#chicagoeight

• Allen Ginsberg chanting OM, Grant Park, Chicago,  during the riots at the Democratic National Convention, August 28, 1968. (Photo: unknown, courtesy Stanford University Libraries/Allen Ginsberg Collection)   • 50 years ago today Allen gave testimony at the Chicago Conspiracy Trial famously chanting OM and Hare Krishna for the jury as a demonstration of what he did in an attempt to calm the crowds during the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.   On Trial were Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Bobby Seale, and Lee Weiner—charged with “conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protests in Chicago” during the Convention two years prior. All were acquitted of conspiracy, with five of the eight convicted for inciting riots, but those were later overturned.   Currently Aaron Sorkin is shooting a film on the Trial with Shacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman.                  . • Judge: Did you say you continued chanting seven hours?                   . • AG: Seven hours, yes. About six hours I chanted OM and for the seventh hour concluded with the chant Hare krishna/hare krishna/krishna krishna/hare hare/ hare rama/hare rama/rama rama/hare hare.                   . • #chicagoconispiracytrial #om #1968democraticconvention #allenginsberg #beatgeneration #chicago #chicago1968 #judgejuliushoffman #abbiehoffman #chicagoseven #chicagoeight #sachabaroncohen #aaronsorkin (at Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/B58sDLOB8Yu/?igshid=3xopy721iw6x

Fifty years after the 1968 DNC protests in Chicago, Democracy Now! continues their conversation with Bobby Seale, arrested for inciting a riot and gagged during the Chicago 8 trial stemming from his speech at the protest, and SDS activists and organizers Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers.

Seale became known as the chairman of the Black Panther Party and underwent FBI surveillance as part of its COINTELPRO program. In 1968, Seale wanted the public to know about the formation and the history of the Black Panthers. He wrote the book, Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton later being published in 1970. This book describes the evolution of the Black Panthers and the continuous struggle for human liberation. Bobby Seale was one of the original "Chicago Eight" defendants charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot, in the wake of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, in Chicago. Bobby Seale, while a political prisoner, states, "To be a Revolutionary is to be an Enemy of the state. To be arrested for this struggle is to be a Political Prisoner." The evidence against Seale was slim as Seale was a last-minute replacement for Eldridge Cleaver and had been in Chicago for only two days of the convention. On November 5, 1969, Judge Julius Hoffman sentenced him to four years in prison for sixteen counts of contempt, each count accounting for three months of his imprisonment, because of his outbursts, and eventually ordered Seale severed from the case, hence the "Chicago Seven". #hueypnewton #blackpower #blackpanther #blackhistory #hueypnewton #bobbyseale #seizethetime #chicagoeight #politicalprisoner