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Liberation News Service

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Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left , anti-war underground press news agency that distributed news bulletins and photographs to hundreds of subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. Considered the " Associated Press " for the underground press, at its zenith the LNS served more than 500 papers. Founded in Washington, D.C. , it operated out of New York City for most of its existence.

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159-641: Liberation News Service distributed news to a wide range of audiences, including African Americans, factory workers, women, ethnic minorities, and high school students; and institutions like bookstores, libraries, community centers, and prisons. One of LNS' mandates was documenting contemporary social movements, including worker strikes in Ohio, miners' rights movements, and the Attica Prison riot . LNS went beyond domestic news, covering international events in Africa,

318-545: A New York Times editor, who was present at the prison as an observer, published A Time to Die . Another Attica observer, Clarence Jones , released (with Stuart Connelly) his historical account Uprising: Understanding Attica, Revolution and the Incarceration State in 2011. In 1985, Malcolm Bell, a former prosecutor for the Attica Task Force and eventual whistleblower, released his account of

477-1230: A pacifism orientation, naturism , etc, ...". In 1968, in Carrara , Italy the International of Anarchist Federations was founded during an international anarchist conference held there in 1968 by the three existing European federations of France , the Italian and the Iberian Anarchist Federation as well as the Bulgarian federation in French exile. During the events of May 68 the anarchist groups active in France were Fédération Anarchiste , Mouvement communiste libertaire, Union fédérale des anarchistes, Alliance ouvrière anarchiste, Union des groupes anarchistes communistes, Noir et Rouge, Confédération nationale du travail , Union anarcho-syndicaliste, Organisation révolutionnaire anarchiste, Cahiers socialistes libertaires , À contre-courant , La Révolution prolétarienne , and

636-607: A Son's Search for Answers . The memoir tells the story of the life of Sam Melville, the Attica Uprising, and the broader goals and controversies of the New Left movement. Sixties counterculture The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through

795-700: A brand new Telex machine sitting in an otherwise empty storefront and a sign seeking volunteers, and attended a meeting shortly afterward at which the New York staff was formed. Around this time, Rag co-founder Thorne Dreyer left Austin to help build LNS' editorial collective in New York City. Two months after it opened, the New York office became a central focus for LNS activity during the Columbia University student uprising in April 1968 , as

954-547: A cleavage between the prison population's reformist and revolutionary/abolitionist elements. Published in 1972, the first historical account of the Attica Prison Uprising was written by The New York State Special Commission on Attica and was entitled Attica: The Official Report . Published in 1974, The Brothers of Attica is a first hand account written by a former Attica prisoner and Nation of Islam member named Richard X. Clark. In 1975, Tom Wicker ,

1113-529: A continual stream of bulletins going out over the Telex kept underground papers and radio stations across the country up-to-the-minute on the latest developments in the Columbia student strike. To young radicals across the country, it seemed as if the revolution had come. Recognizing that New York was where the action was and running short on funds, Bloom and Mungo decided to relocate the national headquarters from

1272-405: A decision later called "inexcusable" by the commission established by Rockefeller to study the riot and the aftermath. By the time the facility was reported as fully secured at 10:05 a.m., law enforcement had shot at least 128 men and killed nine hostages and twenty-nine inmates. A tenth hostage, Correctional Officer Harrison W. Whalen, died on October 9, 1971, of gunshot wounds received during

1431-475: A long essay co-authored by Thorne Dreyer and Victoria Smith, titled "The Movement and the New Media," which was considered to be the first serious journalistic portrait of the increasingly powerful underground press phenomenon. Dreyer also wrote extensively about the growing repression of underground papers throughout the country. Much of LNS' funding came from liberal Protestant church organizations such as

1590-436: A narcotic , and the attachment of severe criminal penalties for its use, drove the act of smoking marijuana, and experimentation with substances in general, deep underground. Many began to live largely clandestine lives because of their choice to use such drugs and substances, fearing retribution from their governments. The confrontations between college students (and other activists) and law enforcement officials became one of

1749-490: A new kind of journalism — developing a more personalistic style of reporting, questioning bourgeois conceptions of 'objectivity' and reevaluating established notions about the nature of news..." They pointed out that LNS "provided coverage of events to which most papers would have otherwise had no access, and... put these events into a context, helping new papers in their attempts to develop a political analysis... In many places, where few radicals exist and journalistic experience

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1908-672: A printed 20-page packet of articles and graphics mailed to nearly 800 subscribers twice a week." By the middle of the 1970s, with the end of the Vietnam War and the decline of the New Left, LNS began to dwindle along with the rapidly disappearing underground press. In 1976, operations moved downtown to a loft on West 17th Street. Reduced to serving only 150 newspapers, the LNS collective decided to close operations in August 1981. In 1990, "LNS

2067-523: A rethinking of the direction of the United States and other democratic societies . Post-war affluence allowed much of the counterculture generation to move beyond the provision of the material necessities of life that had preoccupied their Depression-era parents. The era was also notable in that a significant portion of the array of behaviors and "causes" within the larger movement were quickly assimilated within mainstream society, particularly in

2226-754: A rift of dissent within the establishment. In the UK, the Profumo affair also involved establishment leaders being caught in deception, leading to disillusionment and serving as a catalyst for liberal activism. The Cuban Missile Crisis , which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in October 1962, was largely fomented by duplicitous speech and actions on the part of the Soviet Union. The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, and

2385-410: A term of up to two years for attempted assault, and John Hill, who was Mohawk , was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years to life. Supporters alleged that the trial was unfairly conducted and that the men's ethnicity contributed to their indictment and conviction, with Hill's lawyer William Kunstler saying at the sentencing, "I'm not going to give the impression to the outside world that there

2544-492: A townhouse at 3 Thomas Circle which they shared with the Washington Free Press , the LNS soon released its inaugural mimeographed news packet. With support from private donors and assistance from the nearby Institute for Policy Studies , they were soon joined by other young journalists, including Allen Young , Marty Jezer , and photographer David Fenton , sending out packets of articles and photographs on

2703-542: A twice-weekly schedule to underground newspapers across the U.S. and abroad. During this time the writings of Thorne Webb Dreyer — co-founder of the Austin, Texas , underground paper The Rag — were widely distributed, appearing regularly in dozens of periodicals. Dreyer's coverage of the October 21, 1967, March on the Pentagon – with its massive acts of civil disobedience – was distributed by LNS and published around

2862-458: A widened area of consciousness, love and sexual experimentation as more worthy of their attention than entering the rat race. The straight, consumerist lifestyle was not to their liking, but they did not object to others living it. But at that time the middle classes still felt they had the right to impose their values on everyone else, which resulted in conflict." In the Netherlands, Provo

3021-580: A year-long stay in the country; Aboriginal activist Cheryl Buchanan (who was active in the 1972 setup of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy ; and later partner of poet and activist Lionel Fogarty ) and radical scientist Alan Roberts (1925–2017 ) on global warming —and ongoing coverage of cultural trailblazers such as the Australian Performing Group (aka Pram Factory ), and emerging Australian filmmakers. The Digger

3180-508: Is associated with college campus mass protests and radical leftist movements. The British "New Left" was an intellectually driven movement that attempted to correct the perceived errors of " Old Left " parties in the post–World War II period. The movements began to wind down in the 1970s, when activists either committed themselves to party projects, developed social justice organizations, moved into identity politics or alternative lifestyles , or became politically inactive. The emergence of

3339-419: Is justice here." In 1975, Malcolm Bell, a prosecutor in the Attica Task Force, sent a report to Governor Hugh Carey alleging that his superiors were covering up evidence of criminal actions by law enforcement officers in the retaking of Attica and preventing him from fully investigating and prosecuting law enforcement. After Bell's report was leaked to the public, Carey appointed Judge Bernard S. Meyer of

