Brandon Darby, co-founder of Common Ground Collective, exposed as FBI informant

[Martin Blank]

Political activist Brandon Darby has been revealed as a confidential informant for the FBI. Darby, 32, of Austin, Texas, is best-known as a co-founder of the Common Ground Collective, a loose-knit group of radicals and activists which organized relief efforts in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Information regarding Darby's status as an FBI informant came to light during preparations for the trial of David McKay and Bradley Crowder, two Austin, Texas natives charged with possession of Molotov cocktails in the run-up to the 2008 Republican National Convention held September 1-4 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

It was revealed in court documents that Darby provided the information that led to the arrest of the two protesters. The McKay-Crowder trial is set to begin January 26 in Minnesota and, if convicted, both men could serve up to 30 years in prison though no violence ever occurred.

Darby has confirmed his status as an informant in an open letter circulated on the Internet, saying, "The simple truth is that I have chosen to work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Speaking with the New York Times, Darby added that working with the FBI was "a good moral way to use [his] time."

Source (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/spys-j06.shtml)

[GPDP]

Wow.

Just wow.

[BlackCapital]

Up to 30 years?
Terrible.......

[Vendetta]

Darby added that working with the FBI was "a good moral way to use [his] time."

Ew.

[bcbm]

What a piece of shit. The worst bit is that nothing will ever happen to him and there are probably some in the movement who will even support him. Bastards.

[PRC-UTE]

What a piece of shit. The worst bit is that nothing will ever happen to him and there are probably some in the movement who will even support him. Bastards.

who would support an informer?

[Pawn Power]

I was about to post this yesterday. It is unnerving. This was a guy who has been deeply involved in activist circles for years supposedly doing real work and building relationships without being exposed. He has now seemingly entrapped two young activists. He is a either a spineless traitor or a double agent pig. Either way he is scum.

For us, it is important not to become to disheartened or scared and continue to organize and agitate.

[Red October]

Well, fuck him. The only good part about this is that all his friends will probably hate him and I doubt he'll ever be able to take part in any sort of activism again. I'd hope some of those folks who know where he lives let him know that snitching isn't cool.

[rogue]

The guy was so freaking sketchy, I am surprised more people didn't put it together. There is not a doubt in my mind that he put those kids up to whatever he snitched on them for. People should think twice before working with sexist macho dudes that fetishize violence and talk a lot of shit, but have no political analysis.

[#FF0000]

The guy was so freaking sketchy, I am surprised more people didn't put it together. There is not a doubt in my mind that he put those kids up to whatever he snitched on them for. People should think twice before working with sexist macho dudes that fetishize violence and talk a lot of shit, but have no political analysis.

Oh? Did you meet the guy personally?

In any case, the whole thing's disgusting and what's worse is that from what I'm seeing is that the media's making it look like this guy's a whistleblower who stopped a terrorist act. Disgusting.

[Dimentio]

Exactly what did he stop? Graffiti? Balloon bombs?

[ellipsis]

I was thinking about this. What if this disinformation? An open letter on the internet seems kinda sketchy. Maybe he got busted and his plea bargain was to pretend he was a now outed informant so that the real snitch can continue to operate while there was another name on these court documents. Just a thought... we shouldn't believe everything in the media unquestioningly.

[Dimentio]

I was thinking about this. What if this disinformation? An open letter on the internet seems kinda sketchy. Maybe he got busted and his plea bargain was to pretend he was a now outed informant so that the real snitch can continue to operate while there was another name on these court documents. Just a thought... we shouldn't believe everything in the media unquestioningly.

That sounds like an incredibly zoggish theory.

Anyway, I admit he got some guts for doing this. But he should really apologise to all people he worked with.

If he don't like certain forms of activism, then he should try to persuade the persons from not doing it, not just smiling and then turning them in. That is an incredibly twisted behaviour.

[Martin Blank]

This guy has been "sketchy" for a long time -- long before the RNC business. I've met him before, as have other League members. And, personally, I think he's been a snitch for years, trying to use his role in Common Ground and other organizations before that to pass on information to the state.

We had a couple members work in New Orleans alongside Common Ground after Katrina. One of them was asked by Darby (pretty sure it was Darby) if he knew about "radical groups" participating in the reconstruction work in order to "agitate" in the city. We didn't tell him shit because the question seemed like, as the MIMmites used to say, a "pig question".

In general, though, we should be prepared for this kind of infiltration, including the setting up of "community groups" and "coalitions" by police/state agents and snitches, designed to "pocket" real leftists and keep them under surveillance. There is also a need for a great collaboration among those of us who are the targets of this kind of infiltration in order to develop our own counter-surveillance and counter-intelligence work.

[Coggeh]

This guy has been "sketchy" for a long time -- long before the RNC business. I've met him before, as have other League members. And, personally, I think he's been a snitch for years, trying to use his role in Common Ground and other organizations before that to pass on information to the state.

