted objectives, the relevance of which can be discussed, without attacking the local baker. They do not “infiltrate” as we often hear: they are demonstrators who have a radical and violent mode of demonstration.
How does ransacking certain stores and assaulting police officers come under politics?
When you smash in the name of an idea, or even kill in the name of a political ideology, however bad it may be, it is a political act in the mind of the person who commits it. Breaking up a bank “because it’s a symbol of capitalism” differentiates this act from simple vandalism. It also differs from the mercantile act of stealing. Personally, I am still cautious about the effectiveness of this kind of action in their revolutionary perspective.
How does this harm capitalism?
By blowing up a bank, they don’t bring down capitalism. They know it well. Usually they say it’s symbolic heist. But they also show their radicalism and the existence of a revolutionary challenge, by trying to convince the general public of the misdeeds of capitalism. Except that it actually doesn’t work. They’ll say it’s because of media disinformation… They sometimes try to make an effort to communicate, sometimes with humour. I remember a cash machine exploded: the black block had tagged “Here are your aggios” and“He had swallowed my card”. Then, is it that unpopular? I’m surprised we cry so much over bank windows. I cry more over police officers who may be injured.
Do they break in the name of a constructed ideology or out of pure nihilism?
There is a fringe that falls under hooliganism. Often, they claim to belong to a relatively constructed ideology: anarchism, communism-libertarianism with reference to Rosa Luxembourg, Marxism-Leninism… There are also Maoists in full the comeback, but also situationists, and of course antifa. Their common point is to be revolutionary and to want to overthrow capitalism.
How did they come to participate in a demonstration with weapons and equipment, while the police supervision system often filters the entries?
It’s not always the case. But it is indeed very filtered. They are very smart, otherwise the police would arrest them all. Swimming goggles go in socks. The gas masks are stashed. And often, it is the women who carry this equipment: only being able to be felt by a policewoman, it goes better. Above all, many have very wise looks at the start: polo shirt, shirt, relaxed, clean on them… They even look like little right-wing students well in all respects. Not punks or crooks.
“The members of the Black Bloc remain very ‘white’, which is a problem for them because they see themselves as defenders of the suburbs. »
It’s complicated to search everyone with six subway exits. But, even when everyone is searched, when all street furniture has been removed in anticipation [comme lors des cortèges de gilets jaunes fin 2018 N.D.L.R.] They sometimes have these postman keys that allow you to open buildings. They keep equipment in advance in halls or garbage rooms. I’ve even seen some who rent Airbnbs at 15 to place gear in advance. On the Signal application, they warn each other of excavation sites, which allows them to thwart surveillance. Umbrellas are used to hide, not to be identified. Afterwards, they take off their black clothes, abandon them, and sometimes they burn them, to be sure not to leave any DNA traces.
What is the relationship between these rioters in black with other demonstrators and organizations? Looking good ?
No way ! Trade unions and black bloc are the best enemies in the world. The order service of the CGT formerly prevented them from harming. It’s not friends. Mélenchon, each time, dissociates himself from the violence. But there are not on one side the bad thugs and on the other the nice demonstrators. The border is porous. What defines a black bloc is that it becomes anonymous and dresses in black. Some may belong to the CGT. Obviously the vast majority of demonstrators are not in the Bloc and do not want there to be damage. But this “head procession” does not take action against the advice of all the demonstrators. It’s a minority, but there are people who will provide them. I remember this granny from the GT who applauded the black blocks…
On Sunday and Tuesday, BRAV-M police officers charged the “block” in full action. Over the years, how has the police response to these rioters evolved?
We seem to discover that there is a revolutionary left. If you look at the demonstrations of the 70s, there are pickaxe handles and Molotov cocktails at each demonstration… Before, the maintenance of order accepted a certain violence – a few bank windows were broken – rather than charging into the heap and risk killing one person. This is Oussekine syndrome. Now it’s zero tolerance. The cops are on the side to prevent any bank from being busted. Which is not very smart in my opinion: they are side-by-side with the demonstrators. Very quickly, it can go into a spin.
Who is hiding under the hoods?
Initially, they were more of the middle classes with high cultural capital: the son of a teacher, a show worker, an editor, an actor, a journalist. Lots of students and commuters. Often with politicized parents on the left. Some time it changes a little, we find circles since more popular. These come from football stadiums, they are former “ultras” and hooligans, especially in Paris with the Auteuil tribune. Some come from movements against police violence, for example those who participate in the mobilizations of the Adama committee. The junction with the suburbs is a bit complicated, but it’s starting to happen. It remains very “white”, which poses a problem for them because they see themselves as defenders of the suburbs. And the third channel is yellow vests that have gone from yellow to black.
Can any would-be riot join the black bloc?
Just dress like them. Wearing a North Face raincoat, dressing in black, throwing rocks at the cops, you’re part of the block. So they don’t know each other. There are certainly small affinity groups, informal, more constituted which are prepared upstream, and which are more complicated to penetrate. But there are all the others. I remember this testimony from a black bloc: he said “the guy next to me, I don’t know him, I’ve never seen him, I may never see him again, but I trust him like my brother “.