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3498-596: Is lacking, papers have been made possible primarily because LNS copy has been available to supplement scarce local material." The total combined circulation of the LNS-member papers was estimated to be in the millions. Liberation News Service was founded in August 1967 by Ray Mungo and Marshall Bloom after they were separated from the United States Student Press Association and its Collegiate Press Service . Operating out of

3657-662: The New York Times ; James Ingram of the Michigan Chronicle ; State Senator John Dunne , head of a Prisons Committee in the legislature; State Representative Arthur Eve , U.S. congressman from New York; attorney Herman Badillo ; civil rights lawyer William Kunstler ; Clarence Jones , publisher of the Amsterdam News in New York and former advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. ; representatives of

3816-522: The "Bloody Sunday" event of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches , and graphic news footage from Vietnam brought horrifying, moving images of the bloody reality of armed conflict into living rooms for the first time. The breakdown of enforcement of the US Hays Code concerning censorship in motion picture production, the use of new forms of artistic expression in European and Asian cinema, and

3975-743: The Black Panther Party , was shot and killed during an escape attempt in which three prison guards and two white inmates were murdered at San Quentin State Prison in California. Through his writings, Jackson had encouraged imprisoned people throughout the United States to become politically active. As a result, Jackson became one of the first targets of the FBI's Black Extremist Activities in Penal institutions program, which later evolved into

4134-583: The Hog Farm , Quarry Hill , and Drop City in the US were established as straightforward agrarian attempts to return to the land and live free of interference from outside influences. As the era progressed, many people established and populated new communities in response to not only disillusionment with standard community forms, but also dissatisfaction with certain elements of the counterculture itself. Some of these self-sustaining communities have been credited with

4293-596: The Prison Activists Surveillance Program (PRISACTS). Many incarcerated people in Attica had read Jackson's books and cited Jackson's death as a major catalyst for the riot. The day after Jackson's death, at least 700 Attica inmates participated in a hunger strike in his honor. On Wednesday, September 8, 1971, two inmates fought during their recreation break, and a correctional officer came up to intervene. One inmate had already left

4452-567: The Sixties counterculture . There were 150 underground papers and 90 college papers subscribing to LNS, with most subscribers paying (or at least being billed) $ 180 a year. LNS took over the former SCN office in New York, which had just been opened by former Columbia University graduate student George Cavalletto and others in a converted Chinese restaurant on Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights . Walking by, Steve Diamond saw

4611-561: The South Bronx as a means to validate Puerto Rican experience in the United States, particularly for poor and working-class people who suffered from marginalization , ostracism, and discrimination. Young Cuban exiles in the United States would develop interests in Cuban identity, and politics. This younger generation had experienced the United States during the rising anti-war movement , civil rights movement , and feminist movement of

4770-536: The Third-World , the Black Power Movement and New Left movements within the United States, and intensifying state repression of these movements, including via War on Crime and the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program . Some of the prisoners in Attica participated in the riot because they desired better living conditions. Historian and left-wing activist Howard Zinn wrote the following about

4929-417: The Vietnam War began in 1964 on United States college campuses. Student activism became a dominant theme among the baby boomers, growing to include many other demographic groups. Exemptions and deferments for the middle and upper classes resulted in the induction of a disproportionate number of poor, working-class, and minority registrants. Countercultural books such as MacBird by Barbara Garson and much of

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5088-580: The Weather Underground launched a retaliatory attack on the New York Department of Corrections, exploding a bomb near Oswald's office. "The communiqué accompanying the attack called the prison system an example of 'how a society run by white racists maintains its control,' with white supremacy being the 'main question white people have to face. ' " In response to public criticism, in November 1971 Governor Rockefeller established

