‘COINTELPRO 101’: an interview wit’ filmmaker Claude Marks
sfbayview.com | Mar 18th 2011
by Minister of Information JR
In “COINTELPRO 101,” you’ll hear Fred Hampton’s rallying cry in
his own voice: “You can jail a revolutionary, but you can’t jail a revolution!”
“COINTELPRO 101” is a recently released documentary that takes a long hard look
at the deeds of the U.S. government under the FBI’s Counter Intelligence
Program. We are featuring this interview because it was the government’s
program to crush resistance that led to the deportation of Marcus Garvey, the
assassinations of Malcolm X, George Jackson, Fred Hampton, Martin Luther King
Jr., Bunchy Carter, Filiberto Rios and others, the incarceration on trumped up
charges of Mumia Abu Jamal, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, the Angola 3, the MOVE 9, the
Omaha 2, Veronza Bowers, Mutulu Shakur, Oscar Romero, Leonard Peltier and
others who are still languishing in this country’s concentration camps.
Our people are not taught this history in colonial elementary schools or high
schools, although acts by the government under this program have greatly
affected the quality of life of people who are oppressed in Amerikkka by
killing, falsely imprisoning and harassing our grassroots leaders in our
resistance movements.
So we took it up ourselves, at the Block Report and the SF Bay View, to give
you a little education on the subject. Read the exclusive interview with Claude
Marks, the filmmaker of “COINTELPRO 101” …
M.O.I. JR: Before we get into the movie, what is the Counter Intelligence
Program aka COINTELPRO?
Claude: COINTELPRO may not be a well-understood acronym, but its meaning and
continuing impact are absolutely central to understanding the government’s wars
and repression against progressive movements. COINTELPRO represents the state’s
strategy to prevent movements and communities from overturning white supremacy
and creating racial justice.
COINTELPRO is both a formal program of the FBI and a term frequently used to
describe a conspiracy among government agencies – local, state and federal – to
destroy movements for self-determination and liberation for Black, Brown, Asian
and Indigenous struggles, as well as mount an institutionalized attack against
allies of these movements and other progressive organizations.
M.O.I. JR: What inspired you to do a movie on this topic?
Claude: After making “Legacy of Torture,” which focuses on the Black Panther
Party and the SF 8 case, it made sense to expose COINTELPRO in greater detail
and look at the broad and seeping nature of government repression. So in
“COINTELPRO 101” we look at examples of how the government’s attacks are
consistent with the history of genocide and settler colonialism.
M.O.I. JR: What have your personal run-ins been like with COINTELPRO?
Claude: I was a participant in a conspiracy to break a Puerto Rican political
prisoner out of Leavenworth. The plan was infiltrated by the FBI and was
unsuccessful. This resulted in a multi-year pursuit by the FBI and ultimately
with imprisonment.
M.O.I. JR: What is the documentary about? Who does it feature?
Claude: The story of COINTELPRO is mainly told by activists who experienced it.
Interviews in the video include:
Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford), founder of Revolutionary Action Movement and
professor at Temple University.Bob Boyle, attorney representing many activists
and political prisoners targeted by COINTELPRO.Kathleen Cleaver, former leader
of the Black Panther Party, now professor of law at Emory and Yale Universities
and an expert on COINTELPRO.Ward Churchill, just-removed professor at the
University of Colorado who has written extensively about COINTELPRO.Roxanne
Dunbar-Ortiz, long-time Native American activist and educator.Priscilla Falcon,
long-time Mexicana activist and professor whose husband was assassinated for
his leadership in the Chicano struggle.Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt, former leader of
the Black Panther Party who was falsely imprisoned for 27 years in a COINTELPRO
case.Jose Lopez, director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago and
long-time advocate of Puerto Rican independence.Francisco “Kiko” Martinez,
long-time Chicano/Mexicano activist and attorney.Lucy Rodriguez, Puerto Rican
Independentista and former political prisoner.Ricardo Romero, long-time
Chicano/Mexicano activist and Grand Jury resister.Akinyele Umoja, African
American history scholar at Georgia State University.Laura Whitehorn, radical
activist and former political prisoner who was targeted by the federal
government.
M.O.I. JR: What has the response been like?
Claude: As we take the film on the road, it is especially rewarding to see the
response from young students. They are amazed that none of this history is
taught in their schools. So the impact is powerful by pushing people to think
more openly today about the ways that governments and police agencies act with
impunity in our communities; how “terrorism” is defined to suit their needs and
criminalize conscious resistance; how Islamophobia and anti-immigrant campaigns
function to support racism; how public education is targeted for demise while
prisons are bursting at the seams.
M.O.I. JR: Why do people need to know about COINTELPRO specifically?
Claude: The conflicts we face with a powerful government that does not serve
the people, rather represents the elite and corporate interests, has historic
roots. By understanding this history, we can learn from the mistakes of the
past but, more importantly, take inspiration from the legacies of resistance.
It is up to us to fight for a more just and humane world – one where we can
insure that everyone has basic human rights, that our communities are embracing
future generations rather than locking them up.
M.O.I. JR: After people educate themselves, what do you recommend they do to
fight it?
Claude: There are many different ways to address what goals we have.
Self-determination varies from community to community, but we can’t expect that
those in power will reach a moral epiphany and restore justice, end
discrimination and suddenly commit their resources to ending wars. That is up
to us to organize and win.
M.O.I. JR: When can people see the movie again in the Bay?
Claude: Many showings are being planned. The best way is to check our website,
http://www.freedomarchives.org/Cointelpro.html. The next showings are
Friday, March 18, 5:30 p.m., at the UC Berkeley Student UnionTuesday, March 22,
7 p.m., at Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St., BerkeleyWednesday, March 30, 7
p.m., at CIIS, 1453 Mission St., San FranciscoSaturday, April 2, 4 p.m., USF
Human Rights Film Festival, San Francisco
We also have a page of suggested resources for people interested in more
in-depth materials as well as ideas for how to teach and take the film into
schools and communities. The suggestions can grow with input from the community.
DVDs will be available starting in April.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at
[email protected] and visit www.blockreportradio.com.
See Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRBm5eiBQIs
Original Page:
http://sfbayview.com/2011/cointelpro-101-an-interview-wit-filmmaker-claude-marks/
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