Malkia Charlee NoCry
Philosophy Editor
15th September 2012, 06:47 GMT

Propaganda, designed to divide and misinform was the major strategy of Cointelpro. So it begs the question that in today’s climate of heightened surveillance, economic catastrophe, unemployment and strange Public Health Initiatives… Exactly who got the jobs as propagandists?

15th September 2012 marks the 77th anniversary of the Nazi regime’s Nuremberg Laws. These laws were in place as part of an implementation strategy of scientific racism, and were announced at the Nazi’s annual Nuremberg rally in 1935. Two laws were ‘ratified’; The first was “The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour” which mainly prohibited the marriage between Jews and Germans, the right for Jews to have female domestic servants under the age of 45 (enacted to say Jewish men were rapists) and the stipulation that any violation of these laws would result in concentration camps, hard labour or death. The second, “The Reich Citizenship Law”, violated the rights of all people not of Reich blood; affecting the mobility of Jews and Roma peoples along with Bi-Racial persons, 40,000 Black people, emigrants and any other group not deemed in the Reich as “pure”; again, violation resulted in automatic sentencing to concentration camps. Throughout the entire regime, hundreds of laws, guidelines, decrees and amendments to all three levels of government were put into effect against all undesirable populations, African-American soldiers living in Germany before WWII, the differently able, homosexuals, up to and including dissident Germans who didn’t subscribe to the Nazi’s version of government.

The population of Palestine endures this same humiliation and inhumane treatment, criminalization, hindrance of mobility, fear of incarceration and death. 77 years later, the State of Israel, created to harbor the victims of the Nazi Genocide and subjugated Diaspora Jews, is repeating the tactics of a regime that many fled.

And realistically, this fascism is supported with overseas funding, not their own. Yet, worldwide you can see where years of a propaganda machine targeted at Palestinians has finally been destroyed; the treatment of Palestinians and other Arabs in Israel has been illuminated to the world, and change has become a global imperative.

We see a growing tide, not just in Israel of abusing the indigenous population citizenry rights; globally laws are being enacted eroding the freedoms of world citizens.

On Wednesday the 12th of September, the day before 20oz sodas were banned in New York, US Congress extended the government’s power to read emails and listen in on the telephone conversations of citizens with complete impunity for five additional years through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Some activists, locally and globally,  are sadly within their local communities aiding in the surveillance of fellow colleagues, fellow members of organisations and even fellow authors, reporters and bloggers, in an effort to stem the tide of activism, or assist police in suppressing dissidents. These activities can be due to political judgment of differing ideologies or more often and as simple as financial compensation; offers of chances to be celebrities/famous; or even simple career progression, or deals to avoid incarceration as a result of criminal activity. All of these and none of these could be reasons why some activists are assisting governments in the suppression of dissident voices – it doesn’t really matter.

This is what is most important – If those enslaved persons in the Diaspora stopped revolting every time a slave revolt was reported to the Plantation Owners, or an escape plot was foiled by close friends and even trustworthy associates, no one would have left slavery. If abolitionists stopped every time they were reported to police, or petitions burned… there would be shackles on Black people’s feet today. And if those idealistic Jews participating in Aliyah Bet stopped every time they were arrested, a ship was turned back or blown up offshore; there would not be survivors of the Holocaust seeing their 80th birthdays today. And if Palestinians stood silent to the criminalization, alienation, political isolation, murder and terrorism by the Zionist regime, we would still believe the PLO was a terrorist organization and that Israeli’s were being victimized by the people they were abusing. If Rwandan’s took the one million killed as a defeat and stopped working, they wouldn’t be building a country of no tribes, just one heart – “I am Rwandan”. If from Selma to Cape Town, Armenia to Bosnia, Algeria to Guyana, Kingston to Detroit – if everyone stopped fighting as soon as they were disappointed by another activist, or friend or colleague – would we have the same victories we have today?

We all remember the lessons from Cointelpro. Its function, structure, tactics and targeting campaign was identical to that of the Nazi secret police.

And though Cointelpro was made defunct in 1971, no one was prosecuted for their violations to American rights and civil liberties.

So we can assume programs like Cointelpro’s have perhaps been expanded or redirected – but no matter where you are – Asia, Far East, Europe, North America, Latin America – there is someone, somewhere stemming the tide of dissidence through the shock of betrayal, propaganda, and misinformation. So don’t be shocked. Regroup, take some time. Switch careers, or maybe even write. And once you write start going to rallies again. Or if you sing, pick up a brush and paint what you see – but just keep moving. Don’t be deterred from the mission in your heart, the dedication and the allegiance to goodness. Regardless of what camp you’re in, you want the world to be a better place – remember that. Because no matter what camp they’re in, they want the world to remain in chaos and ignorance, and they are united in that sentiment.

Because propaganda; the kind that is designed to divide and misinform, was the major strategy of Cointelpro and all other projects like it – it begs the question that in today’s atmosphere of heightened surveillance, economic catastrophe, unemployment and strange Public Health Initiatives… Exactly whose got the jobs as propagandists? Most likely someone you know. And actually, that’s alright.

Because things do change. No matter the sabotage. Because there is no permanent sabotage of what is right – no one has ever done it. If history has taught us anything, no matter if it’s the liberation of the Slavic slaves in the 15th century or the change in consciousness from ignorance to enlightenment, we always get there; we always win.

Humanity always prevails.