I was a progressive my whole life until the pedosta dumps, and like any self respecting progressive I watched Democracy Now! every single day for years and years.
I didn't realize it at the time, but they would every now and then do a puff piece on someone that they felt had been in prison way too long... part of its continual attempt to peddle the prison reform angle... and these pieces would focus on ONE activist who was apprehended in the 60's or 70's, follow their unfair tribulations, take the angle throughout the piece that they were simply protestors who were very young and didn't realize the seriousness of it all.
Then, many months later, there would often be a follow up piece about how it was a monumental day because so-and-so was finally released from prison. They would show footage of them getting let out, hugging their families, and then they would do an interview on their show with the newly released inmate.
And they were always "EX" weather underground or black panther.
This didn't happen often, but when we started talking about this angle when the riots started, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I had been watching them slowly release all the agitators, and then giving them free publicity so they could restart operations with a ready-made base of supporters, right in front of my face and never realized what they were up to at all.
I was a progressive my whole life until the pedosta dumps, and like any self respecting progressive I watched Democracy Now! every single day for years and years.
I didn't realize it at the time, but they would every now and then do a puff piece on someone that they felt had been in prison way too long... part of its continual attempt to peddle the prison reform angle... and these pieces would focus on ONE activist who was apprehended in the 60's or 70's, follow their unfair tribulations, take the angle throughout the piece that they were simply protestors who were very young and didn't realize the seriousness of it all.
Then, many months later, there would often be a follow up piece about how it was a monumental day because so-and-so was finally released from prison. They would show footage of them getting let out, hugging their families, and then they would do an interview on their show with the newly released inmate.
And they were always "EX" weather underground or black panther.
This didn't happen often, but when we started talking about this angle when the riots started, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I had been watching them slowly release all the agitators, and then giving them free publicity so they could restart operations with a ready-made base of supporters, right in front of my face and never realized what they were up to at all.
Black Umbrellas Unite