Peaceful demonstrations in France, Belgium, Spain, and Italy repeatedly turn violent, with the same shadowy figures always in the spotlight: young people dressed in black with masked faces. But who exactly are these black blocs, where do they come from, and why do they pose a danger to social protest movements?

Last weekend, serious riots broke out in France. But demonstrations in Belgium, Spain, and Italy have also gotten out of hand in recent weeks. Barricades were erected, shop windows were smashed, and police officers were pelted with projectiles. In several places, demonstrators dressed in black and wearing masks played a major role.

These are the so-called black blocs. Some groups deliberately seek confrontation with the police and cause destruction. These are images that usually capture all media attention, while the protesters’ original demands fade into the background as a result.

Who are these militant activists, where does their tactic come from, and what do they hope to achieve with it?

The black bloc is not a movement or an organisation, but a protest tactic: identical black clothing and covered faces, so that no one can be recognised. There is a certain degree of organisation, but there is no hierarchical leadership or group structure. Coordination takes place horizontally, through social media and encrypted apps. A security expert compares its functioning to “an orchestra that knows the music so well that it does not need a conductor”.

In France, the number of high-risk black bloc activists is estimated at around 5,000. Their ideological core is increasingly merging with dissatisfied young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This poses a major challenge for the police and protest movements.

The tactic originated in the 1970s and 1980s within the autonomous movements in Italy and West Germany. Activists occupied abandoned factory buildings to create ‘social centres’, places where they lived together and organised outside official institutions.

When the state began forcibly evicting these occupied spaces, armed groups dressed in black emerged to defend them. The black bloc was therefore initially not an end in itself, but a defensive tactic against evictions and violence.

In France, the tactic gained a foothold during the protests against the 2016 labour law. What unites the autonomous activists is a deep aversion to organised resistance. They reject political parties, trade unions, and other organised mass movements. Instead, they opt for spontaneous individualism, sabotage, and a ‘lifestyle’ of resistance.

Their use of violence has a clear ideological dimension: it is directed against the symbols of capitalism and the established political order, which, according to the activists, must be dismantled as quickly as possible. Violence against individuals is strictly forbidden within these far-left ranks – except in cases of physical self-defence or the protection of fellow demonstrators from the police.

They view their actions as a means of radicalising a larger group of demonstrators. Another strategic aim is to expose the ‘true, violent face’ of the state through confrontations and thereby undermine its legitimacy. The fact that their actions often have precisely the opposite effect and, moreover, cause considerable harm to the wider group of protesters, apparently does not bother them.

‘No-Future’ Feeling

Anyone who wants to understand the riots must look at the underlying conditions. Decades of neoliberal policies have eroded the welfare state, with young people particularly affected by disinvestment in education, unaffordable housing, and, for the most vulnerable, few prospects for the future in the labour market.

According to a Brussels protester, “the social contract has been broken”. The boomer generation has had a good life, but the new generation of young people feels that they will be worse off than the previous generation. “Things are going badly with the climate. The no-future feeling among young people is back”, the protester said.

According to Khalid Benhaddou, many young people struggle with that feeling. They no longer believe in the promise that they will succeed in life as long as they work and study hard. Some of these young people are completely alienated, have hardly any connection with society, and feel little responsibility towards the community. Among this group, this leads to “nihilistic extremism”: violence and arson become an outlet for anger over the lack of future prospects.

It is a generation that feels not heard, but abandoned by the political class. The only response it receives from those in authority is harsh repression. Young people see a government that combines state repression with neoliberal reforms and antisocial cuts, but has nothing to offer them.

It is therefore hardly surprising that the French state has lost a large part of its legitimacy over the past decades, especially among the younger generation. President Emmanuel Macron can currently count on the support of barely 17 per cent of the population. The curfew and the banning of demonstrations in France are symptoms of this deeper crisis of legitimacy.

A Gift From Heaven

During the demonstration in France on 17 October, organised by students and people concerned about the cost of living and attended by 800,000 participants, black bloc groups escalated the situation. They erected barricades and attacked symbols of capital, such as Qonto bank offices and a McDonald’s.

On that day, more than three thousand shops were looted and destroyed. The worst attack took place at the historic town hall of Limoges. According to the mayor, this was not a spontaneous action but a well-organised operation: the group had fireworks, mortars, a 200-kilogram battering ram, and various flags with them.

What stood out that day was the remarkable passivity of the riot police, who seemed to give the black bloc free rein in many places. At the same time, the students themselves were treated extremely harshly. Young people are calling for teachers but are met with tear gas instead. In just over two weeks, 8,000 people were arrested, 89 per cent of them children. Over an entire year of Yellow Vest demonstrations, the total was 10,000.

The police also play a significant role in the escalation of violence. During previous movements, such as the Gilets Jaunes since 2018, many previously apolitical people have adopted more radical tactics as a result of excessive police repression. The same has happened during the recent student protests in various cities across Europe. This creates a vicious circle of violence.

But that does not mean this violence can be justified. Vandalising bus shelters or shop windows has no positive impact whatsoever on the system. On the contrary, it leads to even more repression. For advocates of a repressive state and the (far) right, this violence is, in any case, a ‘gift from heaven’. It strengthens their arguments for tougher policing and more repression.

The riots in France have already led to the declaration of a curfew and bans on gatherings. In Belgium, similar violent scenes provided the Minister of Defence with all the ammunition needed to argue for the militarisation of the police.

Moreover, this indiscriminate violence undermines the protest movements and the entire left. The strength of the student and workers’ movement has always lain in its peaceful character and broad appeal. It was a movement in which families with children also felt safe.

Black bloc tactics ruin that image. They enable a handful of rioters to discredit thousands of peaceful demonstrators and undermine the moral authority of the movement. It drives workers away instead of inspiring them.

Throwing stones or smashing windows is not radicalism, but nihilism, born out of demoralisation and a lack of confidence in the ability of the masses to change their fate. True radicalism does not consist of inflicting ‘mosquito bites’ on the system by smashing windows. Profound social change requires political awareness, strong organisation, and perseverance. Not ‘setting everything on fire’ in the hope that others will follow.

As history teaches us, an escalation towards militant resistance can sometimes be justified. But such resistance must have broad support and arise from a well-considered strategy and a gradual process of maturation, not from random violence ‘because it is fun’.

What Is to Be Done?

In France, an unprecedented, albeit loose, alliance emerged between anarchist activists and ‘opportunistic looters’ from the banlieues. The black bloc did not appear to initiate the looting of shops itself, but its violence did create the chaos in which this could happen. Similar phenomena are also emerging in Brussels and other European cities.

This makes the movement increasingly difficult to combat, because its ideologically motivated core is being supplemented by less ideologically driven demonstrators. According to French expert Thierry Vincent, the black bloc is no longer an isolated group of ‘deranged rioters’, but represents the most visible and radical expression of a broader, spreading social anger in France and elsewhere in Europe.

However understandable that anger and ‘nihilistic extremism’ may be, the protest movement must not allow itself to be hijacked by it. The causes for which it takes to the streets are legitimate and important. The protest movement must not allow itself to be intimidated: neither by the harsh repression of the police apparatus nor by the nihilistic violence of the ‘casseurs’.

One possible way forward would be for the protest movement to openly distance itself from violence and to strengthen its own security forces in order to safeguard the peaceful nature of the protest. At the same time, a critical investigation into the police’s actions – in cases of both excessive force and inaction – could help shed light on the events.

If the authorities want to put an end to the indiscriminate violence of the rioters, they will have to go beyond repression, because that is nothing more than treating the symptoms. The social contract and trust in the political class will have to be restored.

But with the current austerity policies in most European countries, precisely the opposite threatens to happen: social inequality and frustration continue to increase, while trust in politics continues to erode. As long as these underlying conditions are not addressed, violence also risks flaring up again and again. But perhaps that is precisely what suits the right.

Marc Vandepitte is a member of the Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity and was an observer during the presidential elections in Venezuela. He is a regular contributor to Global Research. Courtesy

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