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Sunday Night Riot, Vandalism of Oregon Historical Society Met With Widespread Condemnation, Criminal Charges - Willamette Week

Louis Proyect
 

Ahmed White, the African-American law professor and author of a great book on the Little Steel Strike, posted the link below with the following comment:

I spent some days at the Oregon Historical Society, a few years back, doing archival research on the Industrial Workers of the World. The union's members could have taught today's protesters a lot about what it means to be radical, and even more about exploitation and the state's capacity for repression. They had their grievances and a definite penchant for militancy, these "Wobblies," but they never tried to burn down a library.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/10/12/sunday-night-riot-vandalism-of-oregon-historical-society-met-with-widespread-condemnation-criminal-charges/
Mark Lause
 

Again. I'd urge caution about who's actually doing this.


On Tue, Oct 13, 2020, 2:30 PM Louis Proyect <lnp3@...> wrote:

Ahmed White, the African-American law professor and author of a great book on the Little Steel Strike, posted the link below with the following comment:

I spent some days at the Oregon Historical Society, a few years back, doing archival research on the Industrial Workers of the World. The union's members could have taught today's protesters a lot about what it means to be radical, and even more about exploitation and the state's capacity for repression. They had their grievances and a definite penchant for militancy, these "Wobblies," but they never tried to burn down a library.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/10/12/sunday-night-riot-vandalism-of-oregon-historical-society-met-with-widespread-condemnation-criminal-charges/
Louis Proyect
 

On 10/13/20 2:38 PM, Mark Lause wrote:
Again. I'd urge caution about who's actually doing this.

It just might be agent-provocateurs but the problem is the general tolerance for this kind of ultraleftism on the left. I posted this comment on Ahmed's post:

"Although I alienated a bunch of 23 year olds, I denounced the arson attack on a post office in Minneapolis early on in the George Floyd protests. The fire spread from the post office to an American Indian cultural and training center. Burned to the ground. The only other people determined to destroy the post office are in the Trump administration. In addition, they trashed a library not far away."

Ever since the Seattle anti-WTO protests, there's been a widespread belief that unless there is some kind of property damage, the protest is reformist. This creates a perfect environment for provocations.
Mark Lause
 

The targets make me suspicious.  There are as always a few young inexperienced idiots willing to follow something like this. But the initial targeting is idiotic. There are too many right-wingers explicitly oriented to this kind of misdirections.  

The problem is related to a larger one in the current movement related to the lack of a mass orientation, transparency, democratic structures, etc.

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020, 2:46 PM Louis Proyect <lnp3@...> wrote:
On 10/13/20 2:38 PM, Mark Lause wrote:
Again. I'd urge caution about who's actually doing this.

It just might be agent-provocateurs but the problem is the general tolerance for this kind of ultraleftism on the left. I posted this comment on Ahmed's post:

"Although I alienated a bunch of 23 year olds, I denounced the arson attack on a post office in Minneapolis early on in the George Floyd protests. The fire spread from the post office to an American Indian cultural and training center. Burned to the ground. The only other people determined to destroy the post office are in the Trump administration. In addition, they trashed a library not far away."

Ever since the Seattle anti-WTO protests, there's been a widespread belief that unless there is some kind of property damage, the protest is reformist. This creates a perfect environment for provocations.
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