As thousands of protesters march through the streets of Chicago ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Echoes of the 1968 protests can be heard loud and clear.
Michael James, now 82, recalled the police crackdown on those protests, telling CBS News: “It was basically an attack.”
James can be seen in a famous photograph of protesters surrounding a police van.
“The myth that we turned it all around has persisted over the years,” he said. “We didn’t. We shook it up.”
In 1968, Bill Ayers was a leader of the Students for a Democratic Society movement. He said the clashes with police were “terrifying.”
“They beat me … and took me to the Cook County jail, where I stayed overnight,” Ayers said.
No one expected this level of volatility or violence 56 years later. this week’s conventionBut the connection between the two groups of protesters is striking.
Celia Nimz, 26, is one of the organisers of the new group Students for a Democratic Society. She says the group has “learned a lot” from the previous generation and “the way they protest, the way they take to the streets”.
Nimz also acknowledged that things are very different in 2024.
“A different generation, a different era, different technology, for sure,” she said.
Ayers, now 79, agrees, but says “the moral energy is very similar.”
“I look at the world with concern, as we all should, and we should do something about it,” he said.
Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn, both former members of the Weather Underground, spent the 1970s on the run as they were wanted for a series of bombings of government buildings, including the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. The charges against Ayers were eventually dropped. Dohrn turned herself in in 1980 and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.
In 1968, as in 2024, the protesters are targeting the Democrats, the party in power in the White House. And the main issue, once again, is war. In 1968, it was Vietnam. Today, it is Gaza.
“We are against war, against intervention. We are against American violence,” Nimza said.
Ayers also believes that other problems that arose in 1968 persist today.
“We have a huge connection between women’s rights and those who refuse to go back in the closet,” he said. “The issues we were fighting 60 years ago are still relevant today.”
Chicago police have been training for a year in de-escalation tactics to prepare for the convention.
Nimz said the group planned to hold a “family-friendly” protest. Ayers noted, “We don’t want a police riot, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
Like Nimz, Ayers said he was protesting in Chicago this week.
“If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention,” he said. “But if you’re only angry, you’re not going to get where we need to go. Only love and generosity will get you there.”
As for James, he is now an author and photographer.
“I’ll leave it to others to criticize the Democratic Party,” he said.
Marc Strassmann