We had a couple members work in New Orleans alongside Common Ground after Katrina. One of them was asked by Darby (pretty sure it was Darby) if he knew about "radical groups" participating in the reconstruction work in order to "agitate" in the city. We didn't tell him shit because the question seemed like, as the MIMmites used to say, a "pig question".

In general, though, we should be prepared for this kind of infiltration, including the setting up of "community groups" and "coalitions" by police/state agents and snitches, designed to "pocket" real leftists and keep them under surveillance. There is also a need for a great collaboration among those of us who are the targets of this kind of infiltration in order to develop our own counter-surveillance and counter-intelligence work.
Oh look at you taking all the credit , sure your knew :p

Just kidding man , its true though leftists do need to be on their toes about strange members . I have no real doubt that this website is being monitered atm like .

[Mather]

Complete scum.

But as others have said, this case should not put anyone off activism or their political work. Dealing with informants and traitors is something revolutionaries have dealt with for a long time and will continue to deal with in the future.

The task we all need to do is to ensure that it happens as little as possible by using as many methods as possible to counter police/secret police infiltration.

[bcbm]

Exactly what did he stop? Graffiti? Balloon bombs?

A molotov attack on police cars/police, allegedly.


Anyway, I admit he got some guts for doing this.

Yeah how brave to work for the most powerful organization on the planet in order to snitch on a bunch of kids with no threat of repercussions.


But he should really apologise to all people he worked with.

Yeah, I'm sure that would make people facing decades in jail and feeling completely betrayed feel much better. Oh, wait, no. What he should really do is put a shotgun barrel in his pig mouth and pull the trigger.

[Mindtoaster]

... I really don't quite know what to say about this.

They were one of the first groups here on the ground after Katrina and they did amazing work. They recruited thousands of volunteers and were so effective that the army started having them distribute food because they were more effective. Needless to say, I can't really think any less of them.

It seems a bit odd though. Work for three years here and then reveal yourself after exposing someone with possession of.... Molotov cocktails... Something seems a tad fishy.

[Martin Blank]

... I really don't quite know what to say about this.

They were one of the first groups here on the ground after Katrina and they did amazing work. They recruited thousands of volunteers and were so effective that the army started having them distribute food because they were more effective. Needless to say, I can't really think any less of them.

It seems a bit odd though. Work for three years here and then reveal yourself after exposing someone with possession of.... Molotov cocktails... Something seems a tad fishy.

What better way to keep grassroots organizing under control, and the more "radical" elements that would be attracted to it under surveillance, than to set up such a group?

And, personally, the fact that the Army started using them as a distribution network should be seen as a sign of that. After all, when does the bourgeois state ever defer control of such a situation to an independent group of leftists, unless those leftists are "in the service"?

[Circle E Society]

Personally I think this sort of goes to show that security culture isn't just paranoia and I know he was a member of those groups and stuff prior but still... Infiltration and other repression is very real and folks need to start to take it more seriously.

[Charles Xavier]

This is why you need to be careful in your "direct actions" because a lot of them especially at protests are organized by police.

[Mather]

This is why you need to be careful in your "direct actions" because a lot of them especially at protests are organized by police.

Careful, yes, but never be put off or give up on direct action or any other activity because of police/state infiltration.

Some groups like to play it safe and avoid anything that even nears the line between 'legal' and 'illegal' actions and remember that by 'illegal' were not even talking of what many would consider traditional terrorism but simply harmless direct action such as trespassing on property, demonstrations not authorised with prior police 'consent' and other activities. Some groups do play safe and just hold meetings on some topic relating to current events or theory, usually done by leninist/trotskyist groups. Nothing wrong with that by itself but if you simply limit what political actions you do to what the state tells you is alright, you will never get very far as the state places these limits for good reason.

What any revolutionary can do is to take all measures needed to ensure that infiltrators are discovered and booted out and if the direct action is going to be a public one (ie; not clandestine), then invlolve as many people as possible to ensure that any infiltrator will find it that much harder to cause any long term damage.

[jake williams]

security culture
The fact that you're the first person to mention security culture is a big problem. This is stuff every activist should know about. The police do infiltrate political groups, even small or strange ones, and they do do fucked up stuff. You have to be careful, whether or not you or anyone you know is actually doing anything illegal.

[bcbm]

This is why you need to be careful in your "direct actions" because a lot of them especially at protests are organized by police.

A lot? Not really.

[jake williams]

A lot?
Enough. More than a lot of new or naive activists realize.

[bcbm]

I've been around the block a few times and I've never been to an event organized by pigs. There are provacateurs, certainly, but not in leadership roles.

[jake williams]

I've been around the block a few times and I've never been to an event organized by pigs. There are provacateurs, certainly, but not in leadership roles.
I think you and I are interpreting what GD said differently.

