Chicago 8 Webinar: November 20, 2020

"Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8"

Webinar held Friday, November 20, 5 p.m. ET

to discuss the film by Jeremy Kagan

See it on Youtube video here 

https://youtu.be/hoDnzE7iw9E

Chat and Q & A here

https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2020/11/chats-from-chicago-8-webinar.html

Watch the film before the webinar

Website here with link to free vimeo download    

https://conspiracythetrialofthechicago8theofficialunofficialsite.com/

Program 

• Jon Wiener, author of  "Conspiracy in the Streets"
• Jeremy Kagan, film director and producer
• Stuart Ball, attorney, defense team assistant to Lennie Weinglass
• Lee Weiner, defendant
• Corinna Fales, unindicted coconspirator
• Michael Lembeck, actor (Abbie Hoffman) 
• Bobby Seale, defendant 
• Carl Lumbly, actor (Bobby Seale)
• John McAuliff, Moderator, Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee
• Brewster Rhoads, Timekeeper, Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee

We organized a discussion of a film made in 1987 but still very timely. Dramatization of courtroom testimony was mixed with interviews of the defendants themselves. Use of "Chicago 8" in the title reflects the greater attention to Bobby Seale's experience. "Conspiracy" is as artistically powerful but historically more accurate than Sorkin's film so could be a better educational resource.

The VPCC webinar on the Aaron Sorkin film, "The Trial of the Chicago 7" can be seen here , the program with speakers bios is here

Tax deductible contributions to support this and future webinars can be made here.

Speakers

Jeremy Kagan

Jeremy Kagan is an internationally recognized director/writer/producer with eleven feature films including the just released SHOT about what one bullet does to three lives.  

Other features are THE CHOSEN from the classic Chaim Potok novel and THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN, HEROES about returned Vietnam vets and the political detective thriller THE BIG FIX.   Among his fifteen television movies are KATHERINE: the Making of an American Revolutionary based on the sixties counter culture movements and HBO's CONSPIRACY: THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 8  (ACE Award for Best Dramatic Special), COLOR OF JUSTICE and DGA nominated CROWN HEIGHTS about the riot in 1991  He won an Emmy for Dramatic Series Directing and has directed many dramatic episodes including WEST WING.  He produced and directed the ten part series FREEDOM FILES for the ACLU about social justice issues like racial profiling, the patriot act, LGBTQ rights, women's rights, voting rights, dissent and the drug wars.  He is also a full tenured professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at USC where he created the Change Making Media Lab  - www.cmml-usc.org - that has made dramatic, documentary and animated films about homelessness, environmental issues, women's health, ADHD and sustainability; and he teaches classes on media for social change.  He is the author of three books on filmmaking - Directors Close Up, vol 1 and vol 2 as well as the eTextbook - Keys to Directing.

www.cmml-usc.edu

https://conspiracythetrialofthechicago8theofficialunofficialsite.com/

www.theneardeathandlifeofjeremykagan.com

www.keystodirecting.com

Jon Wiener

Jon Wiener started out in the sixties writing for The Old Mole, an underground weekly in Cambridge, Mass.  In 1983 he sued the FBI for their files on John Lennon - dating from the time when Nixon had ordered Lennon deported from the US to silence him as a critic of the Vietnam War. After 17 years of litigation, including a Supreme Court appeal (Wiener v FBI, cert denied), the government settled and released almost all of pages that had been withheld on the grounds that they contained "National Security" information. That story is told in his book "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files." 

He's taught American history at UC Irvine, and he's a long-time contributing editor at The Nation, where he hosts the magazine's weekly podcast "Start Making Sense." His guests there have included Stacy Abrams, Naomi Klein, Chris Hayes, Rebecca Solnit, Henry Louis Gates, and Barbara Ehrenreich.  His recent books include “Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties,” co-authored by Mike Davis [here], and "Conspiracy in the Streets: the Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Eight," which includes illustrations by Jules Feiffer and a cover photo by Richard Avedon [here].  He lives in Los Angeles.

Lee Weiner

Lee Weiner was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, in a family with leftist political roots and an association with organized crime. His activist life began with free speech demonstrations at the University of Illinois in 1960, included community organizing in desperately poor neighborhoods in Chicago, friendships with other left and counter culture activists, and participation in the anti-war demonstrations in the summer of 1968 in Chicago which led to his indictment in the notorious Chicago 8/7 Conspiracy trial in 1969. 

His later political work included direct response fundraising for members of Congress and national non-profit organizations. Along the way he collected a couple of master’s degrees and a PhD in sociology. His political memoir “Conspiracy to Riot – The Life and Times of One of the Chicago 7” was published in August, and mentioned on CBS News and the Chicago Tribune.  For  more info, check out “Lee Weiner” in Wikipedia .

