Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 07:19:17 GMT
Subject: M-G: Boycott provocateurs


Rolf Martens has exposed himself as a security risk on 
this list.

a) he defends his right to report to the security forces
people whom he considers to be serious political enemies.

b) his logic for identifying serious political enemies is
arbitrary to say the least.

c) he is seriously provocative.


While his rejoinder to Hans Ehrbar has the merit of focussing
on two political questions, nuclear power and Zaire, and states
there will be "nothing more from me just now on the question of cops"
["just now"], he persists in denigrating political opponents 
with contemptuous name calling, such as  "Hand "Psycho III" Ehrbar",
like Dr Senderpause, Chris-B Cop and Dougy Left-Biz.

If this was just juvenile name calling by someone who 
enjoys his fluency in several languages, it could be overlooked
but it is actually inseparable from the fact that Rolf seeks the
right to participate on this list while not respecting the basic 
right of other participants. Indeed he contributes actively to 
a soured atmosphere in which expressions of personal contempt rather
than reasoned political argument easily become the norm, and 
discussion about capitalism, the real enemy, becomes impossible.

An unsolicited mail has drawn my attention to an article that claims
in 1994 the FBI admitted having 25 net-literate operatives. The 
number must be larger now, and it is inconceivable that their search
engines have not discovered this site.

I think it is unlikely that Rolf is paid for his time on the internet by
the enemy, but the trouble is that his provocations are indistinguishable
from what the enemy might well like to achieve.
I hope he thinks seriously that it is not in his interests to 
allow this similarity to continue. 

Whether he continues to post on this list, or finds better things to do,
is of course entirely up to him. I would not be in favour of this
list censoring him off it. Another Rolf would emerge and we would
have learned nothing. 

But until he has made a genuine self-criticism about his style, and
demonstrated a sustained effort to change in practice, I would
call on all other subscribers to boycott him.



Chris Burford
London.



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