5247-588: The Young Lords , and others. Prisoners requested Minister Louis Farrakhan , national representative of the Nation of Islam , but he declined. Inmates also requested representatives from the Black Panther Party ; Bobby Seale addressed the inmates briefly on September 11 but did not stay long and some believed that he inflamed tensions. The prisoners and team of observers continued to negotiate with Commissioner of Corrections Russell Oswald, who agreed to 28 of

5406-472: The concert film Gimme Shelter , Medium Cool , Zabriskie Point and Punishment Park . By the later 1960s, previously under-regarded FM radio replaced AM radio as the focal point for the ongoing explosion of rock and roll music, and became the nexus of youth-oriented news and advertising for the counterculture generation. Communes , collectives , and intentional communities regained popularity during this era. Early communities such as

5565-516: The miniskirt which raised hemlines above the knees, as well as the development of distinguished, youth-led fashion subcultures . Styles based around jeans , for both men and women, became an important fashion movement that has continued up to the present day. Several factors distinguished the counterculture of the 1960s from anti-authoritarian movements of previous eras. The post-World War II baby boom generated an unprecedented number of potentially disaffected youth as prospective participants in

5724-561: The nuclear weapons policy since before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The public became concerned about nuclear weapons testing from about 1954, following extensive nuclear testing in the Pacific . In 1961 and 1962, at the height of the Cold War , about 50,000 women brought together by Women Strike for Peace marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons . In 1963, many countries ratified

5883-493: The " Sponti " movement and other leftist groups. In the late summer of 1968, the commune moved into a deserted factory on Stephanstraße to reorient. This second phase of Kommune 1 was characterized by sex, music and drugs. Soon, the commune was receiving visitors from all over the world, including Jimi Hendrix . Mánička is a Czech term used for young people with long hair, usually males, in Czechoslovakia through

6042-473: The "old school" political left either ignored or denounced them. According to ABC News , "The group was known for street theater pranks and was once referred to as the ' Groucho Marxists '." In Trafalgar Square , London in 1958, in an act of civil disobedience , 60,000–100,000 protesters made up of students and pacifists converged in what was to become the " ban the Bomb " demonstrations. Opposition to

6201-556: The 1,200 prisoners for which it was designed to 2,243. Additionally, as in many American prisons, racial disparities also existed at Attica. Within the prison population, 54% of the incarcerated men were African American , 9% of them were Puerto Rican , and 37% of them were white . All of the guards or all but one of the guards (depending on the source) were white. Guards often threw out letters written in Spanish sent to or from Puerto Rican prisoners, and relegated black prisoners to

6360-631: The 1960s and 1970s. Anarchism was influential in the counterculture of the 1960s and anarchists actively participated in the late 1960s students and workers revolts . During the IX Congress of the Italian Anarchist Federation in Carrara in 1965, a group decided to split off from this organization and created the Gruppi di Iniziativa Anarchica . In the 1970s, it was mostly composed of "veteran individualist anarchists with

6519-652: The 1960s and 1970s. Long hair for males during this time was considered an expression of political and social attitudes in communist Czechoslovakia . From the mid-1960s, the long-haired and "untidy" persons (so called máničky or vlasatci (in English: Mops ) were banned from entering pubs, cinema halls, theatres and using public transportation in several Czech cities and towns. In 1964, the public transportation regulations in Most and Litvínov excluded long-haired máničky as displeasure-evoking persons. Two years later,

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6678-881: The 1960s, also called the Chicano civil rights movement, was a civil rights movement extending the Mexican-American civil rights movement of the 1960s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment. The American Indian Movement (or AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement that was founded in July 1968 in Minneapolis , Minnesota. A.I.M. was initially formed in urban areas to address systemic issues of poverty and police brutality against Native Americans. A.I.M. soon widened its focus from urban issues to include many Indigenous Tribal issues that Native American groups have faced due to settler colonialism of

6837-447: The 1960s, causing them to be influenced by radicals that encouraged political introspection, and social justice. Figures like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were also heavily praised among American student radicals at the time. These factors helped push some young Cubans into advocating for different degrees of rapprochement with Cuba. Those most likely to become more radical were Cubans who were more culturally isolated from being outside

