FBI COINTELPRO or How the Man worked to divide us in the 60's

[Melinda]

The mini-manual!


How to:


NEUTRALIZE INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

DISCREDITE GROUPS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

CREATE AND EXPLOITE "SPLITS"


I'm sensing that far too much is being made of ANSWERS Role in this weeks activities, and far too many are taking the bait.

I was SDS when SDS wasn't cool.

[Melinda]

1. Not gonna let this one drop, nope.

There is an important lesson here.

[annabanana]

2. This makes for fun reading...

some of these groups i haven't thought of for 40 years..

[Melinda]

3. Methodology to divide the left, piece by piece by piece by piece....

Our Nation is undergoing an era of disruption and violence caused to a large extent by various individuals generally connected with the New Left. Some of these activists urge revolution in America and call for the defeat of the United States in Vietnam. They continually and falsely allege police brutality and do not hesitate to utilize unlawful acts to further their so-called causes. The New Left has on many occasions viciously and scurrilously attacked the Director and the Bureau in an attempt to hamper our investigation of it and to drive us off the college campuses. With this in mind, it is our recommendation that a new Counterintelligence Program be designed to neutralize the New Left and the Key Activists. The Key Activists are those individuals who are the moving forces behind the New Left and on whom we have intensified our investigations. C.D. Brennan to W.C. Sullivan, May 9, 1968


Continued........

[glitch]

4. I have been looking for this, thank you!

What an excellent site, with all the links to the Church committee reports and everything. Most excellent, gonna nominate.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. They sure are taking the bait around here.

This place has seemed a refuge for HUAC and McCarthy witch hunters the last few days.

Red-baiting has made a real comeback amongst the "moderates" who are eager to prove that they're not "too liberal" or (eek!) leftists.

[Melinda]

11. Hard to believe so few have learned from our history, eh?

support appreciated.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. Melinda, one of the big problems is that there are many here who are

too young to remember and some too naive to believe what the government is capable of doing against it's citizens, let alone to other countries around the globe.

I don't know if you saw this excellent post yesterday by Minstrel Boy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4878874

[Melinda]

17. Noted, which is why this site is so valuable and our roles here important!

I am off to read the link - thanks. :)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. Your welcome and you are so right. History keeps repeating itself

and its our responsibility to teach those history lessons we all learned so well. Peace to you! :)

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

29. One of the truly great losses that humanity experiences

over and over is the loss of information from generation to generation.

As I get older, I realize how much people have to experience themselves in order to understand things that have happened in the past at a gut level.

In smaller tribal societies of the past, stories were passed on in the oral tradition.

It just doesn't work in an enormous nation with so much diversity and diversity of perspective and belief.

I have been reading "The Brethren," by Woodward et al, and there was a lot going on with that SCOTUS that I was totally unaware of.

In fact the whole process is amazingly political, amazingly infused with maneuvering and "friendly" persuasion.

[jonnyblitz]

30. it's fucking creepy as shit. you would have thunk the protest

was this huge flop this weekend the way everybody is pulling their hair out, thread after thread after thread after thread after thread about ANSWER. NOW they are going after Cindy in threads. Soon there will be no one left PURELY MODERATE and single issue (JUST WAR ONLY) enough for these prissy, handwringing ASSHOLES.

[moddemny]

37. "Red-baiting has made a real comeback ........

.......amongst the "moderates" who are eager to prove that they're not "too liberal" or (eek!) leftists."

Some of those "moderates" may have actual friends and family members who were imprisoned or tortured by Communist regimes. It's ok to point out every other wrong in the world why do you stop at Communist dictatorships? What about the Human rights violations committed by those regimes? What makes torture and false imprisonment acceptable when its a bunch of Stalinists/Maoists/Marxists/etc. doing it? Your so quick to point out your own stands on principle but fling labels at people who have their own convictions based on their own shared experience within a horrible reality. Their are a lot of dissidents from former Communist countries who risked everything for freedom, so much so it makes the rest of you here (the pro answer stalinist apologists) look like a bunch of flakes.

