lessons of cointelpro
Posted by Mike E on December 1, 2007
A sister in the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade passed on a new link about cointelpro from Z-net. (“The House of Reps Vote 404 to 6 to Pass the Bill that Legalizes COINTELPRO?” by Justin Ponkow and Troy Nkrumah)
For many reasons, the lessons of cointelpro in the 60s and the dangers of cointelpro now are worth thinking through.
Historically the political police (FBI) tried to spark violent conflict between revolutionary groups. People often had real and principled differences of politics and ideology. But the police tried to get groups to view those expressing such differences as as enemies and police agents. Police infiltrators in various political groups would accuse other political trends of being “police agents” or “enemies.” They would hype a sense of possible attack and mutual antagonism. They would invent statements and charges — and circulate them. Some times honest revolutionaries would get caught up in the “badjacketing” of false accusations true (sometimes even on their own) spreading or believing false charges against other activists.
We need a revolutionary atmosphere where “a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought content.” We need a revolutionary movement where people can express sharp and principled mutual criticism — where we struggle over truth and line from the high plane. where we all are conscious enough not to see such criticism or the people raising such criticism as “enemies.”
