RUSSERT:But [Condit] is vulnerable to blackmail in his current situation.


What Black Bloc Believes
The Right to Fight

As the combined federal and local police forces of Washington get ready for what's expected to be a tumultuous anti-globalist protest at the World Bank and IMF meeting this fall, they'll be focusing on a little-understood corps of anarchists called the Black Bloc.

Somewhere between the Weather Bureau and the Baader-Meinhof gang stands the Black Bloc, recalling the Wobblies with a dash of ACT UP. Last week, member Mary Black (a pseudonym) sent a letter to the news service Alternet, telling a little about the group, which she says has no platform and largely comprises young white people who hold day jobs with nonprofits. "We believe that destroying the property of oppressive and exploitative corporations like the Gap is an acceptable and useful protest tactic," she wrote. "We believe that we have the right to defend ourselves when we are in physical danger from tear gas, batons, armored personnel carriers and other law enforcement technology. . . .


Note: With 280 protesters arrested and 230 injured, 18 still missing, and one dead in rioting at the G-8 summit last month, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi defended his police officers before parliament. "Let nobody compare me to General Pinochet," he declared, amid jeers.

Additional reporting: Sandra Bisin and Ariston-Lizabeth Anderson

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