[Warren Stupidity]

53. I actually doubt that you know even one such person.

But it is possible. So far I haven't seen one of us 'answer apologists' actually support stalinism/maoism etc. What we have supported is the FACT that answer was just one of many groups attending the demonstration, the FACT that answer does the grunt work of organizing and publicizing demonstrations, arranging transportation, etc. and that consequently they get to have a stage and speakers etc., the FACT that by far UFPJ was the dominant organizing force, the FACT that this was a huge and positive and successful demonstration - actually many demonstrations in many locations, and the FACT that a lot of posters here have nothing but bad things to say about it because the EVIL COMMIES showed up.

So what would you suggest moddemny? Should we somehow purge all the bad groups from the parade? Who should be in charge of the purge? Or perhaps instead we should all just stay home and blog our complaints in.

[moddemny]

62. "I actually doubt that you know even one such person."

Whatever........ New York is filled with them, I don't know what else to tell you, you don't believe me, I don't care. After that comment don't consider yourself as having as complete a knowledge of history as you think you do. Just ignore about 80 years of the 20th century, that's your choice.


What would I suggest? UFPJ dump Answer completely and run the whole event. Simple isn't it.

[Qibing Zero]

57. You're avoiding reality

Look, communist is not Communist is not Marx is not Lenin is not Trotsky is not Stalin is not Mao is not Castro is not land reform is not public health care is not anti-trust laws, etc etc etc. None of these things are equal to each other, nor do they all bring torture and false imprisonment with them!

Do you think the conservatives, libertarians, etc that marched really cared that there were some people on the opposite side of the political coin marching aside them, or do you think they were there for a larger reason?

Wake up. You're not in Communism vs Americanism class anymore. McCarthy is long dead and so is his 'ism'. Ridding ourselves of this oppressive administration that is at the head of our country, and stopping the needless killing and fearmongering is more important than our petty differences right now. Please, try to look around and understand that.

[moddemny]

63. "You're avoiding reality"

I'm avoiding reality? I outlined why I feel the way I do in this thread:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4895425

"Look, communist is not Communist is not Marx is not Lenin is not Trotsky is not Stalin is not Mao is not Castro is not land reform is not public health care is not anti-trust laws, etc etc etc. None of these things are equal to each other, nor do they all bring torture and false imprisonment with them!"

Catch up on your history and then tell the people who imprisoned in former Communist countries about how they weren't tortured.

This debate is useless because your just clueless. You want to alienate a large demographic of supporters, don't expect other people to help you.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. We have a client still in prison -

thirty-three years after being set up by the FBI in a COINTELPRO sting.

Took it all the way to the USSC, lost there, and now hold the ignominious distinction of having helped the Burger court cut back on our Fourth Amendment rights via Wolf v. Rice.

[Flubadubya]

7. You were SDS??

WOW... how freakin' cool is that? My question is... how many on DU'ers even know what SDS means? Oh, boy, I sure do! Thank you for posting Melinda...

Peace - out!

:hippie:

[Melinda]

14. I was a full fledged out peacenik at the tender age of 14...

Joined after Chicago '68, but I was formed by fire and radicalized thru and thru. Time may have mellowed my body, but my spirit fist still waves.

Peace be with you, too. :hi:

[Flubadubya]

16. Oh Melinda...

Tempered in the fire of reason and righteous protest... and you still remain active. Oh, you are so obviously of great merit!! I thank you most humbly.

Your honest servant... KV

[Melinda]

19. And now the tears begin....

The world in which I was young was marred by war and oppression, I had no CHOICE but to become aware and become involved....

I wish I had the ability to do as I did when I was young, but my physical resources are just so fucking limited... I can not begin to tell you how I DESPAIR at so much of I read here!!

A movement grows by inches, feet, and yards... As I told someone yesterday, the anti-war movement of the 60's was not begun by politicians, it was forged by those of us who cared enough to get involved no matter who organized it!!

If opposition to the most RADICAL SDS had been the determining factor in rising up against human rights oppression and war in the 60's, then where would Civil Rights be now? And more than 58,000 American soldiers and far more innocents would have died post 1973.

