Chicago 10

I watched this movie wishing it had not been a familiar scene for me, for someone who was born more than ten years later than the time of the events that are documented in the movie. No, unfortunately, I am familiar with those acts, but the unfortunate part is not about people expressing their opinions about something that they are against, it is rather the actions taken in order to prevent them, and the actions causing their need to protest.

In 1968, in late august, Democratic National Convention took place in Chicago, known as a police state; it was convened to select the party's candidates for the November 1968 Presidential election. However, it quickly became the scene of massive demonstrations against the Vietnam War at the time of its height. In the aftermath of the events, eight demonstrators were tried: Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner and Bobby Seale. During the course of the trial, Seale was taken away due to his so-called violent and illegal stands against the court, decreasing the number of the defendants to 7, thus going down the history as Chicago 7. The movie Chicago 10 is named after this, with the addition of Bobby Seale and the lawyers of the defendants, William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, for they too went down with the defendants.


Chicago 10, or by its full name Chicago 10: Speak Your Peace, is a 2007 partially animated documentary by Brett Morgen. In consists of archive footage of the actual events, and the animated trial scenes, based on transcripts and rediscovered audio recordings. It is a powerful reminder of the events of 1968 in USA, against Vietnam War; starting from the preparations for demonstrations one year earlier, it presents the events day by day, with the trial scenes in between. Many people then and today know about the protests against the war by the youth, by hippies, yippies and many other organizations, but what is emphasized here is the fact of extreme violent actions taken against these unarmed crowd by the police in a country where there is so-called freedom of speech, and the fact of the quite openly one-sided funny trial in the aftermath. What we see in these footages is the reality of intolerance of the governments and their armed extensions fed by wars, which is just a peculiar example for some, however, what many today are aware of is that these extreme measures are still taken today in many countries against many people who are just brave enough to stand up and speak, including the country that I live in.

As for the results of the trial, taken directly from wikipedia article on the subject;

On February 18, 1970, all seven defendants were found not guilty of conspiracy. Two (Froines and Weiner) were acquitted completely, while the remaining five were convicted of crossing state lines with the intent to incite a riot, a crime instituted by the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. On February 20, they were each fined $5,000 and sentenced to five years in prison. At sentencing, Abbie Hoffman recommended that the judge try LSD, offering to set him up with a dealer he knew in Florida. On November 21, 1972, all of the convictions were reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on the basis that the judge was biased in his refusal to permit defense attorneys to screen prospective jurors for cultural and racial bias (Case citation 472 F.2d 340)... During the trial, all the defendants and both defense attorneys had been cited for contempt and sentenced to jail, but all of those convictions were also overturned... Of the eight police officers indicted in the matter, seven were acquitted, and charges against the eighth were dismissed.


Today, what we all have is a hope, leading to many contemporary actions and movements, such as Zeitgeist, that one day, the reasons for such protests will vanish, taking the humanity to a higher, enlightened level.