Organizing the riot: The “Black Bloc” method explained

Organiser l’émeute: la méthode « Black Bloc » expliquée

Louis Vuarin (louis.vuarin@telecom-paris.fr)
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Louis Vuarin: CRG I3 - Centre de recherche en gestion I3 - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: The "Black Bloc," a group of activists dressed in black who engage in various subversive or riotous actions during demonstrations, has emerged as a practice that disrupts both the habits of protest groups and those of policing (Wood, 2007; Dupuis-Déri, 2003; 2018; Farde, 2020; Véchambre, 2020). In this article, we propose an organizational analysis of the phenomenon, through unpublished material composed of observations (under "semi partial" and "total" coverage, cf. Roulet et al., 2017) and interviews collected in the heart of activist groupings in Paris between 2016 and 2020. Beyond all political considerations, the Black Bloc is analyzed insofar as it represents an exemplary organizational device, in the vein of works on riots and policing in organizational theory (Lacaze, 2004; Kudesia, 2021). In particular, our study highlights a surprising balance between integrating and disintegrating processes, allowing the Black Bloc to have both a form of cohesion that ensures its stability in the face of attempts to destabilize police maneuvers, and an unpredictability that makes it more dangerous and less controllable. The other reason for the success of the Black Bloc appears to be its ability to maintain a convergence between sub-groups with different – and sometimes even competing – ideologies and methods. Indeed, the organizational culture of the Black Bloc allows for an obscuring of dissimilarities between its members within a common political experience. By maintaining an assimilative blur, the Black Bloc can radicalize, but also temper some of the subgroups that comprise it.

Date: 2023-03
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Published in Gérer et Comprendre. Annales des Mines, 2023, 151, pp.28-41

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