Agent Provocateurs Research Articles

Freedom’s Banner: How Peaceful Demonstrations Have Changed The World by Paul Harris

Reviewed by: Freedom’s Banner: How Peaceful Demonstrations Have Changed The World by Paul Harris Victoria Tin-bor Hui (bio) Paul Harris, Freedom’s Banner: How Peaceful Demonstrations Have Changed The World (Crux Publishing, 2022), ISBN: 978-1-913613-10-5, 358 pages. Paul Harris’s Freedom’s Banner: How Peaceful Demonstrations Have Changed the World is a tour de force account of struggles for the right of demonstration, universal suffrage, and workers’ rights. As a former chair of the Hong Kong Bar Association, the author draws important implications for why the Hong Kong struggle has been crushed by the draconian National Security Law. [End Page 868] I. GLOBALIZED STRUGGLES FOR THE RIGHT OF DEMONSTRATION Harris’s book vividly illustrates that struggles for the right to demonstrate were global from the start. In the U.K., it was the French Revolution that provided “an inspiration and a model” for British reformers.1 In the American colonies, the freedom of assembly—though not originally including the right of demonstration— developed as resistance to King George III of England.2 American activist Henry David Thoreau’s essay on “civil disobedience” influenced not just British campaigner for Women’s Suffrage Alice Paul, but also Russian novelist Tolstoy and Indian Mohandas Gandhi.3 Gandhi met in London with the Women’s Suffragists Emmeline Pankhurst, whose violent approach he did not accept, and Charlotte Despard, whose “spiritual resistance” he admired.4 Martin Luther King and other black activists visited India to learn about Gandhi’s civil disobedience. More recently, Hong Kong’s “Be Water” protest style has been copied in Iraq, Chile, and the UK.5 Regrettably, while “some peaceful demonstrations have changed the world,” many have failed. Chapter 16 is specifically entitled “what makes a successful demonstration?” but the entire book addresses this question. The lesson is extremely sober: “no matter how large or well-planned they are, they can rarely, if ever, succeed, against a totally intransigent government prepared to use force to oppose them.”6 Everywhere, the uniformed forces—the military and the police—routinely met peaceful demonstrations with “a hail of bullets.”7 The police have also adopted the “unsavory practice” of using “agent provocateurs” throughout the long history of demonstrations. 8 Harris is at pains to distinguish between “two different approaches to demonstrations, between those which want to stay within the law, and those which deliberately set out to break laws . . . believe[d] to be unjust.”9 Yet, “[where] a regime is prepared to use unlimited force against unarmed protesters, neither the law-abiding demonstration, nor the Gandhian route of passive civil disobedience, offers much hope for political change, absent special factors such as international support or a regime which is deeply divided within itself.”10 How, then, did less intransigent governments emerge? Harris notes that “it seems to have come down to chance” and “timing.”11 The Magna Carta of 1215 could stick because John of England, who “had no plans to keep his promises,” died suddenly, so the succeeding boy king, Henry III, was forced by the barons to re-swear the agreement.12 The [End Page 869] Bill of Rights of 1688 was enacted after James II fled to France and was replaced by William of Orange as a condition of being crowned.13 Reform had a chance after King George IV, “a rigid opponent of any kind of Parliamentary reform,” was succeeded by William IV, who was “more respectful of the limitations placed on a constitutional monarch.”14 Earl Grey, who was appointed as Prime Minister, became “a tacit ally” of the reform movement. 15 Gandhi’s civil disobedience was not smashed because he dealt less with General Dyer’s “bloodthirstiness and savagery” and more with Viceroy Lord Irwin, who “had liberal views” and “preferred to play by recognized rules.”16 Moreover, “the greatest triumph of Gandhian principles since Gandhi did not occur in a tyrannical regime,” but in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.17 In contrast, in South Africa, where the coloreds were repeatedly massacred “with the apparent complete intransigence of the bulk of the white population,” “dismantling apartheid through non-violent civil disobedience was not a realistic strategy” for decades.18...