6996-420: The 1980s and 1990s many of these improvements were reversed. For example, the 1994 Crime Bill eliminated all Pell Grants for prisoners, resulting in the defunding of higher education within prisons. As a result, all university-level education programs in prisons ended with no other educational options for inmates. Overcrowding worsened, with the prison population of New York increasing dramatically from 12,500 at

7155-536: The Americas, such as treaty rights , high rates of unemployment, education, cultural continuity, and preservation of Indigenous cultures. The Asian American movement was a sociopolitical movement in which the widespread grassroots effort of Asian Americans affected racial, social and political change in the US, reaching its peak in the late 1960s to mid-1970s. During this period Asian Americans promoted antiwar and anti-imperialist activism, directly opposing what

7314-543: The Archives & Special Collections at Amherst College ; its photographs are archived at New York University 's Tamiment Library . Attica Prison riot 10 correctional officers killed (9 by correctional officers) 5 correctional officers wounded during the assault The Attica Prison riot took place at the state prison in Attica, New York ; it started on September 9, 1971, and ended on September 13 with

7473-517: The Ashes of Attica is a memoir by Deanne Quinn Miller (with Gary Craig), the daughter of the prison guard killed during the initial riot, William Quinn, and an organizer with The Forgotten Victims of Attica, a group made up of surviving hostages and families of prison employees who were killed. In 2022, Joshua Melville, the son of Sam Melville, one of the inmates killed in the retaking of the prison, released American Time Bomb: Attica, Sam Melville, and

7632-583: The Auburn prison riot were subsequently transferred to other New York State prisons, including Attica. In July 1971, a group of Attica inmates presented a list of 27 demands regarding improvements in living conditions in Attica to state Commissioner of Corrections Russell Oswald and Governor Nelson Rockefeller . These demands included improvements in multiple areas such as diet, the quality of guards, rehabilitation programs, and, in particular, education programs. The inmates also demanded increased religious freedom,

7791-469: The Claremont Avenue basement storefront, with the organization run as a collective. The subscriber base grew to over 500 papers, and a high school underground press service, run by local high school students, was added. Allen Young estimates that something like 200 staffers worked at LNS over the years, "usually with 8-20 full-time participants or staff at any one time." In 1969 LNS published

7950-549: The Cuban enclave of Miami. Much of the 1960s counterculture originated on college campuses. The 1964 Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, which had its roots in the Civil Rights Movement of the southern United States, was one early example. At Berkeley a group of students began to identify themselves as having interests as a class that were at odds with the interests and practices of

8109-741: The Dominican Republic, and Latin America. It offered extensive reporting on the Vietnam War , including the lives of people in both North and South Vietnam. LNS provides scoops on important stories, covering topics like torture in Vietnam and political corruption in San Diego before other major news outlets. According to former LNS staffers Thorne Dreyer and Victoria Smith, the Liberation News Service "was an attempt at

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8268-535: The Montague group was understaffed, underfunded, and isolated on a remote (and cold) country farm. Only the New York headquarters group survived the split, with Young becoming a recognized leader. Bloom committed suicide the following year. A pro-Montague account of the split appears in Mungo's book Famous Long Ago: My Life and Hard Times with the Liberation News Service . The New York staff continued publication from

8427-527: The New Left in the 1950s and 1960s led to a revival of interest in libertarian socialism . The New Left's critique of the Old Left 's authoritarianism was associated with a strong interest in personal liberty, autonomy (see the thinking of Cornelius Castoriadis ) and led to a rediscovery of older socialist traditions, such as left communism , council communism , and the Industrial Workers of

8586-720: The New York State Special Commission on Attica, appointing members and naming Dean of NYU Law School Robert B. McKay as chair. Known as the McKay Commission, the commission was directed to investigate the circumstances leading up to, during, and following the events at Attica. The commission's report, published in September 1972, was critical of Rockefeller, the Department of Corrections, and New York State Police for their handling of

