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Title: COINTELPRO Returns: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies
Source:
Alternet
URL Source: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/92212/
Published: Jul 21, 2008
Author: Dave Zirin
Post Date: 2008-07-21 22:31:19 by F.A. Hayek Fan
Keywords: None
Views: 177
Comments: 11
Finally, at long last, I have something in common with Muhammad Ali. No, I'm not the heavyweight champion of the world, and haven't been named spokesperson for Raid bug spray. Like "the Greatest" - not to mention far too many others -- I have been a target of state police surveillance for activities -- in my case against the death penalty -- that were legal, non-violent, and, so we assumed, constitutionally protected. In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy." She sat in our meetings of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, smiling and engaged, taking copious notes about actions deemed threatening by the Governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich. Our seditious crimes, as Lucy reported, involved such acts as planning to set up a table at the local farmer's market and writing up a petition. Adding a dash of farce to this outrage, she was monitoring us in the liberal enclave of Takoma Park, Maryland, a place known more for vegans than violence, more for tie-dying than terrorism. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row. My dear friend Mike Stark, a board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty is at times referred to in "Lucy's" report as a "socialist" and an "anarchist." One can only assume this is the pathetic time honored tradition of reducing people to simple caricatures, all the better to garner Homeland Security grant money. Veteran peace activist in Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, who initiated the suit, was as well consistently shadowed as he walked down the streets. His "primary crime" (their lingo) was entered into the homeland security database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary crime" was listed as "terrorism -- anti-war protesters." The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA. Yes, a respected peace organizer of many decades standing is checked as a terrorist, his actions listed as criminal, for doing nothing more than exercising his rights. It boggles the mind. Former police superintendent Tim Hutchins defended these totalitarian practices by saying, "You do what you think is best to protect the general populace of the state." (The article mentioned that Hutchins is now a federal defense contractor. I guess The Global War on Terror is just the gift that keeps on giving for the Hutchins family.) But "protect the general populace" from what? The surveillance continued even after it was determined that we were planning nothing more dangerous that carrying clipboards in a public place. Hutchins and the Ehrlich administration have undertaken an ugly violation of our civil rights, manipulating fears of terrorism to stamp out dissent. This is COINTELPRO pure and simple. Like the infamous counter-intelligence program whose heyday many assume was a relic the 1950s and 1960s, it's an effort to harass the innocent and breed paranoia, all for daring to question power. Governor Ehrlich and Tim Hutchins stand in the legacy of those who hounded Martin Luther King, and facilitated the death of Malcolm X. They stand in the tradition of those who drove the great actor, college football superstar, and activist Paul Robeson toward The mental breakdown that claimed his life. When Robeson's files were opened under the Freedom of Information Act, the results were terrifying. As his son, Paul Robeson Jr. has written, "From the files I received, it was obvious that there were agents who did nothing but follow every public event of my father, or even of me.... It took on a life of its own.... Over time, even for someone as powerful and with as many resources as my dad had...the attrition got to him." Now Robeson is on a postage stamp. The moral midgets who destroyed him went unpunished. That's what has to change. The ACLU, to their credit, is going on the offensive. As ACLU lawyer David Rocah said at a news conference in Baltimore on Thursday, "To invest this many hours investigating the most all-American of activities without any scintilla of evidence there is anything criminal going on is shocking. It's Kafkaesque." Unfortunately for people like Gov. Ehrlich, it is also "the most All American of activities" to take the constitution and use it as their personal hand wipe. As the great political philosopher Ice T wrote, "Freedom of Speech.... just watch what you say." Well, now is exactly the time not to watch what we say. I'm angry. I'm angry for my friends, who trusted "Lucy" and others. I'm angry that my tax dollars went to paying the salaries of people who spy and intimidate those exercising their rights. I'm angry that Barack Obama just voted to increase the power of the Federal government to disrupt people's lives. And I'm angry enough that I'm joining a lawsuit initiated by the ACLU. "Homeland Security" picked on the wrong sports writer. They also picked on the wrong group of activists. We will not be silenced. [People who want to express their outrage can contact the office of the current Governor Martin O'Malley. We should demand a full investigation of the MSP, public release of all documents obtained through this illegal activity, and a specific commitment that the anti-death penalty and anti-war movement will not be targeted. Call the office of the governor at 1-800-811-8336, or submit a comment online at http://www.governor.maryland.gov/mail/]
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#1. To: Hayek Fan, iconoclast (#0)
Great article.
Is he gonna do a damn thing about it?
We should all be part of their investigations and data bases. When the day comes we can't assemble, speak and write in opposition to our government, then that is the day they win and the dream dies. Nobody should fear these govt. rats. They should fear us.
What can he do? We are at a point in time where the government can do almost anything they want to do in the name of protecting themselves. The American people don't give a shit as long as its happening to someone else. He can try to sue, if he has the money, but the government has deep pockets. Chances are too that the courts would side with the government. I mean we're talking about a court system that actually gave the government the OK to steal personal property for no other reason than to increase their tax base. A government court system that corrupt will allow the government to get away with anything. I don't know what the answer is.
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Director, CIA 1973–1976
bump
Seeing as the government pays the Judges...........
"Satan / Cheney in "08" Those of us that post here probably already are. We're not sheep hypnotized by American Idol. Those are the ones the government considers "good Americans" today. We think, and even worse, share our thoughts. This makes us a threat.
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Director, CIA 1973–1976
Hell, they support it — in the name of domestic security. There is no security in government programs for secretly manipulating public opinion, or suppressing dissent. For when the government can covertly manipulate the political process, we can never quite know what is real and what isn't. We need a transparent government that leaves lobbying and politicizing to the people.
Maybe. The problem is that most don't have a clue that this is even happening. You don't hear about this kind of shit on the mainstream media. They've made the decision for us that this sort of behavior on the part of government is perfectly OK.
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Director, CIA 1973–1976
I agree, HF. Thanks for getting the word out. I presume this case is well-researched now, with some of those FOIA documents online and so forth. We need more of that, validated so that the evidence is incontrovertible.
that, unfortunately, is how most people in this PC'ed culture interpret the 1st A.
I'm angry that my tax dollars went to paying the salaries of people who spy and intimidate those exercising their rights. I'm angry that Barack Obama just voted to increase the power of the Federal government to disrupt people's lives.
#2. To: Hayek Fan (#0)
People who want to express their outrage can contact the office of the current Governor Martin O'Malley.
#3. To: Hayek Fan (#0)
#4. To: angle (#2)
Is he gonna do a damn thing about it?
#5. To: Hayek Fan (#4)
I don't know what the answer is.
#6. To: Hayek Fan (#4)
Chances are too that the courts would side with the government
#7. To: Jethro Tull (#3)
We should all be part of their investigations and data bases.
#8. To: Hayek Fan, lodwick, Jethro Tull (#4)
The American people don't give a shit as long as its happening to someone else.
#9. To: buckeye (#8)
Hell, they support it — in the name of domestic security.
#10. To: Hayek Fan (#9)
#11. To: Hayek Fan (#0)
As the great political philosopher Ice T wrote, "Freedom of Speech.... just watch what you say."
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