[Ppnews] NY Cointelpro 101 Film Showing - Sat, 6/18

[Political Prisoner News]

COINTELPRO 101
Film and Discussion

Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Brecht Forum, 451 West Street
(between Bank & Bethune Streets, Manhattan)

4 to 6 pm

Panelists:
Former Political Prisoners Shaba Om, Laura Whitehorn, Francisco Torres

Beginning in the 1950s with a focus on the Puerto 
Rican independence movement and continuing 
through the 1960s and into the 1970s when much of 
its focus had shifted to the Black Liberation, 
Chicano Liberation and American Indian Movements, 
COINTELPRO racked up a number of assassinations, 
false imprisonments and ruined lives. No 
government official was ever punished for actions 
taken under the program’s auspices.

The film by Freedom Archives details this history 
through the artful use of still photos and moving 
images of the period covered. Films of police 
attacks and protests; still photos of 
revolutionary leaders and police murders 
graphically remind the viewer of Washington’s 
willingness to do whatever it takes to maintain its control.

Organizers who began their political activity 
during the time of Cointelpro discuss the effect 
the program had on them and the organizations and 
individuals they worked with. Indeed, several of 
the interviewees were themselves targets and 
spent years in prison (some under false 
accusations, as in the case of Geronimo ji-Jaga Pratt) or on the run.

Former Black Panther member Kathleen Cleaver 
states toward the end of the film that Cointelpro 
represented the efforts of a political police 
force making the decision as to what is allowed 
politically and what is not. Anything outside the 
parameters set by this force was fair game. 
Nothing that was done by government officials or 
private groups and individuals acting on the 
government’s behalf was perceived as wrong or 
illegal. As Attorney Bob Boyle makes clear in his 
final statement in the film, Cointelpro is alive 
and well. The only difference now is that most of 
what was illegal for the government to do during 
Cointelpro’s official existence is now legal. The 
PATRIOT Act and other laws associated with the 
creation of the Department of Homeland Security have insured this.

Cointelpro 101 is a well made and appealing 
primer on the history of the US police state. 
Produced, written and directed by individuals who 
have themselves been the target of tactics 
documented in the film, it has an authenticity 
and immediacy that pulls the viewer in. Although 
too short to cover the history in as full detail 
as some may desire, the film’s intelligence and 
conscientious presentation of the historical 
narrative makes it a film that the student, the 
citizen and the activist can all appreciate.

Light Refreshments will be Served!

Sponsored by: NYC Jericho Movement, Malcolm X Commemoration Ctte,
NYC Leonard Peltier Defense-Offense Ctte, 
ProLibertad, NYC Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition

For more information: 
<http://www.jerichony.org/>www.jerichony.org • 
<mailto:nycjericho at gmail.com>nycjericho at gmail.com 
• <tel:718-325-4407>718-325-4407




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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