----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck0" <chuck at mutualaid.org> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Monday, July 11, 2005 20:01 Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] nuts watching nuts (smashing windows)
> Leigh Meyers wrote:
>
>> By the time "days of rage" happened the "radical anarchist student"
>> left was thoroughly infiltrated... The "orangutans" of which you speak
>> were pretty typically informers and provocateurs... Occasionally outrage
>> on the part of someone for something that had just happened to a friend
>> or somesuch, did occur... I know, that's why those mounted cops were
>> chasing me across central park.
>>
>> But premeditated window smashing et al? Q: Which police agency do you
>> work for?
>> (not you chuck0)
>
> Pretty ridiculous garbage. The police really don't use agent provocateurs
> in activist movements. This idea that the cops use agent provocateurs is a
> fantasy spread by people with little working understanding of activism and
> radical movements. When cops infiltrate our groups they almost always
> focus on gathering information.
>
> If any of you refuse to believe me, I'll cite a new article by two cops
> which explains what they've tried to do vis a vis radical activism.
>
> Yes, there is pre-meditated window smashing. Often windows are smashed on
> the spur of the moment (and not just by "rebellious youth). I can think of
> one occasion where an undercover cop smashed a window during a black bloc
> march. The funny thing was that the rest of the bloc ignored this and
> continued with their march.
>
> Chuck
Wow! You're not only tactically juvenile, but incredibly naive concerning the sophistication and skill of the forces you're dealing with.
>From 1956-1971 the FBI developed the COINTELPRO program to "neutralize"
left and civil rights, antiwar and other domestic "anti-american" movements
whose political rights were protected by law.
J. Edgar Hoover, longtime Director of the FBI, justified the essentially illegal exercise of police power thus:
The forces which are most anxious to weaken our internal security are not always easy to identify. Communists have been trained in deceit and secretly work toward the day when they hope to replace our American way of life with a Communist dictatorship. They utilize cleverly camouflaged movements, such as peace groups and civil rights groups to achieve their sinister purposes. While they as individuals are difficult to identify, the Communist party line is clear. Its first concern is the advancement of Soviet Russia and the godless Communist cause. It is important to learn to know the enemies of the American way of life.
COINTELPRO was discontinued after public exposure in order to afford additional security to [their] sensitive techniques and operations."
So I suspect not much has changed since then. I realize that you don't like boring written material but you might find it interesting to check Paul Wolf's site on this: http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm
Anyway, in the demonstrations at Columbia U in 1968, the Yale bust (in 1969 I think) and during the country-wide University strikes following the Kent State massacre, covert provocateurs were clearly identified and in some cases their names and pictures distributed through the activist networks of the time. We caught one at SUNY Binghamton in the Spring of '70 and had suspicions concerning others.
By the way, a octengenarian communist of the California branch of the old CPUSA informed me that the founder of the California branch of the CP was an FBI agent, so this kind of thing has been going on for a long time and on levels far more extensive than two local cops may know or be prepared to discuss publically.
The only way to deal with this kind of infiltration is to build a very
strong political and public base that makes it dangerous for illegal
exercise of police power. The heroic radical volunteerist mode makes for
good folk ballads, but even when popular never can actually become the basis
for a powerful peoples' movement. In the end it's a sign of weakness and
political social incompetence.
Oudeyis
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