March 4, 2008 at 21:39:00

You Don't Need a Weatherman

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By David Swanson (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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The police in the United States were, in this period, beginning to use more violence and harassment against activists whose minds were gravitating toward the idea that violence was the appropriate tactic for them to use in response. Along the way these activists arrived at the idea of aggressively taking over college campuses. But this devolved from an effort to involve more students' minds into an effort to trap students in actions they did not understand or support.

By 1969, SDS was falling apart, and something called the Weatherman was forming. This was a top-down antidemocratic cult-like organization that quickly focused on the tactic of exploding bombs in symbolic locations in the United States. In 1970 Wilkerson went into hiding, and the organization became the Weather Underground after bombs accidentally exploded in her stepfather's house in Manhattan killing three members of Weatherman and making big headlines. Wilkerson believes that this clumsy accident actually communicated the anger of those involved better than a successful explosion at a military base would have done, because the reaction to that would have been dominated by anger at those responsible.

Yet Wilkerson would clearly unexplode those bombs and bring her friends back to life in an instant if she were able.

I'll be interviewing Wilkerson live on the radio this Wednesday evening, and you can call in with your questions. Go to http://thepeoplespeakradio.net and call in toll-free from anywhere in the world at 877-489-6350 or in the United States and Canada at 888-228-4494.

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David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. (more...)

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