Brandon Darby, Texas activist-turned-FBI informant for RNC, pleads his case

the thoughts that horrify us are these:

what if we are living in a propagandized state? what if we are not living in the democracy that our media tells us we live in? what if “our” government is not actually ours? what if the electoral process makes true representation impossible? then, what must a conscious, pro-democratic person do? do we, the people, continue to allow this government of others to have a monopoly on violence? these cases should implore us to ponder these questions.

To raise one’s voice in angry protest is integral to the American experience. Our country began to emerge when such protests were met with official violence. But now it’s not the British king that gives us dyspepsia, it’s our own government!

Violence begets violence. when either side in a dispute turns to overt violence, clashes can excalate and the side with the greatest power prevails. When the power of nonviolent argument has free expression, public safety is still our government’s responsibility but ideas, not weapons, comprise the calculus of success.

When our government uses weapons to stifle dissent and the press plays along, we run the risk of destabilizing the only government we have. Passions were high last year and prudent restraint came in a poor second. The truth will hopefully come out in our judicial process, but “our” noble experiment is showing cracks in its foundation.

Consider the allegation that heavily armed Blackwater mercenaries have behaved in a wanton manner both here and abroad. Is this our future? Did our government turn to mercenaries to pursue political agendas that wouldn’t pass the smell test in our “open” society? There’s the rub.

Did our civilian law enforcement comunity let the raw muscle of schoolyard bullies trump the realm of ideas? Had the protesters remained nonviolent, we could discuss this. But once actual weapons came into play, weapons had their way with us. So what did happen? Was there a “causus belli”?

We may never know the truth of this but we have certainly been warned about the risks of violent confrontation.

Brandon Darby has a reputation and record of escalating confrontations between activists and law enforment, in addition to starting to work with the FBI months and months before he met the Texas 2 who are now facing 7-10 years for a crime they didn’t commit, he probably encouraged them to take radical or destructive action.

In a statement written to justify his activities as an FBI informant Brandon Darby opined, “It is very dangerous when a few individuals engage in or act on a belief system in which they feel they know the real truth and that all others are ignorant and therefore have no right to meet and express their political views.” Yet this is the exact activity in which Darby engaged. Through his actions, Darby helped to create a narrative by police that activists/protesters are dangerous. That narrative allowed police to justify obscene expenditures on weaponry, touched off pre-emptive raids and detentions of people who had committed no crimes, and unleashed vicious assaults on people attempting to exercise our First Amendment rights during the RNC. Rather than “protecting the movement” as he implies in his statement, Darby brought down the wrath of the cops on thousands of activists and on the movement as a whole.

By a number of accounts, Darby instigated and encouraged conversations about illegal activities. Perhaps he will try to justify this as “smoking out ‘bad’ activists” but he is, in fact, an agent provocateur whose actions manufacture crimes where none exist. Further, he seems incapable of understanding the difference between hyperbolic expressions of bravado (“smack talk”) and actions taken on such talk. His own actions are self-serving, delusional and depraved. His claimed alliances with social justice movements are farcical. Darby stopped being “one of us” the day he strapped on a microphone. He turned himself into just another cop wannabe posing as an activist.

Darby’s level of self-deception is evident in his ignorance of the historical role of the FBI in this country. The FBI has long acted to destroy social justice movements. The FBI’s Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which operated from 1956 to 1971, used everything from psychological dirty tricks to murder to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” the activities of many social justice and liberation groups and individuals including the Black Panther Party, American Indian Movement, various women’s rights organizations, NAACP, National Lawyers Guild, Dr. Martin Luther King and others. For more information, see . Further, it was an FBI informant who arranged and helped to perpetrate the massacre of five anti-racist union activists in Greensboro, NC in 1979. But one need not dig that far back into history to find FBI interference in social justice movements. Darby’s own activities are but one example of recent FBI spying on anti-war activists and others who dare to challenge this government. If he is as concerned about violence as he claims, Darby should have steered clear of the FBI.

Darby expresses great concern about the conversations of activists yet he raises no similar concerns about the actual lawlessness and mass death and destruction wrought by the Bush regime. Despite ample proof that BushCo illegally spied on Americans, lied to bring us into the war in Iraq, engaged in torture, and committed a whole host of crimes against humanity, Darby focuses his energies on a few young activists whose only “crime” is loose talk. If Darby was sincerely concerned about proposed actions by some activists, he should have raised this with those individuals and within the group. The social justice movement is surprisingly good at self policing, but he never gave it that chance.

Brandon Darby betrayed the movement and the movement must reject his attempts to justify his actions and the tremendous damage they have caused. We must redouble our efforts to defend those who face the brunt of this legal system as a result of Darby’s irresponsible and outrageous conduct.

Michelle Gross, your comment is irrelvant nonsense and ad hominem attacks. You say the FBI committed excesses in the past. You’re right, but so what? You say the Bush Admin has committed a “whole host of crimes”. Again, you’re correct but, again, so what? None of that is Brandon’s fault or relevant to the events under discussion.

“Darby focuses his energies on a few young activists whose only “crime” is loose talk.” Complete nonsense! Let’s look at the facts, shall we? The Austin Affinity Group began planning a violent disruption of the RNC months before the arrests took place. Their plans stopped being ‘loose talk’ when they fabricated a trailer full of riot shields made from cut up traffic barrels with deck screws driven through for spikes. They then drove across the country with the trailer containg the spiked shields as well as batons and helmets. And when the trailer full of ‘loose talk’ was confiscated those gentle young activists bought the materials for and assembled a number of potentially lethal firebombs. The eight firebombs that were recovered weren’t hypothetical, or alleged, or imaginary. They were real, and they had the potential to injure or kill a number of people. The two who were arrested aren’t facing trial for exercising free speech, or ‘loose talk’, they were arrested for assembling lethal firebombs. There is nothing noble or justifiable about using firebombs or the actions of those activists.

“ he should have raised this with those individuals and within the group.” Again, complete nonsense. Read the transcripts. Brandon spoke out against the planned violence, and specifically against the firebombs, but was ignored.

“The social justice movement is surprisingly good at self policing, but he never gave it that chance.” This is just laughable. Every single day from the moment the plan to violently disrupt the RNC was first hatched the Austin Affinity Group had the opportunity to ‘self police’ and prevent the illegal activity. But they chose not to. Why? You’ll have to ask them, but you can’t say they never had that chance. Even after the firebombs were assembled there were a number of the group who were aware of them, and who were in a position to stop any use of them, who decided instead to do nothing. Those moral cowards are the ones who betrayed the movement. Save your oppobrium for them.

Are you saying Darby went to Home Depot to buy the materials for the RNC protest?