Crack the CIA Coalition
Template:TOCnestleft Crack the CIA Coalition was formed to promote the narrative that the CIA was selling "crack" cocaine to the Black population of Los Angeles.
Formation
A coalition of over 80 different groups calling itself Crack the CIA demonstrated in Los Angeles Feb. 22 against CIA drug running in the oppressed communities.
- For many years it has been known in the progressive movement that the Central Intelligence Agency employs torture, murder and other brutal and illegal methods to advance U.S. imperialist interests abroad.
- But articles last summer in the San Jose Mercury News by Gary Webb made many people aware for the first time of the CIA's role in poisoning the Black and oppressed communities of Los Angeles with crack cocaine to finance the Nicaraguan Contras. The contras' job was to overthrow the popular revolutionary Sandinista government.
- When Webb's story first broke, over 2,000 people expressed their outrage at a rally and Town Hall meeting organized by Rep. Maxine Waters. They demanded justice for the crimes committed by the CIA.
- The ruling class was so worried about the mass anger toward the CIA and the government that then-CIA Director John Deutch attended the Town Hall meeting in South Central Los Angeles to try and defuse it. But Deutch's bogus attempt failed to clean up the CIA's image. Resident after resident got up to denounce the secret police agency.
- A young woman from Compton told Deutch: "There is no way that the CIA can investigate itself. To suggest that an inspector general of the CIA can do that job is an affront to the whole Black community."
This mass anger is what led to the formation of the Crack the CIA Coalition. Maxine Waters, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party, the Los Angeles Green Party, the International Action Center and many others have endorsed and will participate in the Feb. 22 mobilization.[1]
Media "cover-up"
After the San Jose Mercury News story broke, the Los Angeles Times ran a week-long series of articles clearing the CIA of any wrongdoing. The reaction among many was, are the established news media independent or are they just a mouthpiece for the CIA and corporate interests?
One target of the Feb. 22 demonstration will be the Los Angeles Times. A news conference there will denounce the media cover-up of the CIA's drug running.
Coalition organizer Dedon Kamathe of the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party said: "The coalition has expanded to have a larger participation of Native Americans and Latinos in the last month. We have come a long way in two months. Teams of volunteers have gone out every day to pass out leaflets at Black History Month events, colleges and social events such as the annual Bob Marley concert in Long Beach.
"We are expecting thousands of people to come out and demand that the CIA be abolished."
The coalition demands full disclosure of the CIA/government role in drug trafficking, prosecution of those involved, a halt to all covert operations and secret wars, reparations to affected communities, support for the gang truce, an end to the media cover-up, and dismantling the CIA.[2]