Robert Reich Has a Chilling Theory About Those Berkeley Protestors

[EricMaundry]

"I saw these people. They all looked almost paramilitary. They were not from the campus."

In the wake of a University of California Berkeley protest that saw demonstrators burn campus lights and a sign for Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos in effigy, Donald Trump has threatened to cut federal funding from public colleges infringing on free speech.

But at least one Berkeley professor believes the alt-right may have instigated the violence—former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.

"I was there for part of last night and I know what I saw. Those people were not Berkeley students," Reich told CNN's Don Lemon, reiterating the statement issued by the university regarding the incident. "Those people were outsiders, agitators. I’ve never seen them before. There’s rumors that they actually were right-wingers. They were a part of a group that were organized and ready to create the kind of tumult and danger you saw that forced the police to cancel the event."

Turning to Trump's remarks, Reich highlighted Berkeley's history as the "home of free speech."

http://www.alternet.org/investigations/robert-reich-has-chilling-theory-about-those-berkeley-protestors

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Erik Prince comes to mind

Sounds like just the sort of operation for which his mercenary fucks would be hired.

[Louis1895]

3. Erik Prince, brother of Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos

Lest we forget: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/18/scahill_blackwater_founder_erik_prince_the

[Rhiannon12866]

19. Thanks for the reminder!

Amazing, isn't it??

[wordpix]

27. did not know that, maybe Trump thinks he'll get 2 for 1

both are perfect for his maladministration

[2naSalit]

11. I saw somewhere, also, that

he helped with the Russian hacking and collaboration. My guess is that he and his band of dirty sleeves want to come home from the ME and this is how they plan to do it. They show up at peaceful rallies and overturn them while getting a pass from the police when they flash a badge if they get caught. Be ready for this as they plan to inflict violence on any dissent, it will get worse as we continue to exercise our rights that the cheato and his cabal don't appreciate. Eventually it won't be private property damage but casualties from the citizenry from these mercenaries who will kill anyone for $$.

[iemitsu]

2. Reich is, of course. correct.

These are agents-provocateurs.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

4. He's not the only one.

[meadowlander]

5. The whole thing reeks of a set up.

Why was Breitbart editor speaking at Berkeley in the first place?

And how quick out of the gate was the administration with their faux outrage over the oppression of "free speech"?

[lastlib]

18. Reichstag fire, anyone?

[starshine00]

32. of course it probably was

just like the Spencer punching which keeps happening. It is straight out of the Russia playbook, first go after the media and bombard the populace with so much propaganda they can't tell which is news and which is real, so they will ignore the media, which means they ignore what happens w/gov't altogether, then go after protestors like Pussy Riot, lock them up for years and make everyone terrified to protest.

Every freaking thing this man is doing is coming straight from Russia, he couldn't shine his own shoes by himself. It is sickening to me that red/white/blue republican 'patriots' are letting him get away with it too.

[RandySF]

6. With all due respect to Dr. Reich, he is incorrect.

There's a group of kids in Berkeley who dress in black and show up for many Bay Area protest, especially in the East Bay. They are primarily responsible for trashing Oakland during the Oscar Grant and police shooting protests.

[wildeyed]

10. Political juijitsu.

RW screams 'paid protesters' anytime they don't like our protesters. We don't like these rioters, we yell 'paid protesters', pin it on Breitbart. Besides, they probably were. We have no idea. The dumb book that Trollboy is flogging hit the bestseller on the back of the riots so he def benefited the most.

[Crash2Parties]

20. And what are their political or social leanings?

[RandySF]

24. They call themselves anarchists.

[pnwmom]

22. This group wasn't Berkeley students. They arrived in cars from off-campus

and they even attacked some Berkeley students. When the police arrived, they "rescued" the students.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028593730

[RandySF]

25. Right. They are not students, but are centered in Berkeley.

[salin]

29. Black Bloc

I first met one in Indianapolis during the Occupy movement. I heard several people say worried comments when he arrived from elsewhere. I had never heard of Black Bloc, so I asked him about it. He was, but he wasn't acting as BB at the time - and wouldn't unless "it seemed necessary" (?whatever that means). He told of a demonstration in DC where some WTC meetings were happening and some plan of distraction/someone breaking into the meeting rooms and disrupting the technology. The impact? The meeting was delayed a day. And that is from an action that actually had some kind of intent rather than just vandalism.

