Bill Ayers

October 8, 2022

On October 8, 1965—57 years ago—I was arrested with 38 others disrupting a US military draft office in a militant, nonviolent direct action. We turned over furniture and destroyed files. We were protesting the US invasion and occupation of Viet Nam. The peace movement was tiny then, but determined, and we grew quickly. Over the next few years we organized and took action, and I was arrested again and again. Every week that the war dragged on, 6000 people were murdered in Southeast Asia by our government. By 1968, a majority of Americans—and a super-majority of the people of the world—opposed the US war. And still the war dragged on and the killing continued.

On October 8, 1969, SDS led the Days of Rage, a demonstration to, as we said, “Bring the War Home.” We would not remain quiet while our government committed mass murder; we would not keep our eyes closed to the horror. And increasingly we wanted to stand unequivocally with anti-imperialist fighters and revolutionaries around the world—Viet Nam, Cuba, South Africa, Chile, Angola, Congo, and everywhere people were fighting for self-determination and freedom.  Over the next four days hundreds of youths fought the police in the streets of Chicago. I was arrested, of course.

It’s always the right time to rise up for peace and freedom, joy and justice.

 12th International Conference on Education and Justice, Oct 6-8, online, https://www.kevinkumashiro.com

Episode # 57: Freedom Dreams with Robin D G Kelley

Love and imagination, potentially the most powerful weapons in the arsenal of the oppressed, the marginalized, and the exploited, are frequently unappreciated, too often underutilized—and yet still within reach and entirely available.  Robin D.G. Kelley foregrounds love, imagination, and generosity in all of his work, including the groundbreaking Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, an original history of Black radicalism and a powerful vision of a revolutionary future. Kelley describes himself as a “Marxist surrealist feminist who is not just anti something, but pro-emancipation, pro-liberation.” We met up with Robin Kelley recently at the Socialism 2022conference in Chicago where we released our radical imaginations in a generative and wide-ranging conversation.

https://jeffreymoro.com/blog/2020-02-13-against-cop-shit/?fbclid=IwAR0ELY1Qzgf4nyeXiupNWdLS5inQXFLRdCoTHvY4Fv-buVp_OjndIvfXfqg

Episode # 56: Portraits of Freedom

What history do you stand on? What future do you stand for? Robert Shetterly’s dazzling series of portraits—“Americans Who Tell the Truth”—cuts through the cotton wool that entangles us, shakes us awake from the deep American sleep of denial, and invites us to move beyond the United States of Amnesia. Here are the peace-makers and the freedom fighters, the dissidents and dissenters, the loving rebels and the justice-seeking radicals—a gathering of citizens from a country that does not yet exist. These are our people, this is a powerful legacy we can all hope to build on. Robert Shetterly joins us to discuss the brilliant work and steady activism of Americans Who Tell the Truth.

Workers marching in New York City in 1882 at the first Labor Day carried banners saying: “Labor Built This Republic and Labor Shall Rule it,” “Labor Creates All Wealth,” “No Land Monopoly,” “No Money Monopoly,” “Labor Pays All Taxes,” “The Laborer Must Receive and Enjoy the Full Fruit of His Labor,” ‘Eight Hours for a Legal Day’s Work,” and “The True Remedy is Organization and the Ballot.”

Dear Friends:

There will be a memorial and celebration for Kathy Boudin on Saturday September 10th in New York City.

You can rsvp here: https://rememberingkb.eventbrite.com

Kathy lived an incredible life and leaves behind a living legacy of justice, community and care. So many of us are lucky to be a part of the vast constellation of community that Kathy wove throughout her life and we hope that you will join us to remember and to celebrate her.