Thinking of Haskell Wechsler's incredible foresight to film the protests in Grant Park for his upcoming film, Medium Cool. I know I have a copy somewhere and will try to find it tomorrow. Remember the opening scene with the videographer on a motorcycle watching an accident victim die?
Can't believe they chose Chicago again. Those songs were the music of my late teens and precursors to the long, strange trip of my life during wars. I even had the joy of tear gas in our apartment my second year at UCSB, where the B of A was burnt down.
I know Chicago '68 seems like a good marketing 'hook' for the DNC in 2024, for someone, but there are some massive differences being left out:
1. There have been a hundred 'battles' since then: Seattle, Ferguson, MO, Occupy in NYC, Minneapolis, Standing Rock, "Cop City", , on and on; and a dozen or so huge "Marches On Washington", or in NYC, etc., + none have really "worked"; except for fattening the authorities' playbook of countermeasures against such physical-presence demonstrations.
The experienced part of the left knows this, and views public protest as a thoroughly compromised and outmoded tactic. There'll be some fringers out there, yes; but without impact or anything more than empty performance with questionable motives.
2. A growing part of the left no longer considers the Democratic Party a viable solution for trying to engage or influence; they consider this coming election a "wash" and a net loss for their aims either way. If they vote, they'll vote to hold off the open fascists, but will mostly "keep their powder dry" for more meaningful actions beyond this November.
As such, there's little to no point in getting kettled and gassed trying to scold a party that has no interest in listening to you.
The gulf between the Democratic Party and the left is somewhat quieter now; but it's more permanent. That brawl will occur in other places, by other means.
The media likes to say that the 60's ended at Altamont, which is in a way true, since that was in December of 1969. But the 60's really ended at the convention, after that worldwide everyone got more militant. Flower power was dead.
I wish I could say we protesters ended the war, somehow changing Nixon's heart. But it was Mao who ended the war, by letting Kissinger know he wouldn't meet with Nixon unless he saw we were leaving Vietnam.
We would still be there if that hadn't happened.
Barry Goldwater warned Democrats were entering a new kind of warfare, low impact wars not fought for victory but to create defense industry jobs and collect lobby money. We haven't won a war since World War 2! Feinstein dies with $233 million. That's a lot of overtime!
Last Friday Secret Service let delegates know they shouldn't book rooms under their own names. They are so broken, they have no clue people already booked rooms months ago. What Chicago's Mayor in 1968 believed, that the protests were funded by foreign groups, is actually true this time with Hamas. It wasn't true with us, the Soviets didn't trust hippies. Hamas needs American martyrs, and I believe they have been stalling on hostage negotiations to watch what happens at the convention.
Police have huge pensions and get paid far beyond what cops did in 1968. You won't see them running wild. But you could see them outnumbered and outgunned.
Thinking of Haskell Wechsler's incredible foresight to film the protests in Grant Park for his upcoming film, Medium Cool. I know I have a copy somewhere and will try to find it tomorrow. Remember the opening scene with the videographer on a motorcycle watching an accident victim die?
Can't believe they chose Chicago again. Those songs were the music of my late teens and precursors to the long, strange trip of my life during wars. I even had the joy of tear gas in our apartment my second year at UCSB, where the B of A was burnt down.
Police riot !
("my first ride on a jetliner." Yes! Any remembrances about that?)
I know Chicago '68 seems like a good marketing 'hook' for the DNC in 2024, for someone, but there are some massive differences being left out:
1. There have been a hundred 'battles' since then: Seattle, Ferguson, MO, Occupy in NYC, Minneapolis, Standing Rock, "Cop City", , on and on; and a dozen or so huge "Marches On Washington", or in NYC, etc., + none have really "worked"; except for fattening the authorities' playbook of countermeasures against such physical-presence demonstrations.
The experienced part of the left knows this, and views public protest as a thoroughly compromised and outmoded tactic. There'll be some fringers out there, yes; but without impact or anything more than empty performance with questionable motives.
2. A growing part of the left no longer considers the Democratic Party a viable solution for trying to engage or influence; they consider this coming election a "wash" and a net loss for their aims either way. If they vote, they'll vote to hold off the open fascists, but will mostly "keep their powder dry" for more meaningful actions beyond this November.
As such, there's little to no point in getting kettled and gassed trying to scold a party that has no interest in listening to you.
The gulf between the Democratic Party and the left is somewhat quieter now; but it's more permanent. That brawl will occur in other places, by other means.
The media likes to say that the 60's ended at Altamont, which is in a way true, since that was in December of 1969. But the 60's really ended at the convention, after that worldwide everyone got more militant. Flower power was dead.
I wish I could say we protesters ended the war, somehow changing Nixon's heart. But it was Mao who ended the war, by letting Kissinger know he wouldn't meet with Nixon unless he saw we were leaving Vietnam.
We would still be there if that hadn't happened.
Barry Goldwater warned Democrats were entering a new kind of warfare, low impact wars not fought for victory but to create defense industry jobs and collect lobby money. We haven't won a war since World War 2! Feinstein dies with $233 million. That's a lot of overtime!
Last Friday Secret Service let delegates know they shouldn't book rooms under their own names. They are so broken, they have no clue people already booked rooms months ago. What Chicago's Mayor in 1968 believed, that the protests were funded by foreign groups, is actually true this time with Hamas. It wasn't true with us, the Soviets didn't trust hippies. Hamas needs American martyrs, and I believe they have been stalling on hostage negotiations to watch what happens at the convention.
Police have huge pensions and get paid far beyond what cops did in 1968. You won't see them running wild. But you could see them outnumbered and outgunned.