Cointelpro: Counter intelligence propaganda.
When I was an undergraduate, we had a charismatic black studies professor become the head of our black studies department.
The problem was, he was not a professor. He was an agent provocateur.
He was super-black, he dressed in dashikis, He and his picture perfect family wore Afros that were pick-perfect. He taught systems theory---a course I took---and never taught anything about systems. He spent all of his time telling us,we were never going to be successful in uniting black people. And that was not all....
*He engaged in character assassination against a popular Black dean of students. He, when Dr. Alvin Poussaint came to campus, speaking about agent provocateurs to we young activists----he in loud whispers, kept pointing out unfamiliar faces in the room---who were they? what did they want?
*He sabotaged a plan to unite the college and town black communities in a mutual arts community
*He used his position to gather around him acolytes who would attack other activists in the community and act as spies who sowed dissension among the ranks
Why this trip down memory lane? This is what happened to us as a black college community in one of the most prestigious schools in the country, with a reputation for activism. We held a trial for him among the students....and found him guilty of being an agent. We boycotted his classes and the next year he was gone. We have never found his name at any college since that time.
Ask former Panthers,former SDS leaders, former civil rights activists,.....we all know the pattern.
What agent provocateurs would do in the 60's and 70's is very similar to what they could do today. They could be opinion leaders with a power base, say a blog. They could pretend to be the radical leaders of change,until that change seems to be gaining success.
Then they could suddenly turn against that change, that leader. They could drop him as "not radical enough", they could engage their followers to do the same, creating chaos among the ranks.
This is not a conspiracy theory. This is a warning.
A good number of the "terrorists" that the National Security Forces are "catching" have been set up by those they thought were their friends.
In the 60's and 70's, those of us active in the various movements, civil rights, student rights, women's rights, are very aware of those people....it is nothing new.
I encountered another type of agent as an advisor to a Muslim student group. We held a poetry night and featured a lot of Muslim young poets. One, loved to talk about doing violence to then President Bush. I confronted him publicly and told him that he talked like an agent. He was furious at me----but we have never seen him read his poetry again in our community.
This is not a plaything people, this is serious counter intelligence, sometimes from the republicans, sometimes from law enforcement.......be watchful.