COINTEL-PRO: FBI WAR ON BLACK AMERICA 2 OF 3

FBI WAR ON BLACK AMERICA: COINTEL PROGRAM PART 2 OF 3

The FBI's Domestic Counter-Insurgency Campaign (1960s-70s)

The FBI's infamous Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTEL-PRO) should serve as a chilling reminder of the length to which our enemy will go to crush our resistance. This is especially true since veterans of this time are still with us, & many remain in prison to this day as a result (inc. Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, etc.). Many are also dead, killed by the FBI, police, & paramilitaries during the 1960's & 70's. Our failure to learn from this time would not only leave us vulnerable to the same tactics, it would be a dishonor to the sacrifices made by the previous generation.

COINTEL-PRO had its roots in the anti-communist campaign of the 1950s (when the Cold War began). Its first targets were communist & socialist groups, as well as the black civil rights movement. In the 1960s, new liberation movements emerged around the world. US involvement in Vietnam & the fierce resistance of the Vietnamese people contributed to a climate of insurgency & rebellion, one that extended into the US itself.

At this time, COINTEL-PRO was expanded nation-wide, involving extensive surveillance, informants, collaborators, assaults, false charges, imprisonment, fabricated communications, smear & disinformation campaigns, burglary, vandalism, arson, as well as lethal force. Many key organizers were assassinated, and many are still imprisoned. Among the hardest hit were the Black Panthers & the American Indian Movement, although the Chicano, Puerto Rican, and anti-war movements were also targeted.

The goal of this counter-insurgency campaign was to destroy organized resistance movements, using any means necessary. A major focus was instilling a sense of paranoia & fear among movements, in order to neutralize them. Those who refused to submit were targeted with harsher methods, and some killed. Violent assaults & deaths contributed to over-greater paranoia & insecurity.