Cointelpro

[Angry Young Man]

What exactly was the Cointelpro. My basic understanding from the lyric book in an Antiflag cd is that they were a mccarthyite organistaion that secretly used unconstitutional methods to villify communists and undermine the movement.

[Ander]

COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligent Program) was/is a branch of the FBI used against various "political dissidents" in the US. They would use tactics such as infilitration, harassment, and in some cases, violence. They targetted several different organizations, ranging from the KKK to the US Communist Party to the Black Panthers. Many of the groups they attacked were not violent or threatening ones. Some people believe COINTELPRO was behind Martin Luther King's assassination.

Not nice people.

[rebelworker]

As stated above they were a gvt program to dissrupt the activities of disident groups.

They were largely responsible for the leadership battles within the Black Panther Party that lead to its split and eventual demise.

They also highly targeted the American Indian Movement (AIM).

these two groups in particular felt the worst from the COINTELPRO, including armed assaults on Party offices and assasinations of key members.

Ward Churchil co wrote a huge book documenting their activities. Its called The COINTELPRO papers (http://www.akpress.org/1996/items/cointelpropapers).

also the movie All Power to the People: The Black Panther Party and Beyond (http://tv.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=476885) is an amazing documentary on the period of revolutionary politics and the govt repression that followed. With recent interviews of Panthers still in prison.

The Anarchist Black Cross Federation (http://www.abcf.net/abcf.asp?page=prisoners) or Anarchist Black Cross Network (http://www.anarchistblackcross.org/support/prislist.html) are two good places to find out more about and support Political Prisoners or Prisoners of War currently being held in the US.

[Ricardo]

they also investigated the Yippies, abbie hoffman, and i think the weather underground

[Janus]

It was a huge intelligence program conducted by the FBI for over a decade. It targeted political dissidents at the time including supposed radical elements such as the Black Panthers and KKK but also targeted the SCLC.

COINTELPRO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO)

[Ander]

Yeah, the Wikipedia article gives a pretty spot-on description. I love that site.

[emma_goldman]

Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. The Nixon admin. was really bad for this. Maybe it has to do with Nixon's weird mental state where he's afraid of not being liked or something. There was also a list he compiled of dissidents to his admin. in which Noam Chomsky was listed. I think Cointelpro is a FAR more impeachable offense than Watergate (not that both of them weren't horribly crooked). :angry: