We see this myth exposed today in many ways mass imprisonment, the tearing up of families and communities driven by racism the criminalization of dissent so any act of resistance becomes by their definition an act of "terrorism."
This is a continuum that is unleashed upon the world's peoples as well as internally. Black, Brown, and Indigenous people are targeted. Muslims and South Asians are targeted. Women and queer folks are targeted. Prisoners are subjected to the worst inhumanities, and if they are ever released, what do they have they to look forward to?
The U.S. has by far the largest incarceration rate in the world--as they build more prisons, the schools deteriorate and the public education system lies in racist tatters.
A3N: How do you think the US government's repression of the Left today differs from the COINTELPRO era?
CM: In the 1970s, the public and some officials, faced with the exposure of the illegal acts of government and police agencies against dissent, feigned concerns about the loss of civil liberties, held hearings, and alleged that reforms would take place. But today, the acts of the FBI, police, and other agencies, once illegal, are now legitimate, legal via the Patriot Act and other unconstitutional measures, all in the name of homeland security and defending the nation against "terrorism."
The playing field has changed. The government now openly conducts assassinations anywhere in the world, can declare people to be "enemy combatants" and imprison them indefinitely without charges; drone warfare permits mass civilian murders by so-called military experts thousands of miles away without risking US military casualties it's a "game" except to the thousands of victims.
Today the government claims the right to breach international human rights laws and conventions with no accountability. And the corporate media is so integrated into this strategy, that there is little room for "legitimate" opposition to get a hearing. So it becomes incumbent upon us to organize and message independently and with few resources.
COINTELPRO 101 is made with mainly love and fumes, but we hope that it will be a useful tool to engage in dialogue and to help organize movements that challenge the mythology that dissent is a guaranteed right, that seek the release of political prisoners, that counter the miseducation of our youth with an understanding of the past so they can better shape the future.
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