Newspapers / Montreat College Student Newspaper / Nov. 9, 1970, edition 1 / Page 12
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csst of the i'/ar in the Streets of Ohicsgo, '■ith a cast of thousanda 'nho vers trying the Jhnerican nay for tho last time, iloi; 12 nately, they are highly unpredictable. People are unintentionally ’.rilled by thein, --.y - - - Wiile the destruction of property out- ‘^re being beaten and gassed, ourselves, rages those i:ho are rrell socialized into political trials conducted in the ne-r&-i;he -uaerican ;Jay, the destruction of life :e paper rather ulian in courts, and a jury of one's peers that existed only in tho urit- tremely counterproductive ten docments of the constitution. The '■^sr in Vietnam goes on. The povez'ty goes on. Yet tie are expected to believe tihon Pixon says peace is around the corner, when he says, after ten or so 7/ears of equivocation that culminate in street- Tighting and bombs, that he trill listen to us. "VJliGt do they thinlr they trill sc- complich by violence?" Perhaps that tihich it hasn't been possible to accomplish in ony other tray. The liistory of this country tells of very fetr instances of revolution- change accoraplished by non-violent means—Joe >Iill tra ■-ot the only casualty of the str’jggle j-or labor unions, nnd it is revolutionart/ change that is called for because there is no tirite for liberal "reforms" to collect for another centitry. ''■■e no longer have the laucurt/ of time. It is clearl:/ not the factors that motivate the '.'eathermen et cl that can be justly critiqued—not uhen they inhabit a political corner created bv a govern ment insensitive to the needs of its con- stitueftr-.' "¥e did not choose to live in 3 tiiiie of Tier," likely the most sliattering trer this countiT has ever engaged in. ’ihat is questionable about the eatherraen at this point in the disintegration of the U.3. is the political value of their tactics. It is useful for analysis to isolate the tactic of bombing as the h'eathermen have dedicated themselves to it. From all appearances, especially to the public at large, the 'eathermen bonbings, partly because of their freq enc7/, have taken on tho aspect of "random acts of violence," V.Hiile bombings b-a a small terrorist group in a revolutionary situation may be fruitful^ such actions are productive only uhen the^/- are strategically correct and strategically significant, and not merely s^mibolic scare techniques perpet rated against the Amorphous enerny. If a bombing is to have any effect, it must be aimed at an institution that can be recognized as repressive by more than a feu people. Also, to be truly educative to a great mass of people, bombings can not be unpredi.otabl.o d.n offcct. Unfoi'tu makes them self-righteous—hence it is 6DC- nnother danger of the excessive :^se of bo-bings as a political tactic is the ob- viousdrauback ou other people grabbing a piece of the action, nny bombing; that takes place nou—indeed, any explosion at sll—is irniaediatoly blamed on radicals, uhether it is, in fact, an act of a rad ical group or not. It becomes possible for right-ling groups, the government, or the apolitical psychopath on tho street to dommit any number of outrages in the name of all tho radicals in this country, and the radicals are unable' to do any thing about it. The leader of the /Brazilian guerilla jorganicationVanguardia Popular Revolu- |cionaria, Ladislau Dobor, explained uhy jhis group did not use bombs: "VJe do not ■ I use forms of violence t’lat can be tuisted !by the 'overnraent. If people heai-d that ‘ue use bombs, tho government uhould do exactly uhat the U.S, does in Vietnam, and uhat the Frencli did in .'igeria. They uould put a feu bombs in a moviehouse on a Saturday-afternoon, it uas full of cliildren. And then ve uould have the entire popula tion running after us in the streets, '.'e choose very selective targets uhose meaning cannot be distorted by the governr.ient." Random bombings uhich kill or threaten inn'jcent people create in this countr-’- a mood of fear and the re actionary i-epression that is contingent upon fear, Right-uing groups can easily augment the repressive climate by staging en.mgh of the right sort of bombing in the name of the I'Jeathermen or radicals in general. Instances of this have certain ly occured ali-eadj'-. yihen acts of sabotage 'and provocation are irresponsibly chosen end effected, the i.iovement cannot help but suffer. j 'Of still greater exigecy is the tendency jof some radicals to separate politics from (personal ethics. This is dangerous in a jrevolution for the people—it cannot be jengaged in if a truly human and productive political, cultural and social situation is to emerge. 'Iiile maintaining committment to change--to revolution—it is impei'ative that the impoi-tanco of personal liberation.
Montreat College Student Newspaper
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Nov. 9, 1970, edition 1
12
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