black block

   

        black block  is a tactic for protests and marches where individuals wear blackclothing, scarves, sunglasses, ski masks. The tactic was developed in the 1980s in the European autonomist movement's protests against squatter evictions, nuclear power and restrictions on abortion among other things. Black blocs gained broader media attention outside Europe during the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations, when a black bloc damaged property of GAP, Starbucks, Old Navy, and other multinational retail locations in downtown Seattle.

      January 2013, on the second anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution, black blocs made an appearance in the Egyptian political scenes where they have reportedly attacked various Muslim Brotherhood headquarters and government buildings and stopped traffic and metro lines in more than 8 cities.  According to the conventional wisdom, the Egyptian Black Bloc models itself on anti-establishment, anarchist groups in Europe and the U.S. .  A group of young protesters, who identified themselves as the "Black Bloc", have marked the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution by blocking the tramway tracks in Alexandria on Friday. Egyptian Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah ordered the police and armed forces to arrest any member of the Black Bloc, pointing out that the group was carrying out "terrorist activities and is considered under the new Constitution and a government composed by a democratically elected president as an anti-democratic violent radical left-wing outlaw group.

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Samar Ahmed

Posted in: TNT magazine