Big Brother's M.O.: Part the Third

I need to make sure you have all the vocabulary you need before reading the article I link to below. So, here is your new word for the day: agents provocateurs If you aren't familiar with the term, you may find it a bit contradictory. These folks are agents of the police or government who infiltrate an organization to provoke violent or illegal activities. "Now wait just a ding-dang minute," you say as you hold on to your last vestiges of naivete, why would the police, who infiltrate these groups to PROTECT the public be provoking VIOLENCE, LAWBREAKING and other EVILDOIN'? Simple, Chester. They want to discredit the group, or better yet find a reason to arrest some folks.

Before I send you off to this article, I also need to give you a little history. Ramsey Clark was Attorney General of the United States under Johnson. He has since made quite a name for himself opposing U.S. wars, such as in Panama and Iraq. He's a bit of a riddle, that one, as he also spent some time defending former leftist, turned fascist, turned perennial Democratic candidate for governor, culty kinda guy, Lyndon Larouche. Okay, we all need lawyers, and I'm sure the government broke some rules going after the guy, but Ramsey is a busy man and this was a battle he chose to fight.

Another enigma is why Ramsey's group, the International Action Coalition Link , is so permeated with people from the Workers' World Party. They are Maoists. I don't care if they are Maoists, though their rigid support for various countries discredited in my eyes makes me not inclined to join their ranks. Note to WWP: China is not communist anymore. Sorry.

I've had occasion to work with WWP folks before. They pushed the idea of war crime tribunals after the Gulf War and several cities participated, including L.A. They were hard workers, and although their rhetoric onstage was, well, irrelevant to the proceedings, behind the scenes I can recall no instigation of sectarian nonsense. I even remember Gloria La Riva's (she often runs for office, so I don't think she'll mind the mention. Plus no one actually reads this site) ability to paint block letters on protest signs with printer-like quality. I don't know why I was so impressed by that.

No, it's not them that rouses my curiousity, it is Ramsey. I've never seen him publically state, "Hey, these WWP folks are DA BOMB. Everyone should join up." So since he doesn't want to promote them, why does he discredit himself in the mainstream by hanging out with them? I really don't know. Maybe it's as simple as their aforementioned work ethic. Maybe its something deeper. Wheels within wheels, you know.

Regardless, they are the ones who've been organizing those big marches on Washington. The marches were well organized and though the stage seemed dominated by WWP spokespeople, lots of others spoke as well.

All right then, I'm a little wary of them. But go to the march on Oct. 25th and while you are at it, you can play "spot the agent." Evidently, there are lots of them in and around the IAC and their events. Here is the article. This is a right-wing website that seems to be going after the WWP, but I think the information is really more damaging to the DC cops or SS (Secret Service) or whoever is up to these dirty tricks.

Shut up, Ty. Give us the damn link already. As if you didn't already scroll down here and skip all of my germane and sagacious musings. Shame on you. Nevertheless, here is the link.

Did you enjoy that? Obviously the DC police must have a lot of agents around these folks or this lawsuit would not be bugging them (heh...get it? bugging? Nevermind). If you have no agents infiltrating, how can revealing their names be damaging? Or, as the court put it, acknowledging as much, "The identification of these undercover officers has been ordered by Judge Kessler and this disclosure will effectively terminate any ongoing investigations into the Plaintiff's organizations being conducted by these officers."

Now, do YOU belong to any organizations that might be affiliated with these folks? Well, now you've got your VERY OWN GOVERNMENT FILE! You can mess around with FOIA if you want, while it still exists, but I don't think you'll get too far. Just be content to lower your voice occasionally at cocktail parties and allude to the fact that you may have a FILE! Gives you street cred with other activists. Maybe you'll even get some phone numbers out it, you macker, you. Thank me if you get anywhere with that cute, earnest activist you've been eyeing since the war began.

Yep, that's what the government does. They protect us, from...well, ourselves. They infiltrate, bug, provoke, frame, lie, cheat and steal to bust up any organization that has any chance of making a difference and even some that don't. Oh, they also kill, but that, my friends, is another story...