COINTELPRO Comes to My Town: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies

Finally, at long last, I have something in common with Muhammad Ali.
No, I'm not the heavyweight champion of the world, and haven't been named spokesperson for Raid bug spray. Like "the Greatest" - not to mention far too many others -- I have been a target of state police surveillance for activities -- in my case against the death penalty -- that were legal, non-violent, and, so we assumed, constitutionally protected. In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy." She sat in our meetings of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, smiling and engaged, taking copious notes about actions deemed threatening by the Governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich. Our seditious crimes, as Lucy reported, involved such acts as planning to set up a table at the local farmer's market and writing up a petition. Adding a dash of farce to this outrage, she was monitoring us in the liberal enclave of Takoma Park, Maryland, a place known more for vegans than violence, more for tie-dying than terrorism.

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row.

My dear friend Mike Stark, a board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty is at times referred to in "Lucy's" report as a "socialist" and an "anarchist." One can only assume this is the pathetic time honored tradition of reducing people to simple caricatures, all the better to garner Homeland Security grant money.

Veteran peace activist in Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, who initiated the suit, was as well consistently shadowed as he walked down the streets. His "primary crime" (their lingo) was entered into the homeland security database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary crime" was listed as "terrorism -- anti-war protesters." The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or
HIDTA. Yes, a respected peace organizer of many decades standing is checked as a terrorist, his actions listed as criminal, for doing nothing more than exercising his rights. It boggles the mind.

Former police superintendent Tim Hutchins defended these totalitarian practices by saying, "You do what you think is best to protect the general populace of the state." (The article mentioned that Hutchins is now a federal defense contractor. I guess The Global War on Terror is just the gift that keeps on giving for the Hutchins family.)

But "protect the general populace" from what? The surveillance continued even after it was determined that we were planning nothing more dangerous that carrying clipboards in a public place. Hutchins and the Ehrlich administration have undertaken an ugly violation of our civil rights, manipulating fears of terrorism to stamp out dissent.

This is COINTELPRO pure and simple. Like the infamous counter-intelligence program whose heyday many assume was a relic the 1950s and 1960s, it's an effort to harass the innocent and breed paranoia, all for daring to question power.

Governor Ehrlich and Tim Hutchins stand in the legacy of those who hounded Martin Luther King, and facilitated the death of Malcolm X. They stand in the tradition of those who drove the great actor, college football superstar, and activist Paul Robeson toward The mental breakdown that claimed his life. When Robeson's files were opened under the Freedom of Information Act, the results were terrifying.

As his son, Paul Robeson Jr. has written, "From the files I received, it was obvious that there were agents who did nothing but follow every public event of my father, or even of me.... It took on a life of its own.... Over time, even for someone as powerful and with as many resources as my
dad had...the attrition got to him."

Now Robeson is on a postage stamp. The moral midgets who destroyed him went unpunished. That's what has to change. The ACLU, to their credit, is going on the offensive.
As ACLU lawyer David Rocah said at a news conference in Baltimore on Thursday, "To invest this many hours investigating the most all-American of activities without any scintilla of evidence there is anything criminal going on is shocking. It's Kafkaesque."

Unfortunately for people like Gov. Ehrlich, it is also "the most All
American of activities" to take the constitution and use it as their personal hand wipe.

As the great political philosopher Ice T wrote, "Freedom of Speech.... just watch what you say." Well, now is exactly the time not to watch what we say. I'm angry. I'm angry for my friends, who trusted "Lucy" and others. I'm angry that my tax dollars went to paying the salaries of people who spy and intimidate those exercising their rights. I'm angry that Barack Obama just voted to increase the power of the Federal government to disrupt people's lives. And I'm angry enough that I'm joining a lawsuit initiated by the ACLU. "Homeland Security" picked on the wrong sports writer. They also picked on the wrong group of activists. We will not be silenced.

[People who want to express their outrage can contact the office of the current Governor Martin O'Malley. We should demand a full investigation of the MSP, public release of all documents obtained through this illegal activity, and a specific commitment that the
anti-death penalty and anti-war movement will not be targeted. Call the office of the governor at 1-800-811-8336, or submit a comment online at http://www.governor.maryland.gov/mail/]

Comments

[BadChristian]

Great post and impressive appearance on Democracy Now.
Thank you.

[tbone99]

Vegans seemed to be particularly targeted .The beef industry even gave Oprah hell. You start wondering if they go to all that trouble , how good could the food be., really?

Thanks Dave Z. for the heads up. The other damaging effect of these revelations is the distrust it breeds amongst each other- I think that is their main goal.
Isolated people can't achieve any political change.

[kensp]

It is interesting that you criticize Americans for their general lack of historical knowledge and then give an inappropriate example like Julius Caesar. The Roman republic was not a democracy but an oligarchy, controlled by a hereditary upper class. By Caesar's time, the Republic was already on it last legs. It simply could not effectively govern Rome after her victory in the Punic wars had greatly expanded the territories under Roman rule. Caesar was popular with the plebs (ie those who were not part of the upper class) because he advanced their interests at the expense of the upper class by among other things trying to limit the number of slaves in Rome and not because he inflamed them with violent rhetoric. Caesar was in fact a visionary leader and a reformer who also happened to be a great general with fanatically devoted legions at his disposal which was the reason he was given power absolute power by the Senate.

