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This week I’ve been following up on the Greek anarchist riots and while I’m inspired by their moxy, I haven’t been terribly impressed at the men’s fashion I’ve seen. It brings up a serious discussion about anarchist fashion, and one that I will try to pose to my readership as a question rather than a solution, though honestly I’ve had it up to here with the fucking 99′er black hoodie, so I will probably be a little biased.
To me, one facet of anarchism is the discussion of ends versus means, and never getting into a situation where the ends justify horrible means that will ultimately sacrifice the ends anyway, (read: fuck communism). I think that is essentially what is happening with the black bloc though, we’ve taken that particular fashion direction for granted and allowed it to dictate all our other fashion choices.
May 68: a successful riot without a black bloc:
I mentioned before that mainstream men’s fashion was forged in the military and then foisted on the male populace as a nation building technique. In anarchist circles, the black bloc has the same result. Obviously, no anarchist has orchestrated this, but the results are the same. Many anarchist men I meet are afraid to wear color, to be non utilitarian, to be sensual or outwardly express their sexuality. Anarchist men’s fashion seems permanently mired in street fighter and militia man, and with it comes the same vulgar credo as the army, “be prepared”. Is it worth it? Are the victories we’ve won with this tactic enough to justify the effect on our mansies?
Pictures from the Stonewall Riot, note the absence of a black bloc:
