[lbo-talk] Black Panther Coloring Book

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Wed Oct 27 17:51:33 PDT 2010


[WS:] Thanks for the explanation, but I still doubt the effectiveness of the method. To my mind, this kind of operation makes sense only if it provides a pretext for an action, like arresting someone on 'criminal' charges. But if it targets a movement's supporters, it can be easily debunked. I can tell from my own experience back in the old country that circulating false 'samizdats' was not a very effective strategy - most people could either tell they are fake or be convinced by activists who knew better.

Which brings us to the issue of effectiveness of agents provocateurs. In today's Post there is a piece on a sting operation against someone planning an attack on DC Metrorail. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/27/AR2010102704857.html?hpid=topnews

I use the Metrorail daily and certainly do not appreciate people planting bombs there, but this kind of "sting" operation raises more doubts about the Metrorail safety. I mean, the guy was clearly set up. He had no real terrorist connections, he was contacted by agents provocateurs - perhaps over what he posted in some internet discussion group - and was stupid enough to fall for this trick. The guys who set him up were probably promoted and gullible public feels "safer" - but this is a false sense of security. The guy seems absolutely harmless - all bark and no bite (just like most people on most internet discussion groups) so arresting him did not eliminate a potential terrorist threat, is it exists. If anything it only instilled a false sense of accomplishment and security, which can make people less careful and increase the risk of a successful attack.

It seems that the Panther trick that you describe is even less effective than terror "sting" operations because it does not produce any visible results, even fake ones like arresting a nutcase over alleged "terrorist" activities.

Wojtek

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> At 12:50 PM 10/27/2010, Wojtek S wrote:
>
>> It is not that whites sympathized with the Panthers and the cops felt
>> they need to do something about it.
>
>
>
> "Stay Free"-Magazine put together a show called "Illegal Art: Freedom of
> Expression in the Corporate Age" which is coming to the Nexus Gallery in
> Philadelphia from October 3rd to November 2nd, 2003.
> The website has some great artwork online and offers free downloads of
> various banned songs.
>
> Here is a good article on the Art of the FBI.
>
> Excerpt: "In the late 1960s, the Black Panthers started a Free Breakfast for
> Children program, serving thousands of black and poor kids across the U.S.
> Concerned that the program would spread anti-white propaganda, the FBI
> decided to spread their own anti-white propaganda as a pre-emptive strike.
> The bureau produced a 24-page coloring book, making it appear as if it had
> been created by the Panthers. Intending to gut public support for the group,
> the books contained inflamatory pictures, some of which featured young black
> kids shooting pigs dressed as policemen. The FBI sent copies of the coloring
> book to the Panthers’ white contributors and to businesses that supported
> the free breakfast program, such as Safeway and Jack-In-The-Box. When copies
> of the forgery reached the Panthers’ national leadership, Bobby Seale
> destroyed it, saying it "did not correctly reflect the ideology of the Black
> Panther Party." –Brian Boling"
>
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>



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