Religion and Power Comparing Political Landscape in the Religious Conflicts in Poso and Maluku

Indonesia is a pluralistic country inhabited by Muslims, Christians, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucians, with Muslims, hold the majority population. Their adherents live in harmony and tolerance within the democratic political system. However, at the outset of the reform era, Indonesian people suffered from instabilities, conflicts, and terrorism, capitalizing ethnic, tribal, and religious symbols for political objectives such as those in the religious conflicts in Poso and Maluku. This paper seeks to compare the political landscape of the Muslim-Christian conflicts in Maluku and Poso. This research uses a qualitative approach with a comparative method and finds similarities and differences of political factors explaining the conflicts. Its similarities were conflicts amongst social, political, and military leaders at the national and local levels. In addition, they used agent provocateurs to provoke their co-religionists. However, this study found differences in the involvement of student and youth unions in Maluku but not in Poso.

Securitizing the Colour Revolution: Assessing the Political Role of Triads in Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement

Abstract In Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, the use of Chinese triads to attack protestors has attracted international attention, forcing the regime to constrain further acts of grand illegitimate violence. Research suggests that triads were used as ‘thugs-for-hire’ by the regime to achieve political ends. The present study aims to examine why the triads were hired and what their specific roles and motivations were. It concludes that triads acted as non-state securitization actors, agent provocateurs or extralegal protectors depending on several factors, such as financial incentives, being stakeholders in occupied sites, business interests in mainland China and individuals’ political ideology. It suggests that triads were used as vigilantes against the threats of Western-instigated Color Revolution and hybrid warfare targeting China.

‘Everyone was questioning everything’: understanding the derailing impact of undercover policing on the lives of UK environmentalists

ABSTRACT Between 1968 and 2011, over 150 undercover police officers (spycops) covertly infiltrated more than 1000 political groups in the UK, a large majority of which were left leaning . Undercover officers perpetrated a range of harmful practices including deceiving women into sex; fathering children whilst undercover ; active participation in criminality & acting as agent provocateurs; appearing in court under false identities thus contributing to potential miscarriages of justice, as well as using the identities of dead children without obtaining consent from families. Based on qualitative, biographical interviews with spied-on environmentalists, this article explores the impact of undercover policing on the lives of UK activists. It argues that, in addition to the documented harm and trauma caused by spycops, three further dimensions of impact can be identified. These are ontological uncertainty, whereby activists conceptions of a fixed and stable external reality are fundamentally challenged; derailing, whereby activists were diverted away from environmentalism in a number of different ways both pre and post-exposure of spycops, including diversions into anti-state surveillance activism; and finally, resilience, whereby the agency of activists in the face of egregious human rights abuses is evident. The article argues that the concept of derailing can help to conceptualise the chilling effect of state incursions into activism, whilst also accounting for those who maintained their activism following the revelations.

Mkatashinga: Narratives of the Mutiny in ANC Camps in Angola (1983/84)

The 1984 mutiny in the Angolan camps of the African National Congress (ANC) has been the stuff of legends. For a long time two contradictory interpretations were prominent. One interpretation painted it as, completely, the work of apartheid agents and agent provocateurs. The other painted it as an instance where patriotic democrats took a stance for justice and they were crushed by an undemocratic ANC. The information that recently came out of the memoirs and biographies of former soldiers paints a more nuanced picture that reveals the situation to be more complex than the ANC's official view and those of its distractors. While there can be no way of absolutely ruling out enemy interference, all narratives point to the presence of genuine challenges that could have been handled better. The absence of senior leadership from the camps also ensured a weak response to these.

Global Ideology, Local Jihad: The Role of Local Law Enforcement in Combatting Homegrown Islamic Terrorism in the United States