Stuart Ball

I graduated from Rutgers Law School in June of 1969 and immediately teamed up with Leonard Weinglass, Esq., who was one of the lead attorneys for the defense of the Chicago 8/Chicago 7. I remained as a full time lawyer in that matter during the preparation for the trial and for the five month trial itself that began in September, 1969.

Following the trial, I returned to New Jersey and entered into a formal partnership with Len Weinglass and others.  In the initial years, I did criminal defense trial work privately and as a pool attorney for the Essex County Public Defender’s Office

In 1977 I joined the five lawyer defense team for Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation army charged with murder as the result of a shoot out on the NJ Turnpike in 1973.  The defense team, led by Bill Kuntsler, put on a strong case but could not overcome the atmosphere that pervaded New Jersey and the jury such that she was convicted. 

Later, as the focus of my firm evolved, I refocused on litigation in labor law and, particularly, in representing plaintiffs in personal injury litigation in workplace accidents and generally.  

As the “tort reform movement” began to undermine the viability of the plaintiffs personal injury practice, I turned to litigation on behalf of employees in Labor and contract cases, NJLAD (civil rights) cases, CEPA (whistleblower) cases, Public Policy Tort cases, and similar matters and became a Certified Civil Trial Attorney.

In 2012, I was fortunate to join a panel of truly talented attorneys called upon to defend teacher tenure cases for members of the Newark Teachers’ Union.  That effort quickly became approximately 90% of my practice. 

I taught one year in Middle School in Montclair and then found a better niche as an assistant Boys Soccer Coach at Montclair High School and as an Adjunct Professor teaching United States History at Essex County College.  My work defending teachers since 2012 has been the most satisfying professional work I have done during my nearly fifty years as a litigator. 

Corinna Fales

Corinna Fales, the daughter of German-Jewish refugees, grew up at the first Historically Black College/University (HBCU) before desegregation and joined the civil-rights movement fulltime in 1963. After working at the SDS community organizing project in Chester, PA, Rennie Davis (Chicago 7) asked her to go to Newark, NJ, to join the staff of the SDS project there, where Tom Hayden also worked. In 1968, when the staff had to leave Newark, Corinna went to Chicago, where she was arrested with two other women and became an unindicted co-conspirator of the Chicago 7. After her release from jail, she moved to New York, where she lived for the next 50 years. She moved to North Carolina in 2019.

A professional writer and editor since 1995, Corinna still freelances and has written two books on diversity and inclusion. The first, DIFFERENT: Our University Longing for Community,  is an interview-based exploration of the social layers of the HBCU community where she grew up (and includes conversations with a range of figures from Julian Bond to the son of the county boss, known locally to be a KKK member) [information here]. In her second book, This book is NOT a safe space: The unintended harm of political correctness (which has a chapter on Cook County Jail), Corinna describes what she has learned from personal experience about the destructive basis of PC and why it is especially damaging for those it claims to protect [information here]. 

www.CorinnaFalesConsulting.com 

http://www.linkedin.com/in/corinnafales 

Michael Lembeck

Michael Lembeck made his feature film directing debut in 2002 with the Tim Allen hit comedy, The Santa Clause 2.  His follow-up film in 2004, distributed by Universal Studios, was the  musical comedy film, Connie and Carla, starring Toni Colette and Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the screenplay. In November of 2006, Disney released Lembeck’s third film, the last of the holiday franchise, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, starring Tim Allen and Martin Short. In 2009,  Lembeck directed Duane Johnson, Billy Crystal, Ashley Judd, and Julie Andrews, in the 20TH Century Fox Films release, Tooth Fairy. During that time and subsequently he has directed four television movies as well, two of them garnering him DGA nominations. 

 Lembeck is a veteran of television comedy.  As an actor, he appeared in over 200 episodes of half-hour comedy television.  As a director, he has helmed over 400 episodes of  comedy television during his career.  Among the awards he has received for directing is the Emmy Award in 1996 for Best Direction of a Comedy Series for his work on Friends.  This was one of the three Emmy nominations he received for his work on that show. He has also been nominated by the Producers Guild for his body of work and twice for a DGA Award for his work in movies for television.   Also listed as television directing credits are many years directing multiple episodes of Mad About You, with Helen Hunt and Paul Rieser, the pilot of Everybody Loves Raymond, and the pilots of  Hot in Cleveland and Baby Daddy, which just concluded it’s 6 year run. Lembeck was both the director of all episodes, and the show’s Executive Producer. 

