Q & A from Mayday Webinar, April
Chat from Mayday Zoom, May 26, 2021
19:05:46 From Stephen Spitz to Everyone : The 2015 conference was incredible!
19:13:23 From Martha Kirpes to John McAuliff(Direct Message) : John, please give my 3 minutes to someone else when needed. I was only 11 years old in 1971 so am here to learn about things that I read about in the newspaper, unbeknownst to adults in my life, as the Vietnam war wasn't really discussed and I felt I was doing something secret. I could always read far beyond my grade level. I really appreciate that this group lets me be a learner at these events.
19:14:19 From John McAuliff to Martha Kirpes(Direct Message) : Welcome. Glad to have you.
19:27:04 From Michael Goodman to Everyone : If only he hadn't made the Eagleton faux pas!
19:29:06 From Eddie Becker to Everyone : Classic re-edit of May Day RAW 1971 videos watch and share.
"Feel the true fervor of 1970s utopian activism! Action-packed and emotionally-charged. Counter-programming to Ken Burns' PBS series "The Vietnam War" from the counter-culture...focusing cameras on the true impact of the peace movement. Featuring Rennie Davis, Dr Benj Spock, Mayday Video pioneer camera journalists, and thousands of brave anti-war protesters, including and especially Vietnam Vets Against the War. Rated R: Radical Politics, Violence, Language. Check out the Bonus Feature movies for contrasting points of view and techniques. info@Videofreex.com including for DVDs, art & academic acquisitions, and public screenings."
Description and re-edit by Skip Blumberg. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mayday1971raw
19:41:48 From Eddie Becker to Everyone : Legal question - martial Law status (temporary) how important was this? Precedent for afterwards??
19:44:08 From Larry Roberts to Everyone : Eddie Becker: Nixon didn’t invoke martial law in calling out the military on Mayday. Nor did he go through the proper channels of the Insurrection Act. He just made the order to the Pentagon. Which if it were fully understood at the time would have been its own scandal.
19:44:44 From Bill Davis to Everyone : https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zpgbw
19:44:57 From Bill Davis to Everyone : We used "Year Of The Pig" to organize, travelling to campuses March and April...
19:45:01 From Michael Goodman to Everyone : Sounds like COINTELPRO .
19:45:12 From Bill Davis to Everyone : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Year_of_the_Pig
19:47:14 From Eddie Becker to Everyone : THx Larry. Kaufman wrote there was martial law, called by asst AG kleindinst -(sp?)
19:47:33 From Michael Goodman to Everyone : Kleindienst
19:48:40 From Stephen Spitz to Everyone : William Rehnquist, then the head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, wrote a memo saying that Nixon had the right to declare “limited martial law.” When there was a later vacancy on the Supreme Court Nixon told his staff: “Get that guy Rehnchburg, you know the one of wrote that memo” and he nominated Rehnquist to be on the Supreme Court.
19:49:47 From Bill Davis to Everyone : I have an old, yellowed clipping about May Day, headed: "Kleindienst: D.C. Protest Plotted By VC:. lol
19:50:27 From Michael Goodman to Everyone : Do you mean it wasn't? LOL
19:50:46 From Larry Roberts to Everyone : Re: martial law. What happened: William Rehnquist (yes the same one) who then worked for Kleindienst gave a speech a few days after Mayday in which he suggested the president had the right to put in place a “qualified martial law” to combat disorder. Rehnquist was ridiculed for this, even by some in GOP, since there’s no such thing as qualified martial law. And in any case to impose martial law Nixon would have had to make a public declaration, which of course he did not.
19:52:06 From Larry Roberts to Everyone : Rehnquist’s performance during Mayday definitely helped get him on the Supreme Court, as Stephen Spitz says.
19:54:50 From Bill Davis to Everyone : For me, May Day per se... PCPJ etc. was followed by a gathering in Milwaukee at Fr. Groppi's Church to plan what to do next, followed by a "gathering of the tribes" in Atlanta....
19:55:20 From Bill Davis to Everyone : Then the 1972 Republican National Convention to re-nominate Nixon
19:55:43 From Larry Roberts to Everyone : Mayday 1971 Raw is excellent indeed.
20:03:35 From Bill Davis to Everyone : honor and respect to each of you.... for your work and your energy.... It is an honor to be here.....
20:13:45 From Bill Davis to Everyone : For me, one of the best things I can do with May Day is to tell young people of our slogan, "If the government won't stop the war, we'll stop the government," and of our plan (simultaneously obstruct all bridges into the district and the traffic circles) and what happened (the cutting of communications and break up of the park pre-training and the affinity groups working)….. This is the lesson and model for future disruption to increase the domestic cost of the status quo.
20:18:18 From Ed Meek to Everyone : Aftermath of May Day.
A new “cadre” of political activists emerged from this period. Many sought to build a “new american movement”, a way to carry on with national organization, program, and strategy. Lots of young leaders with experience organizing on campuses for years. A new energy to build a political culture and organizational force.
Personal became political. Managed to put off family and partnering for several years. Focused on political organizing and running organizations, both local and national. NAM then DSA. Pittsburgh area.Did others experience an imbalance between personal and political parts of yourself?
20:20:36 From Michael Goodman to Everyone : The economy was still in its post WW2 expansion phase then!
20:25:09 From Bill Davis to Everyone : https://www.lawrenceproberts.com/
20:25:11 From Larry Roberts to Everyone : I have been posting people’s Mayday stories at www.lawrenceproberts.com/were-you-there More stories are welcome!
20:25:56 From Eddie Becker to Everyone : the rest of the world was still in national lib struggles. if you were outside the US, you would have been busy.
20:26:23 From Dick Berliner to Everyone : One of the outcroppings of the peace movement was the People’s Bicentennial organized by Jeremy Rifkin in 1975 as an alternative to the stories told by the Bicentennial Commission. I joined 1,000 people for an all night concert in the rain on the hill overlooking Concord, Mass.
20:27:04 From James Stuart to Everyone : Here is a site on the May 1970 student strikes following the Cambodia invasion. http://depts.washington.edu/moves/antiwar_may1970.shtml
20:27:43 From Dick Berliner to Everyone : Gene Stultzfus was a good friend of mind. His whole life was committed to the cause of peace.
20:31:54 From Bill Davis to Everyone : https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/movies/20150306_Film_Review_--__1971___doc_on_burglary_at_FBI_office_in_Media__Pa_.html
20:35:42 From Martha Kirpes to Everyone : Thanks all!!!
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