There were two types of protest movement in Genoa. The first is that represented on the TV by important people like Sir Bob. They are interested in dialogue with the world's leaders and believe significant reforms can be won this way. What they wanted from the mass protests was a well-behaved stage army that would demonstrate that they had popular support.
The leaders of that movement believe that capitalism can become 'capitalism with a human face' if the politicians can be convinced this is the way forward. This they believe can happen through a process of patient explanation backed up by winning public opinion to the reform project. Because this is their approach repeatability and control of the forces they mobilise are high on their agenda.
The second type of protest movement is that represented by the image of Carlo Giuliani, shot by the police and then run over. He wasn't part of the well-behaved stage army. He was shot in the head while wearing a balaclava and attacking a police vehicle. This second type of demonstrator sees capitalism and the state as the problem. They don't see reform as an option and they don't want to be part of anybody's stage army. As far as they are concerned, and I agree, we need to abolish not just the G8 and WTO but also the capitalist system that gives birth to them. In Genoa the police built a 6- metre wall to prevent any of these people 'embracing' Putin or any of the other G8 leaders.
This second group see no point in dialoguing with those whose job it is to ensure the continued existence of this system. To do so is just to give these world leaders legitimacy, to suggest that they are interested in something other then ensuring the continued rule of capital over people. Bono and Sir Bob did just this in meeting Putin and Blair. But they got nothing in return; no additional debt relief emerged from the summit.
Carlo is one famous name we now have for those who choose to fight to abolish capitalism. We have his name because he was murdered on the streets by the state forces. But for the most part this second group has no famous names, because we choose not to. We desire to do away with division between leaders and led that is so precious to Blair and Bono. We identify the mainstream media as of the problem rather then part of the solution.
This is not to claim that all those who stand for the abolition of capitalism are a united body either in terms of objectives or tactics. A wide gulf separates anarchist like Carlo from the various Leninist outfits who dream of a future where their party is in charge. We don't want the Leninist State with a Leninist police to make sure we follow the party line any more then we want the capitalist state.
But even within the anarchist movement there are divisions over tactics. Some, like myself, felt that in Genoa we should avoid property damage and concentrate on trying to break into the red zone. Others felt that this was fighting on the terrain defined by the police and instead property damage directed at banks and multinationals on the edges of the exclusion area could be used to fight on terrain of our choosing.
In the aftermath of Genoa there is a lot of quite bitter debate between people who identify with these different movements and all those who have a position between them. To those who value respectability and control the 'black block' can only be some evil police plot to discredit them in the eyes of 'public opinion'. To those who see confrontation as essential to building a movement capable of defeating capitalism and the state these accusations demonstrate the hopeless liberalism of the reformists.
This is not a debate that will be settled one way or the other in the near future. What is more unless it is conducted in honest terms it will just create bitterness and hostility within the movement as a whole. In particular 'cop bating' (accusing others of being police agents without solid evidence) will only make the situation worse rather then better.
There were problems in Genoa because there was a real failure to create in advance an understanding that both sets of tactics would be used. Instead the Genoa Social Forum made promises that it could not keep that the demonstrations would be non-confrontational. As there was no clear attempt to set zones for different types of tactic in advance of the demonstration then inevitably reformist pacifists and revolutionary 'black block' protesters found themselves in the same areas. So now both sides accuse the other of sabotaging 'their' protest and manufacture conspiracy theories as to why this was so. The Italian police who so clearly enjoyed battering anyone from any sided they caught must be getting a great laugh out of this - and of course perhaps they have a few agents who are encouraging it!