Slashdot Mirror
Mystery of FBI Documents Posted To US Press In 1971 Solved
AHuxley writes "A team of eight antiwar activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and removed at least 1000 documents. Once removed and sorted, the bulk of the files showed FBI spying on U.S. political groups. COINTELPRO had been found. 43 years later five of the participants have come forward."
This is a useful reminder that government can be heavy handed. The group that did this made careful plans, took a big risk, and the results are still being talked about and referenced today. It contributed to reform. COINTELPRO is regularly referenced in Slashdot discussions, relevant or not.
Although COINTELPRO is remembered, few bother to remember the other side of the equation, which is the conduct of the radicals. There were those that went past legitimate protest, past civil disobedience, and turned to violence: bombs, arson, shooting. One famous example, the Weather Underground.
Weather Underground: William Ayers' forgotten communist manifesto: Prairie Fire
Kent State tape indicates altercation and pistol fire preceded National Guard shootings (audio)
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell