Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 7, 2014

FBI burglars who exposed 'COINTELPRO' come out of the shadows


Above: Democracy Now! Read transcript: http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/8/it_was_time_to_do_more


New York Times

The FBI burglars who first exposed the word 'COINTELPRO' came out of the shadows after 43 years. 

"Among the grim litany of revelations was a blackmail letter F.B.I. agents had sent anonymously to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,threatening to expose his extramarital affairs if he did not commit suicide."
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/us/burglars-who-took-on-fbi-abandon-shadows.html

Comment from Ben Carnes, Choctaw:
"My thinking is that many people who were imprisoned as a result of COINTELPRO should be released from the prison sentences they are still serving, such as Leonard Peltier, and many others."

Noam Chomsky: 1971 Burglary of FBI Office Proved Agency Had Become a "National Political Police"

Chomsky discusses the COINTELPRO and how activist organization (including AIM) were penetrated during the 1960s/1970s. Very interesting stuff! 

"It Was Time to Do More Than Protest": Activists Admit to 1971 FBI Burglary That Exposed COINTELPRO

From COINTELPRO to Snowden, the FBI Burglars Speak Out After 43 Years of Silence (Part 2)

Currently you can see how COINTELPRO tactics are used against activists, and to destroy movements: Wikipedia: "The intended effect of the FBI's COINTELPRO was to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, or otherwise neutralize" groups that the FBI believed were "subversive"[32] by instructing FBI field operatives to:[33]
create a negative public image for target groups (e.g. by surveiling activists, and then releasing negative personal information to the public)
break down internal organization
create dissension between groups
restrict access to public resources
restrict the ability to organize protests
restrict the ability of individuals to participate in group activities

No comments: