DAYS OF RAGE
The current Occupy Wall Street is similar to the Weathermen of 1969. So is the so called "Day of Rage". It is a shame that the "community organizers" of today could do nothing original. The following was copied and pasted from Wikipedia. It takes a little studying to understand who President Obama pals around with. These are the people with whom he identifies himself:
The
Days of Rage demonstrations were a series of direct actions taken over a course of three days in October 1969 in Chicago organized by the
Weatherman faction of the
Students for a Democratic Society. The group planned the October 8–11 event as a "National Action" built around
John Jacobs' slogan, "bring the war home."
[1] The National Action grew out of a resolution drafted by Jacobs and introduced at the October 1968 SDS National Council meeting in Boulder, Colorado. The resolution, titled "The Elections Don't Mean Shit—Vote Where the Power Is—Our Power Is In The Street" and adopted by the council, was prompted by the success of the
Democratic National Convention protests in August 1968 and reflected Jacobs' strong advocacy of
direct action as a political strategy.
[2]
2 Events of Days of Rage
3 Aftermath
4 Notes
5 References
[edit] Events leading to Days of Rage
In 1969, tensions ran high among the factions of SDS. Weatherman was still part of the organization but differences were coming to the surface. “Look at it: America 1969” put forth SDS’s bottom line regarding the National Action. By the end of August, the differences between Weatherman and
RYM II had emerged, leading to the resignation of RYM II leader and member of SDS
Mike Klonsky from the Weatherman-controlled National office leadership.
[3][4] He accused Weatherman of going back on the convention’s mandate.
Weatherman members Mark Rudd and Terry Robbins responded, saying that priority must be given to building an anti-imperialist youth movement.
[5]
In the months before the Days of Rage, despite the tensions within SDS, many members of Weather/SDS worked non-stop in promoting the demonstration.
Lyndon Comstock was sent, along with three other members, to Lansing, Michigan to organize and promote the event. Leaflets were printed and distributed to high school and community college students during the day, while at night members would spray paint anti-war graffiti on local school campuses.
[6]
On October 5, 1969 the statue commemorating the policemen killed in the 1886
Haymarket affair was dynamited. The blast broke nearly 100 windows and scattered pieces of the statue onto the Kennedy Expressway below.
[7] No one was ever arrested for the bombing.
[8]
As October 8 approached, Weatherman found itself isolated from SDS,
[9] but maintained high hopes that thousands would attend the mass demonstration in Chicago.
[edit] Events of Days of Rage
[edit] October 8, 1969 Despite efforts to recruit youth and promote involvement, participation in the "Days of Rage" demonstrations was not as broadly based as advertised, or as participants had hoped. About 800 Weatherman members showed up prior to October 8 and faced 2000 police officers. No more than 300 were left willing to face the enormous gathering of police a second time around [10] on the evening of Wednesday, October 8, 1969, in Chicago's Lincoln Park, and perhaps half of them were members of Weatherman collectives from around the country.[1] The crowd milled about for several hours, cold and uncertain. Tom Hayden gave a short speech, telling the protesters not to believe press reports that the Chicago 8 disagreed with their action.[11] Abbie Hoffman and John Froines, other members of the Chicago 8, also came but decided not to speak and quickly left.[11] Late in the evening, Jacobs stood on the pedestal of the bombed Haymarket policemen's statue and declared: "We'll probably lose people today... We don't really have to win here ... just the fact that we are willing to fight the police is a political victory."[12] Jacobs' speech compared the coming protest to the fight against fascism in World War II. By this time there were around 350 protesters.[11] Jeff Jones announced "I am Marion Delgado" an adopted folk hero of Weatherman (Delgado was a five-year-old Chicano boy who had derailed a passenger train in 1947 by putting a slab of concrete on the track) and for the first time told the crowd the target of the march: the Drake Hotel, home of Julius Hoffman, the judge in the Chicago 8 trial.
Finally, at 10:25 p.m., Jones gave the pre-arranged signal over a bullhorn, and the Weatherman action began. John Jacobs, Jeff Jones, David Gilbert and others led a charge south through the city toward the Drake Hotel and the exceptionally affluent Gold Coast neighborhood, smashing windows in automobiles and buildings as they went. The protesters attacked "ordinary cars, a barber shop...and the windows of lower-middle-class homes" as well as police cars and luxury businesses.[11] The mass of the crowd ran about four blocks before encountering police barricades. The mob charged the police breaking off into small groups, and more than 1,000 police counter-attacked. Although many protesters had motorcycle or football helmets on, the police were better trained and armed; nightsticks were aimed at necks, legs and groins. Large amounts of tear gas were used, and at least twice police ran squad cars full speed into crowds. After only a half-hour or so, the riot was over: 28 policemen were injured (none seriously), six Weathermen were shot and an unknown number injured, and 68 protesters were arrested. Jacobs was arrested almost immediately.
We will look at October 9th and 10th in my next installment.
You can also follow me on http://omaswisdom.blogspot.com/, http://omashealth.blogspot.com/, and http://omaslife.blogspot.com/. Just click the links.
No comments:
Post a Comment