The legitimacy of violence

By now, everybody knows the ‘Schwarzer Block’. Everyone has seen the images from Rostock, where a peaceful protest on Saturday was suddenly transformed into a nasty rain of bricks. Cars of the working class were set on fire, not those of the rich and infamous. Ordinary policemen could have been killed in the volley of stones.

"All this was caused by the police that intimidated us. That’s why it’s legitimate to use violence. In this specific case, everything was allowed.”

This is Kees Stadt, an Amsterdam anarchist staying in Camp Reddelich. He says the police has paid ‘agents provocateurs’ for provoking the riot.

Part of the the anti-capitalist group Dissent, Stadt (40) is protesting along with around 350 left-wing Dutchmen against the ‘neoliberal policy’ of the G8 leaders. He has his office in a thirty-year-old Dutch school bus. There’s UMTS-internet, and solar cells on the roof to supply electricity.

Yesterday, during a blockade in Bad Doberan, the bus was taken away by the police, who said it was being used as a pirate broadcasting station. The driver was arrested.

"Violence is not the goal, but you need it to be heard," said Frits de Boer, a farmer from Holland. "A peaceful protest is no use to anybody. You have to resist."

In Reddelich, resistance takes the form of the colorful "clown army," a troupe of clowns that make fun of policemen. A lot of people have seen these radical cheerleeders, that interact with Big Brother in green uniform. But what about the super heroes, those who account for the answer against violence?

ROB SAVELBERG