Abe Peck (left) and Yippie cofounder Abbie Hoffman take a break from the 1969 Chicago Conspiracy Trial.

Who’s leading the way today?
Rose If you want to focus on antiwar, you have local groups ranging from CAWI [Chicagoans Against War on Iraq] and various coalitions for peace and justice around the country. Politically, you have groups like MoveOn, which parallel the Kennedy or McCarthy movements.… I think the rock and hip-hop cultures may be the parallel to the Yippies and cultural revolutionaries. The various green groups have some echoes also. The important thing to remember is not to search for the same kinds of organizations, because the problems metamorphosize. Go back 20 years before 1968, and the energies for change were focused on union organizing. Each generation seeking social change finds its challenges and goals.
James The Brown Berets have emerged in Watsonville, California. There are new Black Panther chapters, some of which are terrible. There is a resurgence of SDS. There’s a hip-hop group called Readnex, lots of fair-trade organizations, Progressive Democrats of America.
Schultz The problem for contemporary demonstrations and marches is that a number of court decisions, reacting to the fear of ’68-style events, have supported march and assembly restrictions, including the protest-park concept and requirement. [This concept] gives the protesters a place of confinement where [as one government authority said] “they can pump their fists in the air and chant as much as they want.” These and other such restrictions effectively keep protesters away from the events and gatherings of decision-makers. There is a real fear among the political elites of another Democratic National Convention of 1968…so much so that their restrictions are almost guaranteeing that [people’s] frustration may make it happen. The Free Tibet harassments of the Olympic torch have reinforced such concerns.

Check out the complete transcript of this conversation here.

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