I would however draw a parallel between Caesar's assassins and the planners of the Iraq war. The Honores believed that all they had to do was kill Caesar and the Republic would magically become an effective government again. Instead they got another 13 years of bloody civil war and then an absolute and permanent dictatorship. The planners of the Iraq war believed they just had to kill Saddam and a democracy would magically appear in a country with no history of rule of law or tradition of individual rights.

[johnwcowan]

Be proud: at least you're in The Files for something you've *done*. I'm in them because I'm the son of my parents, period.

[Loombucket]

I donno, but it seems to me if you want to fight the home-grown terrorists like government sponsored domestic spying networks, Blackwater, etc., just join up and choke the system with so much BS they'll never get through it all.

Hear about a local politician on the take? Report it. Some car with a Blackwater bumper sticker making illegal turns and running lights? Report it. Let'm wallow in their own crapulence.

Fight fire with fire.

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

So true: The Dept of Defense had to trash an earlier "total information awareness" database for this very reason. Garbage in, garbage out. You can do the same thing with SOME of your own data, i.e., garbage it up, especially your personal/purchasing habits. Medical and employment data, not so much.

I have nothing to hide, but "messing with their heads" is a personal hobby of mine. It's one of the ways I work off my frustration at The System. I registered as a Republican. I make stuff up on questionnaires - I like to make myself 28, tall, blonde and really, really RICH. Transgender? Why not? Oh, the mail that I get! I even ended up a "new mom" in some big databank, nevermind the fact that my kid is a teenager . I got baby food and diaper coupons up the wazoo for two years.

[munky dude]

Erm, don't want to rain on your parade, but 'crapulence' has nothing to do with bodily waste of a fecal variety.
To be crapulent is to be drunk.
Nothing more.

Please use dictionaries, folks, and let's keep language alive...

[tbone99]

As a person with an Impeahc Bush sticker I can count 6 parking tickets that I've recieved in 5 months though parking legally. Even though I m parking legally I must spend my time getting them dismissed....

The security forces in this country are only on one side...
They wil not prosecute their fellow "peace' officers.....

[RumiSouth]

I know a subject of the COINTEL program from the early 60s. Oddly enough, he was never a member of any political party, much less the Communist Party. When he finally used the FOIA to obtain his FBI file, he found that the agents following him had come up with quite a neologism. They called him a "political deviant."

POLITICAL DEVIANT. I like this phrase; I think I'll start wearing it.

[dapperd72]

Good on yer, Dave, for never retreating from bona fide terrorist elements in our federal government's fascist industrial complex. Keep speaking truth to power as you've always done! I've no doubt I've personally been secretly targeted by the FBI & possibly CIA for over a decade for my animal rights activities, along with anti-war protests. IMHO, we should wear our listing on the "Terrorist Watch List" like a badge of honor. This distinguishes the true patriots from the crypto-fascist imposters who wave the flag & denounce anyone who practices the freedoms embodied in the Bill of Rights. Carpe diem, my compatriots!

[abouttime]

Thanks Davis Zarin

I will call the office of the governor at 1-800-811-8336, or submit a comment online at http://www.governor.maryland.gov/mail/]
It is my patriotic duty!
For my children...
and theirs!

[Pdubya]

keep up the good fight and thank you!!

www.campaignforliberty.com

[LiberalLo]

At present, I am reading Arianna Huffington's new book. "Right is Wrong." I have also read books by Al Gore, /richard Clarke, Naomi Klein, and many others. I borrow these books from my local library. I am sure my name is on a list somewhere (sigh), along with millions of other Americans.

[elbzee]

Hell, just posting here I'm sure we all are!

[ESerafina42]

"Socailst"? "Anarchist"? What century is this Lucy person living in, anyway? Maybe she thought she was in 1905, rather than 2005.

[YOUGOTTABEKIDDIN]

RECYCLING WAS THE TERROR NOT TOO LONG AGO. I SUPPOSE CONSERVATION IS STILL SUBVERSIVE AS WELL.

[DinahMoeHum]

"Homeland Security", My Ass.
Those clowns couldn't kick a duck's feathery butt unless they stood on a brick, and even then, they'd miss the mark more than half the time.

[luziannagirl]

I would be willing to bet that law & order "fishing expeditions" prying freely into private business computer records, emails, and phone conversations often turn up some sort of crime, infraction of IRS rules, fraud, drug infraction, or conflict of interest...if not simply damaging personal secrets.

And, that this information, usually having nothing to do with national security, is used to leverage the target's participation in...no telling what. There are just so many rules. So many.

Many American citizens have Middle Eastern roots, and Arab-origin last names, though lots have been Anglicized to the point they aren't instantly recognizable as such. Betcha they all have been un-Constitutionally spied upon.

[Danny]

Dave,

Saw you on Democracy Now this morning, and I say, what a timely appearance, as the sleaze from this admin, and its minions (former Gov Erhlich in Maryland!) continues to ooze out. I admire your courage to stand up for your convictions and your outrage (mine, too) at what has been perpetrated in the name of "freedom" and "democracy", but has actually been a vast campaign AGAINST our "freedom" and "democracy". When "Terror" is declared "dead" I guess we can rest easy, or perhaps by then they'll have another "War On ..." which will no doubt encompass you, and me, and all the people who still have their thinking faculties. Keep on fighting, Dave, and I'll do my part, too.