A friend of mine brought this article to my attention earlier today. For a few days, I'd just brushed it off as a normal WCW bullshit rally announced on Indymedia. Nothing new.

She was considering doing a callout for a black bloc on that day. Since black blocs are usually reactionary in nature and the October 5th rally didn't even really have a set target, I was a little wary.

I offered to write up the callout for her nonetheless and became confused. What would the reaction to the callout be? We'd agreed to call it "FUCK PASSIVE POLITICS" but in that we meant that we were going to do something.

At first I didn't want to make it seem as if we were against the people who were passively holding signs. Everyone knows that anarchism and statism clash; everyone knows that the idea of true freedom and the abolishment of two-party systems (or any system) is the main point behind anarchism. Black bloc = Anarchist protest tactic.

So why was I holding back so much of what was already true? Why was I censoring myself and the ideas of a comrade purely because of an approach that has been taken way too often? Why did we want it to appear as if we are showing solidarity with a group that was against the points that held the great possiblity that is anarchism behind barricades?

Perhaps at some point someone thought that it would work if we could mix with all the groups that were as angry as we were (or close to it). Perhaps this was some attempt to spread a message or keep things on peaceful terms.

The point is that it doesn't make sense to sit by idlely as nothing is done simply because it doesn't seem like the time to do something. Some of us may be waiting until things get "bad enough", but the truth is that things ARE bad enough. What's going on in the U.S. right now would be enough to throw any other country into riots.

Energy prices have been raised. We're being spied upon. They're closing the borders and deporting our fellow humans. Hate groups are being protected as progressive ones are being harrassed.

Among all of that, there is:
- A class system.
- Homelessness.
- Rulers and the ruled.
- Corrupt businessmen.
- Families without food.
- War.
- Poverty.

And then I think, conspiracy theory or not, the left wing groups that organize these sign-holding protests are just holding us all back and making it look as if we are starting to change something. In 2008, a democrat will be elected and that party will be pacified for another four years. In those four years, everyone will forget they ever stood for anything.

What happened to standing for what you stand for, regardless of the price? I guess this is what happened to radicalism in the United States after the 1990's. Please don't tell me that active activism died when Rage Against The Machine did.

On to more pressing matters...
What is it going to take to get the ball rolling again? When are we going to stop pretending that there is some hidden way to make everything okay and that we'll find it in the end if we just wait? Black bloc means action. That brings me back to my friend's idea.

If I were to put in a callout for a black bloc on October 5th, there would no doubt be a backlash from some of the community, but for the rest of them:

Fuck Passive Politics black bloc
October 5th
Grant Park
Noon
Whatever happens, happens.