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Thirty four years ago today, the trial for the lead protesters at the Chicago Democratic National Convention began, in a seemingly Kangaroo Court trial. This is the trial that saw Bobby Seale bound and gagged by the judge in the courtroom before finally being removed.
Unfortunately, the Patriot Act has ensured that individuals like these would most likely now, be classifed terrorists and would just be locked away without a trial.
Here is a chronology of the events leading up to the trial and of the trial itself.
The Chicago Seven Trial: A Chronology
1960 Abbie Hoffman said he was "pychologically born" in this year.
October, 1967 Hoffman arrested while attempting to measure the Pentagon.
December, 1967 Hoffman and Rubin meet to discuss possibility of having demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
January 24, 1968 The National Mobilization Committee (MOBE) meets in New York to discuss possible demonstrations in Chicago. Dellinger, Davis, and Hayden are in attendendence.
March 17, 1968 A press conference is held to announce that the Yippies will sponsor a "Festival of Life" in Chicago during the upcoming Democratic Convention.
March 23, 1968 A meeting sponsored by MOBE is held near Chicago to debate whether to hold demonstrations at the Convention. In attendence are Dellinger, Davis, Hayden, Hoffman, and Rubin. March 26, 1968 Yippies submit application for demonstrations to Chicago Parks Department.
April 11, 1968 Amid concerns about rising protests of the Viet Nam War, Congress enacts the Anti-Riot Act of 1968.
August 5, 1968 Deputy Mayor Stahl indicates his unwillingness to grant permit application for sleeping in Chicago parks.
August 9, 1968 A National Mobilization Committee meeting is held in Chicago to discuss planned demonstrations. Davis allegedly suggests disrupting traffic and creating havoc in the Loop.
August 14, 1968 ACLU suit seeking an injunction requiring issuance of permit is withdrawn after hearing amid concerns that court might instead enjoin demonstrators.
August 22, 1968 Davis tells city officials it would be "suicide" not to allow demonstrators to sleep in city parks.
August 23, 1968 Classes are held in Lincoln Park on karate, snake dancing, and other means of self-defense. Police post "11 p.m. curfew" signs in park trees.
August 24, 1968 A meeting is held to discuss whether to obey city's 11 p.m. curfew.
August 25, 1968 Police club persons attending a music festival in Lincoln Park who refuse to leave at curfew. Davis and Hayden meet to lead march to the Conrad Hilton, the main Convention hotel. At 9 p.m., police confront and attack some demonstrators. Rubin allegedly urges demonstrators to attack police. At 10:30 p.m., two police officers observe Hayden letting the air out of tires of their police car.
August 26, 1968 Hoffman calls Deputy Mayor Stahl to protest decision to forcibly drive people out of park. Hayden is arrested in the afternoon for the squad car incident. Hoffman and Rubin allegedly urge demonstrators to hold Lincoln Park. Davis urges demonstrators "Don't let the pigs take the hill (high ground near a statue in the park)."About 3,000 demonstrators gathered in park for chanting, singing songs, and talking are attacked by police with clubs and tear gas after 11 p.m. curfew.
August 27, 1968 Allan Ginsberg leads a sunrise service that includes chanting, prayers, and meditation. About 4,000 gather at a rally in the Chicago Coliseum to hear Dellinger, Hoffman, folksinger Phil Ochs, novelist William Burroughs and others. A planned march to the Amphitheatre, site of the Democratic National Convention, is discussed. Bobby Seale addressed a crowd of about 2,000 in Lincoln Park. Seale's address is observed by undercover police officer Robert Pierson. At 11:20 p.m. in Lincoln Park, police charge and beat demonstrators. Some enraged demonstrators smash windows and streetlights. Violent encounters between police and demonstrators occur in the streets near Grant Park.
August 28, 1968 Hoffman is arrested while having breakfast for having the word "Fuck" on his forehead. Dellinger, Seale, Davis, and Hayden address 10,000 to 15,000 demonstrators at the bandshell in Grant Park, opposite the Hilton. Democrats nominate Hubert Humphrey as their candidate for President. Dellinger announces that he will lead a march to the Amphitheatre. The march is stopped by police. Demonstrators are attacked by police with teargas and clubs at Balbo and Michigan and other locations in the area. Senator Eugene McCarthy, Dick Gregory are among others who address a crowd in Grant Park. Hoffman allegedly proposes the kidnapping of Superintendent Rochford.
November 5, 1968 Nixon narrowly defeats Humphrey in the presidential election. Many blame Humphrey's defeat on the rioting and division at the Democratic Convention.
March 20, 1969 A federal grand jury indicts the Chicago Eight.
April 9, 1969 The Chicago Eight are arraigned.
August, 1969 Bobby Seale is arrested in connection with Connecticut charges of murder.
September 24, 1969 The trial of the Chicago Eight begins in Chicago before Judge Julius Hoffman.
October 29 to November 3, 1969 Because of his courtroom outbursts, Bobby Seale is ordered bound and gagged.
November 5, 1969 The trial of Seale is severed from the trial of what now becomes the Chicago Seven.
February 14, 1970 The case goes to the jury.
February 18, 1970 The jury returns its verdict, finding five of the seven defendants guilty of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968. Froines and Weiner are acquitted.
February 20, 1970 Judge Hoffman sentences the convicted defendants.
May 11, 1972 The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reverses the contempt convictions of the Chicago Seven and their two defense attorneys, Leonard Weinglass and William Kunstler.
November 21, 1972 The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reverses the convictions of Hoffman, Rubin, Dellinger, Davis, and Hayden.
Verily poor as we are in democracy, how can we give of it to the world? A democracy conceived in the military servitude of the masses, in their economic enslavement, and nurtured in their tears and blood, is not democracy at all
-Emma Goldman
IWW
Hunter S. Thompson wrote a little bit about the protests in Chicago in 1968 in Kingdom of Fear, I believe it was... very interesting. Thompson was sure that the riot cops were out to beat the protestors and they would put together some excuse or pretense later. I have no reason to doubt him.
Lincoln's Underground Network -- LUNk Radio
http://www.lunkradio.org
Jerry Rubin is a stock marnet broker now!
As an Anarchist, I strangely find myself getting along better with Maoists than Platformists!
Remember the original Chicago 8!
http://www.luminist.org/Archives/Haymarket.htm
p.s.Jerry Rubin has been dead for 9 years.
Now I'm finding out there's just one kind of war -
It's the one going on 'tween the rich and the poor;
I don't know a lot about what you'd call class,
But the upper and middle can all kiss my ass.
-Utah Phillips
We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world - bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are whores for power and oil with hate and fear in our hearts." (Hunter S. Thompson, on America)
Oh yeah sorry but he did become a broker I know that.
As an Anarchist, I strangely find myself getting along better with Maoists than Platformists!
I was reading about Abbie Hoffman only yesterday. Jerry Rubin was a good Yippie! (Youth International Party) but then he turned into a fucking Yuppie (Young Urban Professional) and he died jaywalking. Somebody ran him over. I read from Abbie's brother that Abbie grew to dislike Rubin so much that he just didn't want to be around him.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books
thanks Hampton. 4 hours later and I am still finding interesting things within these testimonies!
Resist Much. Obey Little
-Walt Whitman
<span style=\'color:gray\'>"As through this life you travel, you meet some funny men
Some rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen
As through this life you ramble, as through this life you roam
You'll never see an outlaw take a family from their home"
-from Pretty Boy Floyd
(W. Guthrie)</span>
