Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The story of the unsung heroes: Black Bloc Brazil

Click here to access article by Esther Solano Gallego and Paulo Rogério Lugoboni Filho from Reflections on a Revolution.

The two authors provide us with an excellent examination of Black Bloc tactics as recently practiced in Brazil.
Due to the explicit distrust that the majority of Black Bloc supporters have towards the media, especially the mainstream channels, it is really hard for society at large to obtain access to the ideologies and reasoning that guide their actions on the streets. The key, and most provocative, element that causes a big fuss in public opinion is the use of violence as a legitimate tool of protest. The arguments given by Black Bloc participants to justify their sometimes violent direct actions are essential to understanding all the dimensions of that phenomenon. Still, the ideological motivations and reasoning behind these actions is not well understood by the great majority of the population, whose only contact with the Black Bloc is through the mainstream media.