Group claims to strike a blow for workers' rights by smashing Upper Crust windows

It got you to put another post about it on the web site, including a statement of purpose from the group. While this is certainly lower ambitions than the golden age of anarchist terrorism, it's not really the nihilist jack-assery that you would like to pretend it is here.

I'm not an anarchist, and certainly the accusation that a lot of modern anarchist spouting folks are over privileged kids who have read too much has more than a grain of truth in it. But it's also incredibly self serving to claim that it's just about random smashy smashy akin to drunken Sox fans celebrating a game. And it's rather indicative of the poverty of our current political discourse that we can't get a serious discussion of the place of violence in the political realm even to disclaim its use.

Also, any public policy which is based on "doesn't everybody..." do something or other is inevitably problematic. Assuming that people know something is almost inevitably going to be wrong. In the case of Upper Crust, a critic could argue that enough people DON'T know because there still seems to be no shortage of customers for the chain.

Not that I actually agree with their actions. I do think it's a little juvenile and the choice of Upper Crust as a target for worker rage seems a peculiar one. But the accusation that anarchist violence is nothing more than nihilistic vandalism has been leveled at the movement since at least Johan Most and it's an off target criticism since their violence, whatever you think about the morality and efficacy of it, is not nihilistic or random in nature but is, or is at least meant to be, directed and purposeful. I might add that while the anarchists were the most zealous advocates of the propaganda of the deed they were not the only movement to use violence and vandalism to make their point. Indeed, window smashing was far more emblematic of the British women's movement of the turn of the century which used violence for similar reasons to protest unequal treatment, draw attention to issues of concern, and demonstrate their non compliance with a political system which excluded them.

I stopped buying from Upper Crust because their pizza went down hill once they began expanding. There are plenty of other pizza shops around that deliver and make better pizza. I don't condone vandalism as a form of protest. In light of that, I might just head over there at lunch time for a slice.