Jane doesn't want to talk about the details. She's sure the people she thought were her friends will know and be after her again. She's just laying out the facts, she says. Maybe it'll help someone else:
Fact 1: if what your doing will cost the Man money, the Man will try to get you. If the group has problems find out how long. Any group can have problems. We're human. But problems going on for months and years are "honeypots" to lure good activists out who want to help and know how to fix things. The Man wants these people stopped at all costs. First he's got to identify them. If you're it, they'll send someone to get close.
Fact 2: they don't send James Bond. They send someone normal looking hiding in the open. They will encourage you to be open too. They will try to make you feel safe being "out and proud" about whatever. Until they turn on you.
Fact 3: they'll try to get you with sex. If seduction doesn't work, then they'll try porn. If that doesn't work, they'll talk it up. If you're a man, they'll play the macho sex conquest angle. If you're woman, they'll play the liberated feminist angle. Don't matter how, what they're trying to do is "get some goods". Pics, videos, witnesses, whatever.
Fact 4: that fails they'll try to get you drunk. Or make something up and hope it sticks.
Fact 5: any solutions you suggest that might work they'll try to talk you out of. The one you think you can trust will try this harder than the rest. Their reasons won't make sense or will contradict what they said before. "It won't work". They want you to know enough about how bad things are to be controlled. They don't want you to try to fix anything or make things happen. If you get suspicious and cut them off, they'll turn on you.
Fact 6: you'll feel like you went crazy and wonder what you did wrong. What you did wrong: you became a threat. You were effective and they couldn't control you. That's why they had to "take you out".
Fact 7: watch for the first sign of trouble: someone pushing you to be open when you're not ready.
Fact 8: second sign of trouble: trying to push you to do something you don't want to. DON'T DO IT. Listen to your gut.
Fact 9: third sign of trouble: when you ask questions, you get no answers and bullshit.
Fact 10: they "snitch jacket": when you're getting too close to something, they scream agent or cointelpro. Only agents scream agent first without proof.
10 is a nice number. But there's more:
The one charged with keeping you trusting will stage fake attacks on themselves by the "bad people" to keep you sympathetic. You can tell they're fake because they won't really be bothered and they won't take any action, legal or otherwise. Even when "stalked". Don't be fooled. They're working with "the bad people".
They try to manipulate people who have bad backgrounds. Not criminal, just tragic. They want to use the need to belong to make you do things. They'll try to make you feel like someone special and think that works for most people.
It doesn't. Most people who come back from tragedy are strong. But the Man plays the odds. Some are fragile. The perfect people to set up for an action that will make the group look bad. Anyone suggests using bombs or guns GET OUT.
A good group will answer your questions. A good group knows how to disagree without saying agent. A good group will not lie behind your back and will not let anyone else. They'll demand proof of accusations.
Good people get trapped in bad groups. They don't know what is going on. Now you do. The Man wants you stopped.
That's what Jane has to say. Three months ago I'd have nodded sympathetically, and thought "the group was just a bad fit". Now I wonder.
Mother Jones wonders too:
Exclusive: Cops and Former Secret Service Agents Ran Black Ops on Green Groups
NEWS: Meet the private security firm that spied on Greenpeace and other environmental outfits for corporate clients. A tale of intrigue, infiltration, and dumpster-diving.
April 11, 2008
A private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting to plant undercover operatives within groups, casing offices, collecting phone records of activists, and penetrating confidential meetings. According to company documents provided to Mother Jones by a former investor in the firm, this security outfit collected confidential internal records—donor lists, detailed financial statements, the Social Security numbers of staff members, strategy memos—from these organizations and produced intelligence reports for public relations firms and major corporations involved in environmental controversies...
READ MORE:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/04/firm-spied-on-environmental-groups.html
Jane wants readers to know when she says "the Man" she means anyone in the system who wants to stop your activism. They could be from the government, but they don't have to be. Jane believes she and her old group were targeted by a corporation with government contracts.
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