8745-755: The Queens Branch House of Detention at Long Island City, and the Adolescent Remand Shelter on Rikers Island. Inmates at the Manhattan House of Detention held five guards hostage for eight hours, until state officials promised to hear prisoner grievances and they also promised not to take any punitive action against the rioters. Despite that promise, officials had the primary ringleaders shipped to various New York State Prisons and many were brutalized, held for months in solitary confinement and faced further criminal charges. Incarcerated people and state authorities in Auburn Correctional Facility engaged in an ongoing conflict and confrontation between November 2, 1970 and June 9, 1971. Several participants in what came to be known as

8904-406: The South by white-dominated state government , and ongoing racial discrimination in jobs, housing, and access to public places in both the North and the South. On college and university campuses, student activists fought for the right to exercise their basic constitutional rights, especially freedom of speech and freedom of assembly . Many counterculture activists became aware of the plight of

9063-410: The Supreme Court for Nassau County, New York to the post of Special Deputy Attorney General to investigate. The Meyer Report, released in December 1975, found "[t]here was no intentional cover-up", but "there were, however, serious errors of judgment" including "important omissions on the part of the State Police in the gathering of evidence." Initially, only the first of the three-volume Meyer report

9222-422: The US, even though counterculture participants numbered in the clear minority within their respective national populations. The Cold War between communist and capitalist states involved espionage and preparation for war between powerful nations, along with political and military interference by powerful states in the internal affairs of less powerful nations. Poor outcomes from some of these activities set

9381-500: The US, the social tension between elements of the counterculture and law enforcement reached the breaking point in many notable cases, including: the Columbia University protests of 1968 in New York City, the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago, the arrest and imprisonment of John Sinclair in Ann Arbor, Michigan , and the Kent State shootings at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where National Guardsman acted as surrogates for police. Police malfeasance

9540-453: The United States , and transnational solidarity with peoples around the globe impacted by U.S. militarism ." and intellectual movement involving poets, writers, musicians and artists who are Puerto Rican or of Puerto-Rican descent, who live in or near New York City, and either call themselves or are known as Nuyoricans . It originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s in neighborhoods such as Loisaida , East Harlem , Williamsburg , and

9699-419: The Western world, effectively united millions against the war, and against the war policy that prevailed under five US congresses and during two presidential administrations. The counterculture movement took hold in Western Europe, with London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome and Milan, Copenhagen and West Berlin rivaling San Francisco and New York as counterculture centers. The UK Underground was a movement linked to

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9858-541: The World . The New Left also led to a revival of anarchism. Journals like Radical America and Black Mask in America, Solidarity , Big Flame and Democracy & Nature , succeeded by The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy , in the UK, introduced a range of left libertarian ideas to a new generation. Social ecology , autonomism and, more recently, participatory economics (parecon), and Inclusive Democracy emerged from this. A surge of popular interest in anarchism occurred in western nations during

10017-412: The ability to engage in political activity, and an end to censorship, which they argued were all vital to a proper education within the prison. The commissioner did not take any actions on the list of demands. Attica warden Vincent Mancusi responded by adding additional restrictions to inmates' reading materials and personal belongings. In August 1971, George Jackson , an author and prominent member of

10176-462: The advent of modern production values heralded a new era of art-house , pornographic, and mainstream film production, distribution, and exhibition. The end of censorship resulted in a complete reformation of the western film industry. With new-found artistic freedom, a generation of exceptionally talented New Wave film makers working across all genres brought realistic depictions of previously prohibited subject matter to neighborhood theater screens for

10335-473: The aforementioned University Christian Movement. In 1970, however, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security subpoenaed LNS's financial records and leaked details about their church funding to a right-wing Midwestern columnist. A conservative newsletter then amplified the story, sparking outrage among some churchgoers in New York, who feared their donations were being used to fund "pro- Mao , pro- Castro pornography." By 1971, facing this backlash,

