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There has been quite a bit of stir within the Occupy movement lately about the place or need for so-called “violent” direct action. This has mostly arisen after the general strike which was held in Oakland on November 2nd, to commemorate the legitimately “violent” expulsion of protesters from Frank Ogawa Plaza a week earlier. As usual, the mainstream media picked up on the few instances of broken glass and spray paint instantly, and largely ignored the tens of thousands who marched to the port later that day and shut it down — a major accomplishment in and of itself for an Occupy movement that has traditionally held much less attention than its New York City counterpart.

Those who condemn the vandalism that took place as “violence” which has no place in an ostensibly “non-violent” movement are missing a few key points. First, vandalism like we’ve seen against private property in Oakland is not comparable to traditional “violence” against a human being. Though the two are frequently conflated in the media, I would expect more within the Occupy movement to know the difference. The personal violence exercised by the state on behalf of private property is much more pervasive — and exponentially more destructive — than what we have seen on the streets of Oakland. The daily economic and social conflicts lived through everyday by billions around the world, exercised by a globalized capitalism protected and enriched by state structures, are certainly worthy of more attention than a few black bloc protesters scribbling graffiti on the side of a Whole Foods. It is also distinct from a form of violence that is completely missed by the media: the one used under pretenses of “order and public safety” to break up peaceful protest, and to engage in much more severe disorder than the movement they are trying to suppress. And to those who claim that vandalism gives the police an excuse to attack and move in on demonstrations, I would ask: where have you been the last few weeks? Police will violently disrupt even the most peaceful of gatherings. No excuse is needed, and no amount of moralizing will give them a conscience. In allowing themselves to be drawn into this question, the Occupy movement has fallen into the trap of the mainstream media, fetishizing non-violence and allowing tactical disagreements to divide them internally.

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