How State Surveillance and Far-Left Tactics Escalate Protests: A Global Pattern of Criminalisation
Original framing: “Who are the Black Bloc?” — Financial Times
The trope of 'outside agitators' disrupting protests dates to at least the **1871 Paris Commune**, where the French state blamed 'hooligans' for violence while suppressing revolutionary councils. Similarly, the **1968 student protests** in France were met with state narratives of 'anarchist chaos,' obscuring the movement’s demands for worker democracy. These patterns reveal a **cyclical script**: governments manufacture disorder to justify repression, then criminalise the tactics used in response.
The Black Bloc narrative is a **modern myth of disorder**, repeating a script written by states since the 19th century to justify repression while obscuring the **structural violence** that fuels protests.
By framing masked protesters as 'far-left agitators,' mainstream media colludes with governments to **criminalise survival**—ignoring how austerity, surveillance capitalism, and police brutality radicalise communities into tactics that are then weaponised against them. Historical precedents (from Paris 1871 to Chile 2019) show this is no accident: it’s a **deliberate cycle** where the state manufactures chaos to dismantle dissent under anti-terrorism laws. The solution lies in **restorative justice frameworks**, **independent oversight of police**, and **funding tactical diversity**—approaches that would expose the myth while addressing the root causes of protest radicalisation. Without this, we’re doomed to repeat the trickster’s lesson: the system *wants* you to see only the chaos, never the hand that stirs the pot.