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and examine the role of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in combating homegrown Islamic terrorism, emphasizing a community policing centered approach. Given the growing trend of self-radicalized homegrown terrorism in the United States, the IC will be forced to increasingly rely upon human intelligence (HUMINT), collected via sources within U.S. Muslim communities. As the signs and indications of an impending attack from homegrown terrorists will likely be extremely subtle, or virtually non-existent, a tip, or report, from a human sources within Muslim communities may be the only indication of an individual’s radicalization or impending attack. Since the radicalization process, and preparations for terrorist attacks tend to occur within an individual’s city, town, or neighborhood, local authorities and law enforcement must occupy a central role in HUMINT collection. This paper will argue for a HUMINT led approach to combating the threat of homegrown Islamic terrorism, led by local authorities and law enforcement. In order to acquire such valuable intelligence, a strategy rooted in community policing, and cooperative engagement between Muslim communities and counterterrorism authorities will be necessary. Authorities must seek out and forge collaborative, trusting relationships with community leaders and members, encouraging and fostering their key role as partners in these counterterrorism efforts. Local authorities are better equipped to forge these partnerships, fostering trust, collaboration, and the “coproduction” of intelligence through community policing. Intelligence collection techniques utilized by the FBI such as the use of involuntary informants and agent provocateurs have been detrimental to cooperation between Muslim communities and counterterrorism authorities. Efforts must be made to implement an intelligence strategy based on the concept of community policing and led by local law enforcement. Additionally, federally led information sharing initiatives such as fusion centers and Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) must be amended in order to best utilize the strengths and the key role of local law enforcement in the intelligence process.

The battle against anarchist terrorism: an international history, 1878-1934

Introduction 1. The origins of anarchist terrorism 2. Conspiracies, panics, agent provocateurs, mass journalism, and globalization 3. International action against subversives: 1815-89 4. The terrorist '90s and increasing police cooperation: 1890-8 5. The first International Conference on Terrorism: Rome 1898 6. 1900: three assassination attempts and the Russo-German Anti-Anarchist Initiative 7. The murder of President McKinley, 1901 8. The St Petersburg Protocol, 1901-4 9. Multilateral anti-anarchist efforts after 1904 10. The decline of anarchist terrorism, 1900-30s Appendix Bibliography.

Anchorperson: An Emerging Phenomenon in the Electronic Media

This research study mainly focuses the imprudent role of the anchorpersons working in different news and current affair channels as an emerging phenomenon in electronic media. The study is designed to investigate the perceptions of audience members regarding the role of anchorpersons in different TV talk shows. In this study, it is hypothesized that the anchorpersons are biased toward certain political parties/groups and try to impose their own point of view on the panel and ultimately on the viewers; and they are not following the basic ethics of fairness and objective approach that is the fundamental duty of the information media. Descriptive survey research technique was used to find out what exists at the moment in the audience‟s perception about anchorpersons. Two hundred forty respondents were selected through proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Gender and level of education was used as strata for selection of appropriate sample for this study. The researcher used closed ended questionnaire to obtain the opinion of the audience regarding the role of anchorperson in TV talk shows. The empirical indicators of the study confirmed that anchorpersons were lacking professional experience and violate media ethics. The respondents believe that the anchorpersons often try to dictate the audience by imposing their own point of view. They are not only giving the analysis but also determine the direction. They violate professional ethics by slanting the facts and biased analysis. They often used derogatory words for the panel and ask personal question to prove them guilty. Overwhelming majority of the respondents believe that anchorpersons have become agent provocateurs.

Anchorperson: An Emerging Phenomenon in the Electronic Media

This research study mainly focuses the imprudent role of the anchorpersons working in different news and current affair channels as an emerging phenomenon in electronic media. The study was designed to investigate the perceptions of audience members regarding the role of anchorpersons in different TV talk shows. In this study, I hypothesize that the anchorpersons are biased toward certain political parties/groups and trying to impose their own point of view on the panel and ultimately on the viewers; and they are not following the basic ethics of fairness and objective approach that is the fundamental duty of the information media. Descriptive survey research technique was used to find out what exists at the moment in the audience’s perception about anchorpersons. Two hundred forty respondents were selected through proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Gender and level of education was used as strata for selection of appropriate sample for this study. The researcher used closed ended questionnaire to obtain the opinion of the audience regarding the role of anchorperson in TV talk shows. The empirical indicators of the study confirmed that anchorpersons were lacking professional experience and violate media ethics. The respondents believe that the anchorpersons often try to dictate the audience by imposing their own point of view. They are not only giving the analysis but also determine the direction. They violate professional ethics by slanting the facts and biased analysis. They often used derogatory words for the panel and ask personal question to prove them guilty. Overwhelming majority of the respondents believe that anchorpersons have become agent provocateurs.

