Day in and day out I go about my business, I hang out with my kids and my grandchildren, take care of the elders, I go to work, I teach and I write, I organize and I participate in the never-ending effort to build a powerful movement for peace and social justice; now and then (and unpredictably) I appear in the newspapers or on TV with a reference to my book Fugitive Days, a memoir of the revolutionary action and militant resistance to the Viet Nam War—the years of miracle and wonder—and some fantastic assertions about what I did, what I said, and what I believe. The other night, for example, I heard Sean Hannity tell Senator John McCain that I was an unrepentant terrorist who had written an article on September 11, 2001 extolling bombings against the U.S., and even advocating more terrorist bombs. Senator McCain couldn’t believe it, and neither could I.
My e-mail and my voice-mail filled up with hate, as happens, mostly men with too much time on their hands I imagined, all of them venting and sweating and breathing heavily, a few threats—“Watch out!”; “You deserve to be shot”; and from satan@hell.com, “I’m coming to get you and when I do, I’ll waterboard you”—all of it wildly uninformed. I’ve written a lot about the Viet Nam period, about politics, about schools and social justice, and I read and speak about all of it. I encourage people to argue, to agree or disagree, to discuss and struggle, to engage in conversation. I believe deeply in the pedagogical possibilities of dialogue—of listening with the possibility of being changed, and of speaking with the possibility of being heard—and I believe in revitalizing the public square, resisting the eclipse of the public and expanding the public space, searching for a more robust and participatory democracy. Talking to one another can help.
So in that spirit here is another attempt at clarity:
1. Regrets. I’m often quoted saying that I have “no regrets.” This is not true. For anyone paying attention—and I try to stay wide-awake to the world around me all/ways—life brings misgivings, doubts, uncertainty, loss, regret. I’m sometimes asked if I regret anything I did to oppose the war in Viet Nam, and I say “no, I don’t regret anything I did to try to stop the slaughter of millions of human beings by my own government.” Sometimes I add, “I don’t think I did enough.” This is then elided: he has no regrets for setting bombs and thinks there should be more bombings.
The illegal, murderous, imperial war against Viet Nam was a catastrophe for the Vietnamese, a disaster for Americans, and a world tragedy. Many of us understood this, and many tried to stop the war. Those of us who tried recognize that our efforts were inadequate: the war dragged on for a decade, thousands were slaughtered every week, and we couldn’t stop it. In the end the U.S. military was defeated and the war ended, but we surely didn’t do enough.
2. Terror. Terrorism—according to both official U.S. policy and the U.N.—is the use or threat of random violence to intimidate, frighten, or coerce a population toward some political end. This means, of course, that terrorism is not the exclusive province of a cult, a religious sect, or a group of fanatics. It can be any of these, but it can also be—and often is—executed by governments and states. A bombing in a café in Israel is terrorism, and an Israeli assault on a neighborhood in Gaza is terrorism; the September 11 attacks were acts of terrorism, and the U.S. bombings in Viet Nam for a decade were acts of terrorism. Terrorism is never justifiable, even in a just cause—the Union fight in the 1860’s was just, for example, but Shernan’s March to the Sea was indefensible terror. I’ve never advocated terrorism, never participated in it, never defended it. The U.S. government, by contrast, does it routinely and defends the use of it in its own cause consistently.
3. Imperialism. I’m against it, and if Sean Hannity and others were honest, this is the ground they would fight me on. Capitalism played its role historically and is exhausted as a force for progress: built on exploitation, theft, conquest, war, and racism, capitalism and imperialism must be defeated and a world revolution—a revolution against war and racism and materialism, a revolution based on human solidarity and love, cooperation and the common good—must win.
We begin by releasing our most hopeful dreams and our most radical imaginations: a better world is both possible and necessary. We need to bring our imaginations together and forge an unbreakable human alliance. We need to unite to transform and save ourselves as we fight to change the world and save humanity.
Bill Ayers 
Bill, I’ve watched and heard your name dragged through the mud for the sake of “politics” the past few weeks so I feel for ya. One thing that you might want to clear up is in regard to 9/11 did you actually write something at that time/subject? Is there something that they are actually referencing? It would likely stop some of the bs thats being discussed.