[bcbm]

He said pigs organize most direct action at protests. This is not true.

[jake williams]

He said pigs organize most direct action at protests. This is not true.
I don't think that's quite what he said, but you're right.

[rogue]

Oh? Did you meet the guy personally?
Yes.

[ellipsis]

The This american life story about darby won gold at an audio film festival. You can stream it from their website (http://thirdcoastfestival.com/); click on this years winners. Darby doesn't do a very good job in my eyes of redeeming himself.

[bcbm]

Darby doesn't do a very good job in my eyes of redeeming himself.

i would really fucking hope not.

[Floyce White]

On the other hand, around 1979-80, I knew a couple of anti-nuke activists in the Dallas-based Armadillo Coalition of Texas who bragged that they formed a nonprofit corporation to take government grants to tell people to call the police when they suspected a crime. Yeah, pretty obvious considering the times.

So-called "mass movement work" is not today massive, and hasn't been so for a long time. To join into bourgeois co-itions to "do good work" is about as ill-conceived as losing your wages at Indian casinos because "they do good work." I can't fault communists for joining whatever struggles exist in their localities, but the demographics are about 90% petty bourgeois, agents-provocateur, and rightists disguised as leftists (to disrupt and recruit). Chances are you'll be the only working-class person at the meeting.

The utter bankruptcy of leftism was completely exposed. Workers aren't attracted to leftist groups. Why bother doing cute charity work? Might as well feed the homeless...house the hungry...et cetera, et cetera.

[Floyce White]

bcbm... some years ago the media "revealed" that the head of Alliance for Survival or some such anti-nuke group's woman head in Pasadena was from the Los Angeles Police Department. Also, the KKK/neo-Nazi union in North Carolina that conducted the November 1979 assassination of the CWP 5 was in leadership and composition mostly members of the FBI and various police agencies. Additionally, I assert from my own experience that so-called "off-duty" (really on-duty) members of the San Diego Police Department were virtually all of the "media" and the "anti-protestor protestors" at the 2003 anti-war protests here.

An alternate position is to presume that there is no significant difference between cop cars and the work vehicles of petty bourgeois such as taxicabs, pick-up trucks with ladders, vans with work gear, and limousines. I don't. Same goes for their drivers sans car.

[ellipsis]

By the end of the FLQs existance, post october crisis the group had more informants as members than true members.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Wow, that's frightening and disappointing.

[chegitz guevara]

Let this be a lesson to you all about engaging in even the slightest illegal activity. You never know which of your comrades is going to rat you out for smoking that joint. An organization can even be crippled by getting tickets for jay-walking, $50 a pop adds up. So, discussing violence, let alone in engaging in it (aside from self-defense), is clearly out of the question.

[#FF0000]

This is almost a year old.

[bcbm]

Let this be a lesson to you all about engaging in even the slightest illegal activity. You never know which of your comrades is going to rat you out for smoking that joint. An organization can even be crippled by getting tickets for jay-walking, $50 a pop adds up. So, discussing violence, let alone in engaging in it (aside from self-defense), is clearly out of the question.

i think this sort of "trust no one" paranoia is counter-productive. not everyone is a rat, and i have no interest in treating everyone like that. you can trust people while remaining smart.

[black magick hustla]

i've always been particularly wary of folks who expose incendiary macho politics. there are some people out there that have absolutely no analysis on the situation to the point that they raise some really fuckin worrysome red flags. for example, i mantain an arm length against the redsons because i cant helpt to suspect of them as cops

[ellipsis]

there are some people out there that have absolutely no analysis on the situation to the point that they raise some really fuckin worrysome red flags. for example, i mantain an arm length against the redsons because i cant helpt to suspect of them as cops

I hope that you don't really believe that I have "no analysis." If you read more of my posts (http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1615622&postcount=104) here you would see that to be untrue. I am more insulted by this than the next accusation.

Although I am not a cop nor an informant nor in cooperation with any law enforcement or national security organization, you are wise to be wary of me. Because of my professed academic interests, my politics and my ownership of guns, no doubt I am on many lists and being watched at some level. Being associated with such potentially high profile individuals can attract unwanted attention to a group, even if he is an honest comrade.

[Delenda Carthago]

You need a cat to kill a rat...

[Delenda Carthago]

And of course you gonna have snitches.even in here,you think everyone is who he says he is?Dont be fooled.Thats no reason to not do what you wanna do.If it was,no revolt or revolution would have been done in the last 400 years!;)

[Robocommie]

Didn't that motherfucker hear? Stop Snitchin'.

Is this Darby asshole going to keep doing activism like nothing happened? Fat chance he's going to keep a lot of friends if people can't even feel safe to talk trash about the government around him.

[The Red Next Door]

This is a shame, pig