© 2026 The Couch Critic
Status
Released
Release
2010
Runtime
56m
Available options inUS
COINTELPRO 101 exposes illegal surveillance, disruption, and outright murder committed by the US government in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. “COINTELPRO” refers to the official FBI COunter INTELigence PROgram carried out to surveil, imprison, and eliminate leaders of social justice movements and to disrupt, divide, and destroy the movements as well. Many of the government's crimes are still unknown. Through interviews with activists who experienced these abuses first-hand, with rare historical footage, the film provides an educational introduction to a period of intense repression and draws relevant lessons for the present and future.
25 Cast Members
Liz Derias
Self / Narrator (voice)
Bob Boyle
Self - Attorney
Jose Lopez
Self - Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Lucy Rodriguez
Self - Puerto Rican Independentista / Former Political Prisoner
Ward Churchill
Self - Native American Activist/Author
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Self - Native American Activist/Author
Leonard Peltier
Self - Political Prisoner
Ricardo Romero
Self - Al Frente de Lucha; Greeley, CO
Francísco "Kiko" Martinez
Self - Chicano/Mexicano Activist & Attorney
Priscilla Falcon
Self - Professor, Hispanic Studies, U. of Northern Colorado
Muhammad Ahmad
Self - Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM)
J. Edgar Hoover
Self (archive footage)
Malcolm X
Self (archive footage)
Martin Luther King Jr.
Self (archive footage)
Kwame Ture
Self (archive footage)
Akinyele Umoja
Self - Professor, African American Studies, Georgia State U.
Geronimo Pratt
Self - Black Panther Party / Former Political Prisoner
Laura Whitehorn
Self - Activist / Former Political Prisoner
Kathleen Cleaver
Self - Black Panther Party/Attorney
M. Wesley Swearingen
Self - Former FBI Special Agent