Anarchists inciting chaos to what end? A) For the same goals as the protestors but they don't believe that nonviolent demonstrations work, or B) To discredit the goals of the protestors, and the protestors. I don't know which. But until it/they are talked about a lot and recognized as a distinct group they will keep showing up and will keep discrediting the protestors.

[volstork]

7. Sounds like the paid protesters

trump has been screaming about... except they are working for HIM.

[2naSalit]

12. Just like the

election was rigged... for him.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. O'Keefe was trying to hire protesters to be violent at the Inaugurination. . . nt

[wildeyed]

8. kick

[madville]

9. Of course for weeks now, maybe longer, the alt-right has been

broadcasting the narrative that these violent and destructive protests are leftists funded by George Soros.

I personally think they are anarchists that want to see the world burn, raging against the entire system, not a particular side.

I think it's easier for them to get away with things and get associated with the left at a place like Berkeley where they know the police response will be muted or almost non-existent as we saw.

[ThoughtCriminal]

13. Kind of suspicious that the guys in masks breaking things

never seem to be arrested, or at least end up being charged.

Am I wrong about that?

[wordpix]

28. yes it was, I noticed that. Could have been Gov. Jerry wanting to go easy

so no one would get killed

[malchickiwick]

14. Instead of one big Reichstag fire, lots of little ones. I bet that's their plan.

[dhol82]

15. I would hope that the next time one of these anarchists shows up they will be contained.

I find it suspicious that they always get away.
We need to have them unmasked and talking.

[aikoaiko]

17. Awfully weak of Reich to repeat rumors that they were RW

Its one thing to say they looked like outsiders even though there is no way he knows every Berkeley student, but he seems to forget all the lefty anarchists at political/economic conferences who were less than peaceful.

It borders on the creation of fake news by Reich.

I've really appreciated him stepping up the commentary during the rise of Trump, but its sad to see him sink to that kind of low.

[elmac]

21. sink to that kind of low?

well, when your fighting fascist you got to get dirty. Just call it alternative facts, that works for me.

[LisaM]

33. Yes, except prior to this election

I'd never have thought the FBI and Russia would openly interfere with our election and get away with it. Now, all bets are off.

[MojoWrkn]

23. I agree with Reich's assessment! If you looked

closely at the instigators, they were all dressed in black with masks and were deliberately breaking windows and starting fires! I think if trumpf will pay people to appear at his rallies, etc., and pay them, he would also pay them to put the protesters in a bad light!

[vanlassie]

26. None of them were arrested?

[Raster]

30. Bannon's Breitbart Brownshirts...

...bank on it! This was all about disinformation and diversion.

[VOX]

31. COINTELPRO redux. We've been here before...

COINTELPRO was used by the FBI during the 1960s civil rights and anti-war groups and demonstrations. The goal was to discredit and disrupt.

Yes, I know the source below is the often-unreliable Wikipedia. In this case, it's a good start, however:

COINTELPRO (a portmanteau derived from COunter INTELligence PROgram) was a series of covert, and often illegal projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting and disrupting domestic political organizations.

FBI records show that COINTELPRO resources targeted groups and individuals that the FBI deemed subversive, including anti-Vietnam War organizers, activists of the Civil Rights Movement or Black Power movement (e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr.and the Black Panther Party), feministorganizations, anti-colonial movements (such as Puerto Rican independencegroups like the Young Lords), and a variety of organizations that were part of the broader New Left...

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover issued directives governing COINTELPRO, ordering FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, neutralize or otherwise eliminate" the activities of these movements and especially their leaders.

<snip>

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

[Cha]

34. And, why wouldn't they be rw plants? They do everything to fuck

with our Democracy.