Government Agents Have Flooded the Freedom Movement

Government Agents Have Flooded the Freedom Movement

Through the Snowden leaks and others we’ve been made aware that governments have been monitoring all of our online interactions for years (1) usually with the help of the very sites who claim to keep our information safe(2). And we know of the old FBI program COINTELPRO(3) which sought to infiltrate, derail, radicalize, and discredit political organizations throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s. But is there a modern version of COINTELPRO, armed with digital technologies that weren’t available in the 60s? Let’s take a look at what we know.

In 2014, the Snowden leaks revealed the existence of a secret British Intelligence unit (with involvement from the NSA) known as JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group.)(4) The scope of JTRIG's mission includes using "dirty tricks" to “destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt” enemies by “discrediting” them, planting misinformation, and shutting down their communications. The slides from the same leak also disclose the deployment of "honey traps" of a sexual nature by British intelligence agents.(5)

Have we seen activists in the freedom movement attacking other activists over the last few years over a perceived sexual wrongdoing with dubious evidence, at best? Of course we have. More than once.

Consider this quote(6): “Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable.”

To see how extremist these programs are, just consider the tactics they boast of using to achieve those ends: “false flag operations” (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it to someone else), fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose reputation they want to destroy), and posting “negative information” on various forums. Here is one illustrative list of tactics from the latest GCHQ document:

Any of us who have been involved with the freedom movement for a number of years have seen these very scenarios play out at least a couple of times. Coincidence? I seriously doubt it.

The main tactic used is to infiltrate groups, identify differences of opinions in those groups, cause fractures, and then watch as the groups start attacking one another instead of their common enemy.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? If so, congratulations! We’ve all been bamboozled in one way or another.

The Divide and Conquer technique has been used since time immemorial by states to keep the people from realizing where the true power lies: with the people. So let’s look at what the powerful say about how best to keep us all divided and conquered.

The 2011 STRATFOR leak(7) included information about corporate strategies to neutralize activist and community movements. Essentially, STRATFOR advocates dividing movements into four character types: radicals, idealists, realists, and opportunists. These camps can then be dealt with summarily:

First, isolate the radicals.

Second, “cultivate” the idealists and “educate” them into becoming realists.

And finally, co-opt the realists into agreeing with industry.
(Opportunists just go with wherever the biggest benefit is to them.)

This is how movements are neutralized: those who should be allies are divided, infighting becomes rampant, and paranoia rules the roost. To combat these strategies, we must understand the danger they represent and how to counter them.

There is only one way to combat these strategies: UNITY.

The only way we will defeat statism is by standing together no matter what. We’re going to have differences of opinions on the aesthetics of a particular thing. We’re going to have personality conflicts. We’re going to have break-ups, and make-ups, and fuck-ups. But we have to stand together in the spirit of unity.

So the next time you hear an activist attacking another for doing things differently than they would do, or asking the same questions over and over again while refusing to accept the answer provided, or just generally trying to sow discord within the movement instead of fighting the actual enemy - just remind them that the only way we can defeat statism is by uniting.

Don’t fall victim to the divide and conquer tactics. It’s bad enough to be an agent; it’s worse to do their work for them unpaid and unknowingly.

1. http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/27/22469304-snowden-docs-reveal-british-spies-snooped-on-youtube-and-facebook?lite

2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonconstable/2018/03/28/the-facebook-scandal-how-many-cockroaches-are-there/#21663b1f3ea2

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intelligence_Group

5. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview/exclusive-snowden-docs-show-british-spies-used-sex-dirty-tricks-n23091

6. https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

7. http://occupywallstreet.net/story/stratfor’s-strategies-radicals-v-realists

*I borrowed heavily from a bunch of articles on this post.