The “San Jose Mercury” reported Wednesday that the police in Palo Alto were preparing for what “could be” a violent protest by 800 anarchists Saturday night.

the scribe, a sometimes anarchist (it’s a very high standard), and full-time sympathizer, thinks that if the police are making preparations, it will most certainly be violent.

Although we’re supposed to be fearful of 800 anti-consumerist peaceniks running through the streets, we are always to be at ease when the police become violent wherever and whenever.

This acquiescence is part of what anarchist theory refers to as the “state monopoly on violence.”

They don’t like the idea that it’s only okay when cops are violent, and neither does the scribe. Like the anarchists, the scribe thinks we should do away with violence all the way around, or spread the right to exercise it around some.

If you think that would be too complicated, you should read the rules governing the stock market.

The Mercury’s Dan Stober and Anna Tong wrote the piece with the usual condescension and lack of understanding. At one point they describe the protestors as “the young people who describe themselves as anarchists” and one paragraph later it’s “Self-described anarchists,” which is a mainstream media favorite.

Why don’t they call them self-described (r)epublicans? That’s certainly what they are. If it were up to the scribe, they’d be called fascists. Not because of all the Gitmo-as-gulag banter banging about, but because the systemic merging of government and corporate interests we are enduring fits the textbook definition of fascism.

The rich backed by the government make an unbeatable team, however small.

The police estimate of 800 is probably an overstatement meant to prepare folks for the potential bloodletting of essentially idealistic, energetic young people with a ken for a better world.

Were there to be 800 of them, we’d be onto something, and the scribe would be on his way up north.

If you’re really interested in knowing a little about anarchism, you can buy the scribe’s book “Vedette” by clicking on the little button off to the side, or click here: http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/nonficSellmanVedette.html to read an interesting review of the novel or click here: http://www.anarchist-studies.org/

and learn a little from the Institute for Anarchist Studies up in Montreal.