Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ANY 0H] It took the oppressive reality of the S.C. State Penitentary to convince me that the ludicrous court room drama had been in deadly earnest. Those "'running dogs" finally had me where they wanted me - in a prison uniform, my head shaved, and In a cell with an ex-green beret sergeant convicted of murder; but .he uniform is gone now; my hair is growing back, and the sergeant says the next time he picks up his gun, it will be in th-: streets of this country. Two weeks after my appeal bond was posted, I was told I would be released if I agreed to a set of special bond restrictions. The mind of Amerika is accurately reflected in realizing that these restrictions were placed upon someone con victed, not of High Treason, but of malicious mischief. The conditions were that: 1) I shall be of good behavior towards all citizens of this state; and keep and maintain and respect the peace and dignity of the State of South Carolina, and the United States of America. 2) That I refrain from the violation of any Federal, State or municipal law. 3) That I do not depart the State of South Carolina. 4) Thet I avoid injurious or vicious habits of conduct; avoid injurious or vicious habits of charactejr; avoid forcloses me from association of some of my former associates or places that I formerly frequented. 5) That I refrain from any actions which directly or indirectly would contribute or lead to disorderly conduct or 'breach of the peace. 6) That I refrain from any utterance, oral or written or printed, which would be in derogation or subversive to the authority, peace and dignity of the State of South Carolina and the United States of America. That I agree to abide by every one of these conditions, and that the violation of any one of these conditions would mean my immediate arrest and forfeiture of my bond. Do you understand that?" Sweet Bleeding Jesus, could anyone understand that shit? You would think I had raped the judge's mother on the courthouse steps, after leading Maoist hoards on an assault down Main Street. It was so absurd I felt compelled to humor them; I agreed with their conditions. The sixth condition was particulary offensive. It ostensibly would prohibit me from statements that would reflect anything but my wholehearted support for the pigs and their tatics. Though I try not to be negative, this would in effect rather limit my freedom of speech. I find redemption in the fact that I have since violated every one of these conditions (it is not true that I am hiding in the capitol dome, in constant radio contact with Peking). A PIG BY ANY OTHER NAME. The main impact of this sordid experience should not be the injustices that young, white, well-intentioned revolutionaries can sutter in Amerika; but that any young, white, seemingly well-intentioned revolutionaries can be pigs. Pig Weatherford defied all logic.Heknew the rhetoric he so earnestly mouthed about this country to be true. During his year as an agent he knew the type of love, compassion and sincerity that the youth of this country shares and the hope of America rests upon. Though he lived in a community of hope, he was con sciously an agent of despair, knowing that all those things he so cleverly professed to believe were only camouflage to ma:ntain his decepiion. Weatherford maintained for over a year a facade so thorough that none of us were even aware enough of it to make an effort to see through it. A contrived existence that had to be maintained through sleep, love, and drugs, 24 hours a day. I wonder if his dreams were in pig or revolutionary. Weatherford has disproved all the previously applied methods used to spot an agent. I overheard a sister say the other day that she didn't trust anyone she hadn't slept with. I know both men and women who invafidate that test. I used to believe that trippingwith someone, especially someone you love, would reveal all - that acid was the eye from which no pig could hide. Not so, Weatherford did dope, he did dope with people he professed to love. A friend has since told me that he and Weatherford used to often make love while tripping. There are many personal methods used to detect a pig; lust about everyone reading this will say ''ah- ha, but they didn't do --- (favorite foolproof method used to spot 'em every time), but remember you must suspect someone before you tail them or what ever - and brother Jack fooled all of the people all of the time. Living, loving, working, dope, streetfighting, riot inciting, and just plain vibes, all proved to no avail. In order to effectively combat agents in our ranks, we must try to understand them. Weatherford uses a peculiar logic to rationalize his mission as a SL ED agent, as seen in the following exerpts from the GAMECOCK, Carolina's student newspaper. "First of all, I too will have to agree to the regretability of having undercover agents in a democratic society, however, I must reply with the all too obvious statement that we do not live in an ideal world, that we live in a world with very real problems and with very real threats and dangers. In this world it is the dut y of the state to protect the lives, rights, and property of its citizens. In Order to1 accomplish this,'we have not yet found means totally void of deception. There are times when the ideal of a society without deception is in conflict with the protection of the rights of that society's members, and the state is forced to use deception to protect these rights. ..My position did not arise from any attempt to infringe on academic freedoms or to suppress dissent. I have to the greatest extent possible, attempted to perform my functions in an objective manner, bearing foremost in mind the duty to protect the ilves and rights of every in dividual, irrespective of his political beliefs. While It is immediately obvious how such a position can serve to protect the rights and interest of the greater society, few people seem aware of the way in which it serves to protect the rights and interest of those advocating change, in that it can help to prevent over reaction against the dissenters... In performing my function, it was necessary that I be as far within as possible the activities of those individuals who were felt to pose the greatest threat to this community... I hoped that I would be able to identify illegal or potentially ilIbgal transgressions without infringement on the intellectual or emotional privacy of individuals concerned. In conclusion, I would like to state my