As it stands now, I feel we have slid backwards in a timewarp, pre 1964.

We simply can not let that happen.

Thanks for your kind words, KV. :)

[BeHereNow]

8. Important and related-

Charles Shaw: Gatekeepers of the So-called Left
http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/articles/40
BHN

[IChing]

9. Nominated

I am very familiar with this article but haven't seen it in a while and lost the bookmark
when I changed computers thanks

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. Thank you Melinda! Agreed and nominated! nt

[Rainscents]

12. I just watched "Weather Underground" last night!

I encoutage for everyone to watch this video! It's about 60's, early 70's anti-war movement!

[Melinda]

27. And the factional divide w/in SDS; groups can divide & yet work together

That should be the lesson w/in the ANSWER debate.

Thanks for posting this. :)

[melody]

15. All the stuff the 70's "conspiracy theorists" were laughed at for saying

Mae Brussell and Dick Gregory, et al

[IChing]

20. This is a must read for every DUer (not the post but the booklet.)

I saw this shit used in the early 70's by the government in personal political experiences of friends and see it happening now in a grand scale.

Thanks Melinda

I would nominate it again if I could.

[txaslftist]

21. Did Karl Rove write this?

[tex-wyo-dem]

23. No, but you can bet he took lessons from it...

Definitely his modus operandi.

Very important reading...should be a sticky on the top of every discussion page on DU (IMHO).

[pitohui]

22. thanks melinda

these techniques are still being used in my humble opinion

[SittingBull]

24. Stop looking for things that divide you

and stand behind things that unite you.

Like Stop the war, bring the troops home now!

Don't fall for divide et empera and the CoIntelpro-Crap.

Only the suspicion about A.N.S.W.E.R. was first step for the divide...

[Melinda]

25. "CoIntelpro-Crap"?

Perhaps I misunderstand?

[SittingBull]

31. Sure

only the suspicion divides. I know a lot about the CoIntelPro-methods...

[rman]

43. So if a guy in your peace group proposes to blow up

Brooklyn bridge, don't be suspicious... just follow his suggestion and you'll have cointelpro thwarted.

[SittingBull]

47. No

but you should consider that there were more then one way to divide the peace mission.

[rman]

52. So suspicion is not the only problem?

Unlike what you claimed in your previous post: "only the suspicion divides"

Now it's "there were more then one way to divide".

Makes me wonder if you think there still is more then one way to divide.

[SittingBull]

64. Excuse my bad english

change only to already in the first post.

A.N.S.W.E.R can be infiltrated, too. I don't really know.

But I know how they work.

You should learn of the history with CoIntelPro.

Unite for the same goal, never mind if there were particular interest you don't like...

[Melinda]

48. Got it, thanks.

Subtlety can be lost on the old ;)

[central scrutinizer]

26. another SDS member here

The divide and conquer tactic is old as the hills. Corporations are very adept at getting working class people fighting among themselves: environmentalists versus loggers, union versus non-union, etc.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

28. Another member of

our campus's equivalent of SDS here.

For some reason SDS didn't exist there.

I'm also thinking the tactics are beginning to look more and more familiar from TPTB.

In many arenas.

Arrests, prosecutions, etc.

[tom_paine]

32. nominated n/t

[shance]

33. Thank you Melinda. They will do anything to separate, create doubt

and divide.

Countelpro has been quite successful over the years.

[Marleyb]

34. infiltrate and dilute

It is not just about divide and conquer by creating doubt...

It is about assuming leadership positions only to dilute the message and lead people astray. They know that someone will create the peace group, so they do it first. Everyone follows the leaders, so all they have to do is create the group, establish the leaders and they have control. It has been working really well.

They also work by creating false debates to keep everyone occupied...thanks to whoever posted this really interesting article(http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/articles/40)

"But during the 2004 Presidential campaign, <Media>Benjamin's message and tone began to shift dramatically into what came to be known as the "ABB" movement—Anybody But Bush. She and eighty fellow prominent leaders who once formed the one hundred-thirteen member "Nader 2000 Citizens Committee" put forth a petition urging anti-war Nader not to run, and instead threw their support behind pro-war Democratic Party candidate John Kerry...

