Did ‘08 End An Era Or Revive One?

Americans heard more about socialism and the Weather Underground during the last part of the Presidential Election campaign than most of us had heard in years.

Today’s show asks — did ‘08 end an era – or revive one, politically speaking– with former Weather Underground leader Bernadine Dohrn, Jamal Joseph, former Black Panther and Photographer turned PR guru David Fenton. We look at the power of the image to affect public opinion and the power of social movements to endure. Fenton has a photo show “Eye of the Revolution” opening in NYC this weekend at the Steven Kasher Gallery.

Bernadine Dohrn sticks around for a one-on-one interview, on movements, on message, on No Demobilizing Now! About the Ayers Thing: Bill Ayers is Bernardine Dohrn’s husband. The McCain campaign tried to make Ayers a problem for Obama, but it didn’t happen. She says the bigger message here has nothing to do with ’60’s history – the Republicans message is that whatever you do doesn’t make a difference. Of course she rejects that idea, and revels in the victory of ground-up social movements.

Civil disobedience reframed as ‘terrorism’ – and quashed in ‘08 as it was in ‘68. The activists who rallied in Minneapolis/St. Paul outside the Republican National Convention were harrassed, gassed, and charged with "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism." The Glass Bead Collective, Twin Cities Indymedia, and other independent media activists have released a new film, ‘Terrorizing Dissent‘, an exposé of events at the 2008 RNC. It’s available free online — check the website TerrorizingDissent.org

Lots of video in this edition of GRIT: MC YOGI’s Obama, Give Me Libraries from A Year At The Wheel, and A Dream Realized: Obama & America Look Forward from the American News Project.