Political infiltration nothing new

So just a few quick thoughts on the news that the NYPD was keeping tabs on political protesters before the RNC Convention.

Before I left ABCNews.com with a repetitive-strain type injury in 2000, I was working on a story along these lines. Unfortunately it never ran because I couldn't so much as sign my name to a check let alone type by the time I left ABC. But the basics of the story were all out there, though no one had really pulled it all together at that point. To me, it sounded like the WTO riots in Seattle (in November 1999) took police departments by surprise across the US and they started to realize that they needed to be better prepared if their city was about to host any big political/govt/economic event. Yes, individual police depts acknowledged they were doing some stuff, but I couldn't get anyone to say this was being coordinated on a national level, even in an impromptu fashion. (Except the protesters, of course, who were certain it was a giant well-coordinated conspiracy to shut them up.)

At that point, it had already been well documented that the cops were infiltrating the protest groups. How well documented? A Reuters reporter was actually riding along with a protest group during the 2000 GOP convention in Philadelphia when they got diverted on the way to the protest and arrested -- except for the protester among them who was actually a cop. (Oddly, I can't find that story online now, but that link just above is useful.)

That single event alone should have been enough, I thought, to let every political activist across the country know it could/would go on again. And mind you this was all before Sept. 11.

I came to this story with the full knowledge it was nothing new. One of the best stories I did in college was a huge package on the FBI's infiltration (in the 1960s) of the Black Students Union at UC Santa Barbara. I had all the documents; there was no question this happened. They had gone so far as to enroll an FBI agent at UCSB with the sole purpose of joining the BSU and keeping tabs on them. The partially-blacked-out FBI reports (released through FOIA requests) went so far as to list the titles of books on the shelves in the apartments of the BSU leaders. For the story, I tracked down several of the former BSU guys -- some who never knew they'd been infiltrated until I started reading the reports to them over the phone. As best as I could find, the FBI agent never did anything except report what he/she observed.

It was pretty amazing stuff. And indeed, those guys were planing on making waves. In 1968 they took over a campus building for several days until their demands were met. No violence, except they did have chains they used to lock the building's doors. One of the things that resulted from their action was the creation of UCSB's Black Studies department.

Labels: nyc, philadelphia, politics, ucsb

- posted by Amy @ 3/26/2007 10:03:00 AM

 
Running and drinking - college edition

So what was life like in the UCSB freshman dorms in 1986, you ask? Barney abuses his scanner to offer evidence.

Labels: pictures, ucsb

- posted by Amy @ 3/23/2007 09:09:00 AM

 
Free press problems, college style

Looks like my old college paper, the Daily Nexus, is having a little problem with the student government unclear on the whole concept of a free press. If only they would just print what we want, like maybe giving us a free weekly column to promote ourselves, we'd be happy to give them the money the students voted to give them.

Labels: media, nexus, ucsb

- posted by Amy @ 1/19/2007 02:24:00 PM