Brandon Darby founded Common Ground Relief in New orleans after Katrina. He was arrested during anti-Halliburton protests in Houston in 2004. He was a well-known leftie activist in Austin.
Sometime before the RNC protests in 2008 he became an FBI informant. He said he did after discovering that some wanted to make bombs. Some of his fellow activists now say he was an informer long before the RNC and, rather than nobly wanting to stop bombers, was instead instigating them.
Lee Otis Johnson comments in our previous post on Darby, which quotes his open letter explaining why he became an informant
Brandon Darby began snitching to the FBI months before he even met the Texas 2. His rationale for cooperating with the Feds is completely bogus. Hopefully, if we get the word out, this will help prove that he is an agent provocateur and that he entrapped the Texas 2.
[FBI agent] Langert refers to conversations gathered when the informant [assumed to be Darby] wore a wire to record McKay talking about how he and Crowder had made Molotov cocktails, using tampons soaked in lighter fluid for wicks.
Well, uh, those are bombs. So, seems to me, the only way out for the defendants would be by showing entrapment, something which is not easily done. Assuming it even was. The damage and disillusionment to the Austin progressive community must be severe.
McCay and Crowder have been denied bail and remain in federal detention in St. Paul. Their trial date has been postponed indefinitely. They each face seven to 10 years in prison.
I’ve no idea whether Darby is a selfless hero, nasty provocateur, or something in between. But hey kidz. You won’t bring down Babylon with a Molotov, and it is deluded romantic adventurism to think you can. It also makes things dangerous for other activists. As an example, this certainly helps explain why police at the RNC were so seriously aggressive. They probably knew about the bomb threats and were acting accordingly.
Bullshit. Where was the crackdown on Monday when I was embedded with anarchists smashing up downtown? There were so many cops around the demonstrators practically had police PROTECTION. They used that misbehavior on Monday to justify the crack down the rest of the week. These phony bomb charges are probably to justify the massive expense caused by their crackdowns.
Where was all this evidence that week when the entire twin cities was CRAWLING with journalists? There was ZERO. It seems now that everyones gone off and doesn’t care anymore, NOW the police have irrefutable evidence of bombs?!
Bull. Shit.
Free the RNC 8.
As I recall, and you were there doing a admirable job of reporting and I wasn’t, the FBI was in contact with the local police, (who were also getting millions from Homeland Security with a hard right police chief partially in charge). So, seems to me, if the FBI had an informant who said bombs might be made the FBI would have passed at least a hint of that on to the locals.
If, as stated, the FBI has tapes of the Texas 2 saying they wanted to make Molotov’s, then, IMHO, the defendants are in deep dooky.
We need protest that is smart, effective, focused and which doesn’t get people indicted.
Please keep adding whatever you have.