The world that never was: a true story of dreamers, schemers, anarchists and secret agents

last third of the nineteenth century saw the world in flux. Science vied with religion to represent the soul of man, and technological advances opened the possibility of new ways of living. Yet as the world sank into a long depression, untrammelled capitalism continued to stretch the gulf between rich and poor. From Russia to America, across Western Europe and beyond, governments already unsettled by major shifts in geopolitical power were threatened by growing social unrest and the rise of socialism. And looming over them was the spectre of the Anarchist and the shadow of international terrorism. A Tsar and an Empress, Presidents and plutocrats were all vulnerable to the assassin's bombs and bullets, but so too was bourgeois society in its cafes and opera houses. It was a new kind of Terror that could strike anywhere and that permeated deep into the imagination of the times. Its true weapon, though, was not dynamite but fear itself: a fact quickly grasped by those whose job it was to protect the powerful. Yet in a credulous age, when hoaxers and forgers thrived, the fictions spun by police chiefs and their agent provocateurs were often no less beguiling. And out of the short-term actions of these forgotten individuals grew the noxious delusions of worldwide conspiracy that would poison the century to come. A masterly exploration of the strange twists and turns of history, The World That Never Was follows the interweaving lives of several key anarchists, and of the secret police who tracked them. Framed by the Paris Commune of 1871 and the 1905 revolution in St Petersburg, and spread across five continents, their's is the story of a generation that saw the dream of Utopia crumble, to be replaced by a dangerous desperation. Here is a revelatory portrait of an era with uncanny echoes of our own.

Jackanapes: Reflections on the Legacy of the Black Panther Party for the Hip Hop Generation

Previous articleNext article No AccessJackanapes: Reflections on the Legacy of the Black Panther Party for the Hip Hop GenerationV. P. FranklinV. P. Franklin Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of African American History Volume 92, Number 4Fall 2007New Black Power Studies: National, International, and Transnational Perspectives A journal of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/JAAHv92n4p553 Views: 43Total views on this site Copyright ASALHPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Gestapo V-Leute kommunistischer Herkunft – auch ein Strukturproblem der KPD?

The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) – along its line of unconditional loyalty to the Soviet Party – already in the early 1920s established an undercover so-called AM-Apparat (antimilitarist apparatus). This included an intelligence service to investigate political antagonists and at the same time fight (police) spies, „traitors“ and agent provocateurs. In this field, for years an often bloody competition between Communists and Nazis took place. No kind of intelligence, in particular fighting (police) spies, was new to the KPD at the moment of Nazitakeover in January 1933. The KPD, however, was then confronted with coinciding of executive public power and political enmity. Some members of the KPD, including several operatives of the AM-Apparat, became renegades in the service of the Gestapo. A number of those Communists taken into preventive custody by the Gestapo, under heavy torture became secret agents of the Gestapo. These former comrades harmed effectively the illegal fight of the KPD during the Nazi regime. The author, under the impression of missing systematic research in this field, started a regional analysis in the Rhein/Ruhr area. It was based in particular on the stock of approx. 65.000 Gestapo files in the Dusseldorf State Archive. In his first comprehensive report he estimates the number of former Communist Gestapo-agents to approx. 300 in the Rhein/Ruhr area.

Strategies of Subversion: Management of Demand for Software Through Destabilizing Organizational Structure of Your Customer

Corporate understanding on strategies of cooperation and outsourcing of business processes has come closer over the years. An outsourced partner is described sometimes as the extended enterprise. Supplier's organizational structure, following the logic of extended enterprise, needs to correspond in a certain strange manner with the customer's organizational structure. We argue that the process of finding a fit between two or more structures is expression of a demand; and, this process being unstable destabilizes all the structures in dynamic interactions resulting in generation of new and novel demands. Thus, struch1res become the sources of demand here. Hence, meeting customer's demand or management of current demand create another demand in consequence. Such a sequel ought to be based on increasing return or an endogenous satisfaction of demand, making it provocative enough to look for an endogenous demand. However, management of an endogenous demand rests with the supplier firm- on how innovative structural solutions can be offered by an extended enterprise. The supplier firm acts here as agent provocateurs as it were.