What would happen to anti-genocide students today if they torched a bank?
What would happen to anti-genocide students today if they torched a bank?
The title of the history post "Pic from the UCSB anti-apartheid burning of Bank of America (1970)".
People say the USA is more divided now than ever, but the culture war back then was wild from what I've read, lots of shootings and bombings.
I'm old but I was only a boy in the 1970s. Any important "memory" of the radical 60s and 70s stuff begin in the 80s when I was older and I started to learn about that period particularly from fiction. Like many people with zero political thought I was particularly fascinated with Patty Hearst. The sensationalism and bizarreness of her story was fascinating. I think most normie Americans (myself included most of my life) equalized radicalism with violence, that's more true than ever, and that mindset will get worse.
It seems to me we've entered a very dark time with the GOP getting more fascist all the time and democrats always responding the same way. They move to the right. I don't want Trump to win the election but fuck me do I hate Biden and the democrats. Domestically I think things will be awful for at least a decade or two. Internationally things will be equally bad. I'm a child of the Cold War and it makes me sick I'm going to be an old person in Cold War 2.0. The US will be on one side with the newly defined "free world" and the other side will be Russia, China, etc. And god only knows how much worse things get due to climate change.
I wouldn't describe the conflicts back then as a culture war. I also think the radicals back then were far more of a minority than they are now. But those radicals were far more serious and committed.
Jeffery 'free' leuers got what 10 years for torching an SUV... Torch a bank these days they'll probably just execute you
Near future news report - version 1
The anchor neutrally intones: "Near Columbia University two students were shot - one critically - in what appears to have been an organized arson attack on GreedyBank branch."
And then - at a brisk speed - they are tried and convicted. An MNSBC legal expert - an ex-prosecutor says "Peaceful protest should always be the order of the day. These Ivy League students threw their lives away. I - for one - am saddened that some of them were given long prison sentences. But..."
Near future news report - version 2
The anchor is clearly angry and says: "Near State University a student was shot dead and six other students were injured in a shootout with police. Three are in critical condition. The group was involved in a pre-planned terror/arson attack on GreedyBank branch."
And then - at astonishing speed - they are tried and convicted. In a highly unusual move the democratically appointed Attorney General has been directly involved in the case. She gave near daily press conferences in what she called "updates to case". Joy Reid says: "I am bothered by what appears to be crass political maneuvering by the Attorney General. She - herself - has said she is 'probably' running for governor in the next election. Air quotes on 'probably' - right? Updates to the case? For whose benefit? Politics must never interfere with the law and with justice. Do I really need to say that? She's not even a republican, y'all!"
But an MNSBC legal expert - an ex-prosecutor says "Peaceful protest must - repeat must - be the order of the day. What these students did is reprehensible. Truly reprehensible. They were given what some observers are calling long and unjust prison sentences. I strongly disagree. We are a nation of laws. This being the case..."