        Michael is second generation following in the comedy tradition. Both Michael and his father Harvey started in the theater.  Harvey Lembeck starred in both the Broadway play and movie Stalag 17, as Harry Shapiro. He had a long and illustrious career as one of Broadway and Hollywood’s best known character men.  He is perhaps best remembered for his work as Corporal Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show and as motorcycle gang leader Eric Von Zipper, in the 1960’s Beach Party series of movies for AIP.  

        Michael appeared in many plays and musicals in New York and regional theater before finding his way to California and movies and television.  He appeared in such movies as The In-Laws (as Peter Falk’s son) and The Boys in Company C.  He played Abbie Hoffman in the HBO award-winning movie, the Trial of the Chicago 8.  He was also a regular on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and for five years was part of the ensemble on the CBS hit series, One Day at a Time, playing Max, Mackenzie Phillip’s husband. In the theater he was Marty Sterling in the west coast premier of Wendy Wassersteins’s  Isn’t It Romantic, worked at the Mark Taper Forum in Studs Terkel’s, The Good War, played Sonny in the first national tour of Grease in 1972/3 with cast mates Jerry Zaks and John Travolta, and was last seen as an actor in New York in 1986, at the Minetta Lane Theater, playing Wally in the musical Angry Housewives.

       When not at work as a director, Lembeck assists his sister Helaine in running the comedy workshop his father created forty-five years ago, the Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop.  Included in its list of longtime members are the late Robin Williams, Penny Marshall, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Cranston, Randall Park, Paul Feig,  and the late John Ritter.    

John McAuliff

John McAuliff is the founder and executive director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development and coordinator of the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee.  As a student at Carleton College, he organized support for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and participation in the Mississippi Summer Project of 1964.  After serving in the Peace Corps in Peru, he became the first President of the Committee of Returned Volunteers, leading its participation in the anti-war movement, including the demonstration at the Chicago Democratic Convention.  He represented CRV in national anti-war coalitions and the U.S coalition at international conferences in Sweden.  For ten years he directed the Indochina Program in the Peace Education Division of the American Friends Service Committee, traveling on its behalf to Hanoi with a delegation that arrived on April 30, 1975, the last day of the war.  In 1985 he founded the Fund for Reconciliation to continue his AFSC work for normalization of relations with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.  After that was accomplished in 2005, he refocused most of his work on a similar goal with Cuba.  He was "detained" at the March on the Pentagon and the Mayday action. 

Resources

 Books

"Conspiracy in the Streets" (2006)

by Jon Wiener

"Solid, about the trial, plenty of transcripts."

“Conspiracy to Riot: The Life and Times of One of the Chicago 7”                            by Lee Weiner, who gives a more positive view of the Sorkin film in a Chicago Tribune interview

"The Trial of the Chicago 7: The Official Transcript" edited by Mark L. Levine, George C. McNamee, Daniel L. Greenberg; originally published as "The Tales of Hoffman" in 1970, information here 

Articles

"Retrying the Chicago Seven"

Sorkin’s film plays fast and loose with characters and facts, but he got one thing right.  

    by Todd Gitlin, The American Prospect

A first hand observer reviews "The Trial of the Chicago 7"

   by Paul Glusman, available here 

"I Was in the Room Where It Happened: One Woman’s Perspective on 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'”

by Nancy Kurshan, Counterpunch

 "The Chicago 7 movie and me"

  by Judy Gumbo, The Ragblog

“Getting Woke by the Chicago 7”

    by Glenn Silber, director of "The War at Home", in The Progressive

"Aaron Sorkin’s moralizing liberal fantasy betrays the real ‘Chicago 7’"

     by Joshua Furst, Forward

https://forward.com/culture/456814/aaron-sorkins-moralizing-liberal-fantasy-betrays-the-real-chicago-7

Other Films and Videos

"Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8" (1987)   Available on Vimeo and Amazon

with Peter Boyle, David Clennon, Elliot Gould, Robert Loggia 

Won the CableACE Award for Best Dramatic Special for director Jeremy Kagan; interviews with all the actual defendants and lawyers are woven into the recreation of the trial by actors

Web site for this more accurate and at least as moving film here

Aaron Sorkin, Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Jeremy Strong of The Trial of the Chicago 7, in conversation with Peter Coyote

Mill Valley Film Festival, tickets here @ $10

"Riot: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial" 

narrated by Bill Kurtis  available on youtube  

"The Lasting Impact Of The 1968 Democratic Convention"

 Tom Brokaw documents the 50th anniversary on Morning Joe | MSNBC

"Medium Cool" (1969)  Available on youtube

by Haskell Wexler (about the Democratic Convention protests) 

"Chicago 10" (2007)  Available on Amazon

 with Hank Azaria and Mark Ruffalo, partly animated. 

Use the comment box on this page to share your impressions of the webinar and the Kagan film and comparisons with Sorkin's film.