The pro and con arguments of ABB have been argued exhaustively, and many do not find the issue relevant any longer. But they are relevant when considering just how UFPJ became ABB and has since found itself embroiled in partisan politics working to attack exclusively the Bush Administration and their competing Neoconservative movement, despite the fact that American war policy is a bipartisan program."

[EVDebs]

35. Time Magazine Aug 4, 1997 shows FBI/CIA Mormon hiring preference

in the feature article 'Kingdom Come'. The cover story is titled Mormons, Inc.

Is this all part of their Equal Opportunity Employment program ? Or just their conservative bias in hiring only conservatives, period ?

[robbedvoter]

36. ANSWER's Ramsey Clark & Cointelpro

Clark was complicit with Hoover's COINTELPRO. Following the 1967
riots in Newark and Detroit, he directed the FBI to investigate
whether the unrest was the result of some "scheme or conspiracy." He
instructed Hoover to develop "sources or informants in black
nationalist organizations, SNCC and other less publicized groups."
The result was Hoover's extensive "ghetto informant program."

"As late as 1968, while campaigning for Lyndon Johnson in
Wisconsin, Clark was shouting at anti-war protesters to take their
grievances to Hanoi rather than Washington," wrote John B. Judis in a
1991 expose on Clark in The New Republic.

From a post I stored a few years ago
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/My-stuff/message/37

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

38. Kick!

[sandnsea]

39. YES, But also

why is ANSWER the group that always gets the permits and always ends up on CSpan and the news.

[AuntiBush]

40. Good Point, Sandnsea...

[Warren Stupidity]

54. They weren't the only group.

Don't believe the bullshit you've been reading here. UFPJ was a much larger presence and also had permits, bonds, rally sites, porta-potties, stages, speakers, etc. You think Cindy was attending the Free Mumia rally? Get a clue. I don't know why CSPAN set their cameras up at the pathetically unattended answer rally, but I'd guess it would be because that would portray the demonstration in the worst possible light. So all 12 CSPAN viewers got a bad impression. Oh well..

[AuntiBush]

41. I Agree 100%

Everyone should click on the link, above. It's an easy read, and maybe you'll understand. "Divide & Conquer" only serves those that are loosing.

[spindoctor]

42. Well, it didn't actually WORK in the 70s now, did it?

And I personally have little doubt that it won't work this time around.

It does remind me that the real struggle for freedom and democracy still needs to be fought right here.

[rman]

44. Of course it worked; it killed the hippie movement

It was so effective that to this very day even many liberals scoff at hippies.

[spindoctor]

45. Maybe the hippie "movement" was just a little overrated?

Being the youngest in the family, I kinda watched the hippie movement come and go between the first day of college and the first paycheck of my older siblings.

No offense ;)

[rman]

46. proves my point

[Melinda]

50. The "Hippie Movement" was nothing more than ideology in poltical action

And one of but many, predominant for its time.

The only ones who truly "scoff" at "hippies" are the young and uninformed or the ignorant.

Peace out.

[Theres-a]

51. At the pro war rally on cspan

The idiot speaking said something to the effect of "We'd have more people here,but we have JOBS!" (It was Saturday)Typical.

[Melinda]

49. We'd felt we'd won by 73; - what exactly do you mean?

Felt being the operative word... we'd helped bring the war to an end, attained Civil Rights (ha!) and the Voting act, and women's right to choose...

Nixon was out of power and Kissinger along with him. Perhaps I was selfish, but after a very long time of fighting and grief, I was ready to simply breathe.

When Raygun took office, many of us again gave voice and action, particulary after Iran-Contra, Ollie North, and the School of the America's.

The struggle NEVER really stops, does it, but again, what exactly are you referring to?

[bemildred]

55. It worked very well.

Scared the living shit out of the political establishment,
ended the VietNam war. (You don't really think we would have
left VietNam without the anti-War movement do you? Does ending
a war count as effective?)

But we failed to finish the job, we should have cleaned house
in Congress and defended Jimmy Carter a lot better than he got.

