Pond Scum
Brian Sayre at Frontpage Magazine discusses the Leftwing "Peace" Saboteurs:

"We have to prepare to continue the struggle," cried Richard Becker, a member of both the steering committee for International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the communist Workers' World Party. Although the A.N.S.W.E.R.-organized crowd at the March 15th rally in San Francisco was smaller than in previous demonstrations, the cries from the podium were much sharper. Becker called for direct action, civil disobedience all over the city, should the United States begin a war with Iraq. But the anti-war demonstrators hadn't waited for Becker. Plans for direct action on the day of the war have been in place for weeks.

According to websites used for radical organizing, large-scale attempts to disrupt everyday life are planned in at least four cities. In New York, demonstrators plan to "inaugurate a campaign of civil resistance." In Washington, D.C., there will be "direct action oriented, unpermitted demonstrations." In Los Angeles, the call has gone out for "a creative rampage." And in San Francisco; participants are being told to plan to stay out all night, and continue their actions the next day (source: sf.indymedia.org) Should a war begin abroad, Americans can expect trouble at home.

I received a taste of that trouble on March 15th, when I attended the protest in San Francisco, and witnessed the 'civil disobedience' afterwards. Not that the disobedience was particularly civil. Over a thousand people set off on an unpermitted march after the main event, blocking off traffic during rush hour and defying police orders to disperse. Even after arrests were made, the remnant of the crowd would simply retreat, reform, and continue elsewhere. The disorder only ended after over one hundred and fifty people were arrested and detained, some six hours after the original demonstration began.

At the latest string of anti-war protests, it's hard to decide what to cover. Anti-Semitism abounds (note to protestors - 'Israel' is not spelled with a swastika; and the swastika is not equivalent to the Star of David). Everyone's got a different conspiracy theory (one large banner read: "9-11 = Inside Job / U.S. Fascists Guilty"). And the aisles are lined with over a dozen communist groups, selling their propaganda (if I can figure out the difference between the Maoist Internationalist Movement and the Progressive Labor Party, I'll tell you which group was desecrating the flag). But I came for the anarchists, the "No War But The Class War" contingent, who had put out a call for a black bloc - an organizing tactic that had led to arrests and property damage in the recent past, an organizing tactic that enabled the riots at the Seattle WTO protest in 1999.
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While they often play lip service to 'non-violent civil disobedience', this is code, dependent on a particular anarchist understanding of non-violence. As the infamous communiqué from the Seattle rioters contended, "property destruction is not a violent activity unless it destroys lives or causes pain in the process. By this definition, private property--especially corporate private property--is itself infinitely more violent than any action taken against it." Therefore, when a member of the black bloc calls for 'non-violent direct action', this does not bar property damage in any way whatsoever. He feels perfectly entitled to chuck a non-violent brick through the window of your violent storefront; to bring peace with a bat to your belligerent parked car.
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If this were simply a matter of speech, Americans would both tolerate and protect it. More than a dozen different communist groups at Saturday's main rally were free to hawk their newspapers to whoever wanted to buy, as is their right. But through their direct action and black bloc tactics, anarchists and their radical brethren cross from speaking to acting - and while there is a right to free speech, there is no right to free action. The police of this nation will do their jobs, but prosecutors, legislators, and the American public have to team up to ensure they don't have to do their jobs over again, and again, and again, as long as the threat of terrorism exists. The plans have been laid; the black blocs are coming. Let's ensure that they only come once.

These punk thugs have getting away with this ever since the Seattle riots. It'll be interesting to see how many big city mayors have the gumption to handle it. And how many citizens have to handle it on their own,