I came home from my post doctoral training in Israel early in 1965 because of the Viet Nam war. I got my first faculty job at SUNY at Buffalo and soon was the leader of the umbrella anti-war/civil rights coalition in Buffalo. I went to the early demonstrations. They clubbed heads and arrested folk. Then the numbers grew and the ACLU and other organizations got involved. I was actually arrested at an anti-draft demonstration early one morning in Buffalo. The students called me as faculty adviser to SDS because the ACLU monitors were unable to make this hastily organized support for someone who was about to resist the draft. I got there as the students did and organized them into a line and kept them moving near the entrance to the Draft Board, but not blocking it. They shout the usual stuff such as
Hell no
We won't go!
and
Hey! Hey!
LBJ
How many kids did you kill today?
The cops got there shortly after we did and quickly noticed the absence of the ACLU observers. Their billy clubs were out and they banged them against their palms. They first told them to disperse. We had good discipline and I was asked to be spokesman. I reminded them that what we were doing was legal. Then they demanded that the chants be stopped. What happened next was a hoot! read on below and I'll tell you.
I said loudly so all could hear
This is still a free country and we still have freedom of speech!
A police car drove up and I had a rough hand on my shoulder shoving me in. The charge sheet was funny for it quoted what I had said. I was charged with resisting arrest and inciting to riot. The arraignment was on City statutes but as they were taking me to my cell they called me back. There talking to the judge were two guys in trench coats and fedoras. I recognized them. The famous Buffalo Police's "Anti-Subversive Squad!" We had fun with them when they showed up "under cover" at demonstrations. We called out to greet them by name. They really did not like me very much. I was arraigned again on State charges which had far more severe punishment. I was out on bail and the ACLU took my case. It dragged on for some time. Each time we all showed up at court (me, the ACLU lawyers, friends and a significant showing of the University faculty and administration - my supporters). The prosecution had a problem each time and eventually dropped the case. The charge sheet actually had my words:
This is still a free country and we still have freedom of speech!
The size of demonstrations grew. We filled part of D.C. and NYC many times. We learned the non-violent crouch and other tactics to make any possible beating more obvious. There has to be an equivalent for pepper spray. Once when Martin Luther King was speaking at the UN Plaza we were blocked by the NYPD and were being prevented from using the approved parade route so his audience would seem small. We were quickly redirected by our leaders and tied up NYC traffic. When the cops rushed us at the UN Plaza we went into the crouch and they slunk off in disgust. MLK was wonderful that day!
On the day before the Pentagon Demonstration (read Norman Mailer's Armies of the Night) We (I worked with Dr. Spock, RESIST and the other Draft resistance organizations) turned in thousands of Draft Cards on the steps of the Justice Department. As an honorably discharged USMC officer I turned in mine. It was on National TV. The Black Panthers hugged me, called me "brother" and an honorary BP.
The Draft ended, the war did later. People were different. Once they were on the streets and exerting their power they became alive. Universities became different. Teach-ins and spontaneous learning were discovered and brought new meaning to education. I hear the Koch brothers are now buying those same Universities.
This time it is different. They won't be able to use elections to turn it all back to "normal". Obama has proven that elections do not bring change. Their system is in big trouble even though there are not yet millions in the streets. The planet is in big trouble even though they deny it and have made the public into religious robots who put superstition ahead of science. No, this time all the king's horses and all the king's men.... I don't have to call for more demonstrations. They are going to happen. They are going to be big and the crowd control and other ways of suppressing people they paid tax money to develop will be used.
Egypt and Tunisia and the Velvet Revolution are things to covet for ours will not be pretty. The people who are behind the curtain in this modern Oz are wizards indeed! They will make Gaddafi look like a pussy cat. We tasted their venom and had their election ploy not worked we would have tasted more. If you think you have a choice look again! We don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind is blowing.