Seattle, WA: ReportBack from March Against Genocide in Palestine

Report on recent march in solidarity with Palestine in Seattle, WA. Originally posted to Puget Sound Anarchists.

stock photo via Radical Graffiti

Discouraged by the lack of radical organizing in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in the pnw over the past few months, multiple affinity groups came together to plan a black bloc at an upcoming march led by socialist and Palestinian advocacy groups.

The day began at Freeway Park with speeches at praising the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements resisting the IOF’s expansionist genocide. As well as community members talking about their personal connections to those in Gaza and those being held in Israeli torture camps.

As the group began to march, the bloc of around 20-25 assembled with flags and umbrellas. The bloc quickly realized the route of the march included several businesses and governmental bodies directly involved in the Israeli occupation. Buildings were tagged with messages targeting both the American and Israeli occupations and a window was smashed. Each time the individual carrying out the act was covered by umbrellas and bodies to conceal their identities. Concerns had been shared about possible peace policing from organizers after seeing the collaboration between so-called “safety teams” in Chicago and the police at the DNC, however no such policing occurred.

It quickly became clear that police were in the area and likely planning targeted arrests. Discussions began around dispersal plans and individuals decided whether or not to stay with the march. A large group dispersed mostly without incident, the rest stayed with the march until the end where multiple people were detained under the basis that they resembled suspects of property damage. However, no arrests were made in connection to any direct action.

Report from a comrade in bloc: “At first we were really worried about working with some of these liberal organizations that have a bad reputation in fear of being peace policed or worse. Part of our goal in this action was to see how these particular organizers would act with bloc. None of us were policed at all and left with a better outcome then any of us had hoped for. The bloc was small but powerful and stood in active resistance to the police on site. We handed out info on what black bloc and direct action is to people attending the march and many seemed interested in our tactics. Bloc brought a new level of intensity and militancy that is new to the events by these organizers but the vibes in the crowd was that change was welcomed. Hopefully this can continue and we can start seeing larger blocs show up to start showing the world that we are done with peaceful marches, and we won’t take this lying down.”