hope that the m'alority of students and faculty on this campus will not be persuaded to see my presence as having been one of "spying"on faculty or of compiling files on student activists, when it was simple vigilance against legal infractions. There are those, of course, who would por tray my recent activities as evidence of the existance of a, police state, but I do not fear these allegations as much as t do those of individuals on the other ex treme who might use my presence as a means of intimidating both students and faculty In such a way as to stifle academic descourse and halt, through fear, the exercise of constitutional rights. It is the duty 6f the members of this community to avoid such an occurance, and I feel that the best way of avoiding it is through the recognition of my position as It actually was, namely one of law en forcement." Needless to say I could find fault in Weatherford's logic. His actual reasons for becoming an agent may have been a bit more mundane than Officer Jack would have us believe. He was paid well, and received many fringe benefits. Primarily, I think and hope that he is insane. The woman Weatherford was living with did not know he was an agent until my trial. It literally destroyed her mind when she realized that her longhaired, revolutionary lover was a pig. She is still living with him. The shock of finding out that everything about someone she was so totally involved with was a calculated lie and deception, has made her unable to relate to anyone except in menial pleasantries. -can empathize with this woman's inability to understand why and how such a deception is humanly possible. Weatherford may have been an exceptional agent, but because of this ex ception we must assume there are others like him - even if his motive was in sanity. There were no agents discovered on the last Venceremos Brigade that spent several weeks of intensive introspection on Cuba's Isle of Youth. But they were there, and now carry the credentials and credibility of those who are not agents. Weatherford had been accepted to go on the brigade and did not go in order to testify at my trial. The F.B.I. was the agency he was responsive to in this case, and they would not have blown his cover on me unless they had a sufficient number of agents already in the brigade. Weatherford is obviously a slick dude. The fact that the cracker pigs in S. C. have the ability to recruit someone so capable should make movement people in every state take a closer look at their cecurity and the fragile nature of the freedom that a diminishing number of People in this coLntry enjoy. 2,3 MANY WEATHERMAN'S I am now "underground," my appeal having run out in January not plugged into a vast network of the International Communist Conspiracy, but not alone or isolated. The very nature and survival of underground cadres like Weatherman, exclude te possibility of the recrlutment of new undergroundles. You don't Join Weatherman - you create it. In order to survive and win the protracted struggle that is underway in this country other people, collectives, families and tribes must realize the necessity of establishing ther own underground systems. With an increasing number of us becoming fugitives, time is of the essence in the establishing of locally autonomous underground cadres. Without such groups the revolutionary facing jail has little choice but to submit, or-go into hiding. In hiding, revolutionary effectiveness is limited and often reduced to individual terrorism. individual terrorism has its merit, but is is not going to give us the strength, combined knowledge, and durability of small bands of inter-relating guerrillas. Without such groups we reduce our viability and frustratingly isolate ourselves from our sisters and brothers. The isolation that the Weather Un dergound expressed in their "New Morning" statement makes it clear that being a fugitive has its limitations; however, I fear that the pigs are not going to stop busting people because weathermen have discovered there are disad vantages in being underground. The percentage of young people whose life styles make them criminals is increasing. The court dockets of Amerika are bloated with young men and women who must either go to jail, hide or go underground. Since you can not oin the existing underground, you must create your own. Small tribes of revolutionaries springing up all across Amerika seem to me more preferable than large groups of prisoners. People in struggle everywhere must begin to prepare themselves in the event that they must go underqround to remain a free and a viable revolutionary force. This doesn't mean that people should drop what their doing and dig tunnels; they can on the contrary, work better in the jobs they are doing, knowing they have prepared an option of either obeying the law, or going to jaIl. it's something like revolutionary insurance. Preventing agents like Weatherford from infiltrating and temporarily destroying our unity Is something that only time, extreme care, and collective struggle may accomplish. The formation of these cadres will be safer and more thorough if development is begun before any of its members become fugitives. It is not necessary or desirable for the entire group to go underground when one or two members are forced to do so. You can't begin to work too soon on alternate identifications, mail and phone systems. Start now - keep the revolution in your own neighborhood. Some day, perhaps on November 7, 1972, In Washington, D. C., all the tribes and families of Underground Amerika will meet to combine their energies and form a liberation army that will no longer be underground. But we must stay alive, and free, anci fighting to hasten that day and tbe around when it comes, I ha've in my head a vague notion of something that the brutal, contemptible and pitiful people who are destroying this country cannot begin to perceive. It is a revolution to which violence is an insignificant a part of, as having feathers is to flying. It Is a revolution of mind and soul that once started never stops, and must remain as fluid as the ever changing needs of the people, which it serves. It Is a revolution which we will win, or die.' Sisters and brothers, you know we are all outlaws in the eyes of Amerika, and if they are sane, then we are all hopelessly mad. Our madness-flourishes, and within it thrives the hopes and spirits of a new people. I rernember all the shit I left behind in Amerika, and wonder who's more free - you, or me? *:.*~'.:~-Brett Burseyr