NET Journal; From Protest to Resistance

Item Information

Title:
NET Journal; From Protest to Resistance
Description:
The new radicalism, spawned at the lunch counters of Mississippi in the early 1960s, and nurtured in the demonstrations against the Vietnam War, has changed its direction in recent months - from protest to resistance. Once geared to the "moral conscience of America" through public sympathy and legislative fiat, it now accepts the more difficult and long-term process of gaining its own power. The three young radicals featured in this program typify three approaches to the changing character of dissent. Stokely Carmichael, former director of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, is a leading proponent of Black Power, the separatist movement that is intended to bring ultimate self-determination to the Negro. Mario Savio, who was jailed in 1964 for his lead in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley, is one of the young radicals seeking power through political aims; accordingly, he is running for the California State Senate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. And David Harris, who was student president at Stanford University, he has devoted his full attention to the Resistance, an anti-draft organization that advises young men on their legal - and moral - rights with regard to Selective Service. The pageantry and frustration of earlier dissent is framed during scenes from the Spring Mobilization, which drew 500,000 marchers in cities from New York to San Francisco when it was held in April 1967; and from Stop the Draft Week, a series of confrontations with draft boards during which civil disobedience was met by force from police and federal troops, especially at the Pentagon demonstration, which climaxed this week last October. These demonstrations were a way of "acting out the impotence," according to Harris. The demonstrators, however, had "no conception of political power." Savio adds: "At best, it succeeds in frightening the population" and encouraging "further repressions" by the government. However, these demonstrations indicated the deep-seated opposition to government policy and encouraged the ensuing cry "Resist!" Harris notes that the disruption of society by "the large numbers of the most privileged members - white college students - is a sign of that society breaking up." At the time of Stop the Draft week, Harris and others called for young men to turn in their draft cards - with surprisingly positive results. Concurrently, Carmichael was forging his cry "Hell no, we won't go" among young Negroes. He explains that his mission - and that of all American Negroes - is -a fight to civilize a barbarous country." But it cannot be done "by sharing in the collective guilt - of burning babies." Carmichael, on the campus of black Tugaloo College draws an emotional response with another aspect of the new dialectic "And we are beautiful." It is this type of message that has helped the Black Power movement to gain "community and cohesion," according to the University of Wisconsin history professor William Appleman Williams. Despite the cry of separatism, Negroes are engaging with whites in some dissenting action, the program notes. At present, the Peace and Freedom Party has candidates of both races. Savio notes "the issue is political power." Only through political action, he feels, can the "movement for white liberation" reach fruition. Meanwhile, Harris and others counsel young men to resist the draft. Jail may be the outcome, though there's no attempt at "proving moral superiority by going to jail." He considers it "healthier than sitting across borders watching the world going down the drain," especially since "the rest of the world is becoming more like America - If you're going to fight dragons, you might as well fight them where they live." Several young men who disagree with Harris are interviewed in their Canadian retreats. They contend that "radical politics is play a silly game" and call Canada "a very nice jail." Visually, the program takes on a spectrum of the dissenters' activities - Harris is seen at a demonstration, handing out leaflets, and riding his motorcycle; Savio, at the beach and at home with his wife and child, and on a platform addressing a political gathering; Carmichael, in a bus, on the stage, and relaxing with friends. Among all three, the voice that emerges is one of growing opposition as a true radical movement attempts to cohere. The question which remains, according to Herbert Marcuse, professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, is "whether we're in a pre-revolutionary situation." NET Journal - "From Protest to Resistance" was produced for NET by Richard Moore and Saul Landau of its San Francisco affiliate KQED. It runs approximately an hour and was originally recorded in black and white on film. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Production company:
KQED-TV (Television station : San Francisco, Calif.)
Creator:
Carmichael, Stokely
Creator:
Harris, David
Creator:
Savio, Mario
Producer:
Landau, Saul
Producer:
Moore, Richard
Date:
May 27, 1968
Format:
Film/Video
Genre:
Documentary
Location:
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive > NET Journal
Subjects:
Politics and Government
Public Affairs
Social Issues
Race and Ethnicity
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-gq6qz23f5j
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 189