February 28, 1972: Angela Davis Goes on Trial

On February 28, 1972 Angela Davis went on trial for murder......

Here is a link to a relatively objective look at the case (for a mainstream news presentation) and the worldwide movement to free Angela..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlUUdOdGI70

Here is a link to a page from the Berkeley Tribe underground newspaper about the opening of the trial..

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B01dj5QyuLDeQVRRbVpzNUo0Qmc

I wrote about Angela Davis in my books The Way the Wind Blew and Daydream Sunset.

The Free Angela movement in Germany is part of the context in my novel All the Sinners Saints

Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) Hits Patti Hearst and Steven Weed's Apartment and Then the News

On February 4, 1974, the SLA kidnapped Hearst heiress Patti Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, CA. Within days, the kidnappers released ransom demands, including a demand for free food to be distributed to working people in the San Francisco Bay Area.  This link describes food distribution efforts...
http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Legacy_of_the_SLA

These two links connect to the first two pages of the issue of the Berkeley underground The Berkeley Barb that was released after the ransom demands were published....

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B01dj5QyuLDeZWtXQVhCc1BlTmc/view?usp=sharing


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B01dj5QyuLDed1FrY2VLbUJKajg/view?usp=sharing

The Italian Spring of 1977

"On March 11, 1977, in the city the Italian Communist Party had governed since 1945, the carabinieri shot an unarmed medical student, Francesco Lorusso, 25, during an autonomist demonstration.  Pitched battles ensued between students and the police, with barricaded streets and Molotov cocktails used on one side, and tear gas and rubber bullets on the other side. Tanks rumbled down Via Rizzoli. French intellectuals Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Felix Guattari, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others denounced the state’s repressive methods. In September, student groups forced the municipal government to sponsor a three-day, national conference against repression in the city, with free food and use of the sports stadium made available to the 100,000 people who came to Bologna."

I cover the Spring of 1977 throughout Italy in my book Daydream Sunset.  It was a revolutionary moment that freaked out everyone to its political right, including the Italian Communist Party.  The quote above is from the article linked to below.  Make sure you check out some of the links at the bottom of the linked article.....

http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/focus/life-people/article/bologna-1977

Woke up this morning and I got myself a beer...

Released February 9, 1970, Morrison Hotel is, in my opinion, the best album The Doors ever made. No matter what, it is certainly an incredible piece of rock and roll music...."the future's uncertain and the end is always near...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gwy3P6ub2s

Goodbye to all That

On February 9, 1970, the NYC underground paper RAT published an all-women's issue, the result of a takeover of the paper by is female staff and their supporters.  The highlight of the issue--for its militant separatism, right-on targeting of male chauvinism in the counterculture, and its fiery use of language and imagery was the piece attributed to Robin Morgan titled "Goodbye to all That."  Here is a link to the piece:

http://blog.fair-use.org/2007/09/29/goodbye-to-all-that-by-robin-morgan-1970/

The importance of this piece to the early feminist movement of the late 1960s and the 1970s is reflected in its availability online.  I discuss it in my book on the Weather Underground and in Daydream Sunset.

Happy Birthday Bob Marley...

February 6th is Bob Marely's Birthday.  Enjoy this clip from Boston 1978.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlA2mxCvrHQ