Dr. Ayers:
Your words ring true on a number of levels, but I have to wonder if we have any chance of “taking back the public square” from the corporate-state Leviathan which crouches over us in Washington. Unfortunately, if you look at the example of someone like Ralph Nader, a person who also believes deeply in dialogue and civic activism, it all but proves we can’t (even though we have to try).
At best, we’re relegated to the quaint margins (to our blogs and our classrooms, where we can easily be dismissed) and never listened to in the slightest–except to be condemned, of course! So, instead of being able to make ourselves heard, all we hear is a drab monologue or, at best, a situation where we can sit on the sidelines and have the “privelige” of listening to the state and corporations debating about which sector (oil/energy, banking and finance, media and broadcast, contracting and development?) will win the biggest stake in the next elections. Isn’t that what last night’s debate was about, after all?
Sincerely,
Dr. Ron S. Judy,
The song and video by Billy Joel: “We Didn’t Start The Fire” is playing in my mind. Growing up Christian, of course I believed in loving my neighbor as myself and Thou Shalt Not Kill. I can still see a young Vietnamese/American co-worker’s look~~although I forget her words~shortly after “9/11” it summed up what people think of we, the citizens of the United States as seen through the eyes of the world.
We are looked upon as “Christian terrorists” and “Imperialistic bullies” who got what we deserved that day. Even Thomas Jefferson said something like “I tremble for our country” because “God is just” and “justice can not sleep forever”.
I have spoken to many immigrants that do tell me the USA is the best country in the world for democracy and standard of living. But at what cost for not finding viable solutions other than war to control oil; and in the beginning slaughter of natives to the land the founders claimed as their own.
Perhaps I still have a spark of that youthful idealism in me, because I still think we are at a pivotal moment in history, where we may just be able to change the status quo in DC and create a better future for children globally.
Bill…….what a sorry bunch of high falutin’ b.s. you write. It astonishes me that ANY supposedly intelligent people fall for it!
I am sorry for all this hate coming at you. You do not deserve it. Your intentions were and still are very very very very noble. Keep on doing what you can for justice, peace and equality. As far as the comments above, My God what hate narrowness. You guys are the radicals.
I think you are a traitor and a would-be terrorist.
Sean Hannity has publicly offered you a full hour to debate him on the radio or television. Are you too much of a coward or too weak intellectually to accept that challenge?
“Terrorism—according to both official U.S. policy and the U.N.—is the use or threat of random violence to intimidate, frighten, or coerce a population toward some political end.. I’ve never advocated terrorism, never participated in it, never defended it.”
Liar. Liar, Pants on Fire! Who do think you’re fooling there Mr. Uber-Libtard? The Weathermen weren’t domestic terrorists?! Let me guess… they were just misunderstood. (And al Qaeda, they’re just freedom fighters?) The bombs you guys used were just itty-bitty ladylike bombs I suppose; set off out of what? Oh…I got it…I got it…for “love” and “the common good.”
“…and an Israeli assault on a neighborhood in Gaza is terrorism…”
After you wash your mouth out with soap go to the blackboard and write 500 times: ISRAEL HAS A RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF. Then go stand in the corner.
When you’re done drinking from the Perpetually Disaffected American trough you should get a job as a stringer with the lieing scumbgs at Reuters. Better yet, go join Hamas. I hear they need more human shields.
Good blog, Professor Ayres. Glad to see you talking back and, in particular, putting the Viet Nam War into its proper historical perspective.
Google today, your name, and “no regrets” detonates. In the black and white world, the good and evil world, the Christian world, you must repent, you must express regret for your sins, for your crimes, and you are only in the news now, because of your crimes. The rest is rationalization, self-justification, hubris, me-myself-I pride before the fall and down you go, bringing harm to him in whom so much hope has been bestowed. Of course, the Christians will never be satisfied enough to forgive you, because you fell, because you sinned, because you were proud, you were not humble, serving authority. And there we have it, non serviam, who said that? You were not on the side of the angels and can never be trusted, regardless of your best efforts at rehabilitation, because you don’t believe, and that is completely obvious.
So, Mr. Ayers, instead of continuing the dialogue of the deaf, go on Hannity’s radio and TV program and debate him.