[KittyWampus]

56. I'm sensing far too many DU'ers lack the imagination to envision the Left

being able to organize itself without the assholes at ANSWER.

Why are you so freaking resistant to the possiblity of NOT NEEDING A BUNCH OF EXTREMISTS whose agenda has NOTHING in common?

ANSWER is using you the same way the Neo-Cons use the racists and homophobes.

ANSWER doesn't give a shit about any issues except gaining power for themselves. Once IN power, they'd shut you out faster than a middle aged man drops an impregnated teenager.

[Warren Stupidity]

61. Answer is a coalition of a lot of groups.

One of them is identifiably marxist revolutionary. The rest are basically issue oriented advocacy groups.


Here is the list and my 10 minutes of research:


IFCO:

http://www.ifconews.org/

What does IFCO stand for?

Since 1967 IFCO has been working for peace and justice in the US and beyond.

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) was founded in 1967 by progressive church leaders and activists. Its purpose: to advance the struggles of oppressed people for justice and self-determination. For over 36 years, IFCO has assisted the poor and disenfranchised in developing and sustaining community organizations to fight human and civil rights injustices. This work includes education about the realities of the poor in the US and the third world.


Free Palestine Alliance:
http://www.freepalestinealliance.org/rashmawi/index.html

No information. The ADL thinks they hate jews, but somehow I suspect that they are a bit biased. No indication that they are communisists or marxists or anything other than pro-palestinian.


Haiti Support Network:

(can't find a web site) - the closest I could get is http://www.pitt.edu/~ttwiss/irtf/haiti.html

They seem to not be your dreaded stalinists, but who knows, they could be hiding underneath the covers.

Partnership for Civil Justice:
http://www.justiceonline.org/

Go ahead and visit their website - I couldn't find any stalinists, perhaps you will have better luck. They seem to want to litagate civil rights issues. Horrors!

Nicaragua Network:
http://www.nicanet.org/

Hmmm... once again the stalinists must be lurking under the bed or something.

Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Phillippines:
no website found - so we will have to just consign them to the 'who knows' category.

Korea Truth Commission:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/press/koreatruth.htm
Part of Veterns for Peace. It seems that we may have massacred a whole lot of civilians 55 years ago in Korea and there is a commission that is trying to get the facts straight. I'm looking for the Stalinists but they don't seem to be here. Perhaps you think that criticising our actions in the Korean war makes somebody all gung ho about Kim?

Muslim Student Association - National
http://www.msa-natl.org/

This is a religious association. No stalinists making themselves visible. Must be hiding again. Darn they are tricky.

Kensington Welfare Rights Union:
http://www.kwru.org/

These guys must be stalinists, right? After all they think poor people "have a right to thrive - not just barely survive" that is some obvious stalinist bullshit.

Mexico Solidarity Network:
http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/

"The Mexico Solidarity Network struggles for democracy, economic justice and human rights on both sides of the US-Mexico border." Wow: stalinism written all over that statement of principles.

Party for Socialism and Liberation
http://socialismandliberation.org/mag/index.php
OK here ya go: revolutionary communists.

Middle East Children's Alliance:
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/
"MECA is committed to protecting and advocating for the rights of all people, especially children. Our work is rooted in a deep sense of justice and we have a commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international and humanitarian law. With these principles as our base, our work is two-fold:"

Disgusting. Obviously they are in cahoots with Kim Il Sung. They hide it well though.

[bpilgrim]

58. when folks use rw talking points to 'discredit' any lefty group alarms

go off in my mind.

thanks for sharing :toast:

peace

[me b zola]

59. K & R

peace

[rman]

60. Chomsky: "Elites were terrified by the 60's"

"The population has been very carefully excluded from the political arena and the general dominant culture. That's not by accident, a lot of work went into this. Elites were terrified by the 60's; this outburst of popular participation and democracy and so on. And there was this huge counter-campaign to drive it back."
- Noam Chomsky, Democracy Now

The Life and Times of Noam Chomsky: A Brief History of America's Leading Dissident
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/26/1936241&mode=thread&tid=25
(video, audio, transcript)

www.chomsky.info