10494-406: The already existing local staff in New York, which had been originally recruited by the Student Communications Network, and who had been running their own affairs up to that point. Over the summer the staff divided into warring cliques polarized between Bloom and Mungo, who controlled the board of directors, and Cavalletto, who held the lease on the office and was paying the rent. The Bloom/Mungo group

10653-583: The altercation to be taken to solitary confinement, but when the officers arrived at 5 Company to take the inmates away, other prisoners resisted. The other inmates in 5 Company shouted and threw things at the guards and one inmate, William Ortiz, hit an officer with a can of soup, resulting in him being assigned to "keep lock", or confinement to his cell. The morning of Thursday, September 9, 1971, prisoners of 5 Company were still upset and demanded that officers tell them what would become of Ortiz. Officer Gordon Kelsey told them he did not know and tried to continue

10812-593: The approximately 2,200 men incarcerated in the Attica Correctional Facility rioted and took control of the prison, taking 42 staff hostage. During the following four days of negotiations, authorities agreed to 28 of the prisoners' demands but would not agree to demands for the removal of Attica's superintendent nor to complete amnesty from criminal prosecution for inmates for the prison takeover. By order of Governor Nelson Rockefeller (after consultation with President Richard M. Nixon ), armed corrections officers and state and local police were sent in to regain control of

10971-402: The area, but the officer demanded the remaining inmate return to his cell, and in the ensuing argument the inmate hit the officer. Other inmates and guards joined the commotion, and another inmate also hit the officer, but before the violence could intensify, Lieutenant Robert Curtiss moved to deescalate the situation. Later that evening, warden Vincent Mancusi ordered the two inmates involved in

11130-422: The assault. Inmate survivors alleged that leaders were singled out and killed by troopers during and after the retaking. According to a doctor who treated survivors, "[m]any of the ringleaders were approached by guards and shot systematically. Some had their hands in the air surrendering. Some were lying on the ground." One of the leaders, Elliott James "L.D." Barkley, who was frequently featured in news coverage,

11289-404: The assistance of the state police. On August 19, 1966, during a "safety intervention" organized by the state police, 140 long-haired people were arrested. As a response, the "community of long-haired" organized a protest in Prague . More than 100 people cheered slogans such as "Give us back our hair!" or "Away with hairdressers!". The state police arrested the organizers and several participants of

11448-412: The associated massive expansion of consumerism afforded by post-war affluence and encouraged by TV advertising—were key components in creating disillusionment for some younger people and in the formulation of new social behaviours, even as ad agencies heavily courted the "hip" youth market. In the US, nearly real-time TV news coverage of the civil rights movement era's 1963 Birmingham Campaign ,

11607-424: The attendant theories concerning the event, led to further diminished trust in government, including among younger people. Many social issues fueled the growth of the larger counterculture movement. One was a nonviolent movement in the United States seeking to resolve constitutional civil rights illegalities, especially regarding general racial segregation , longstanding disfranchisement of Black people in

11766-445: The birth and propagation of the international Green Movement . The emergence of an interest in expanded spiritual consciousness, yoga , occult practices and increased human potential helped to shift views on organized religion during the era. In 1957, 69% of US residents polled by Gallup said religion was increasing in influence. By the late 1960s, polls indicated less than 20% still held that belief. The " Generation Gap ", or

11925-500: The churches cut off all funding to LNS. As a result of this funding crisis, the well-known journalists and activists I.F. Stone , Jack Newfield , Nat Hentoff , and William M. Kunstler wrote a letter of support for LNS that was published in the New York Review of Books . In an appeal for funds, the signers praised the investigative work of LNS, noting that it had "grown from a mimeoed sheet distributed to ten newspapers to

12084-542: The commissioner hours before the attack, and if we had been allowed to continue, everyone would be alive and the matter would be settled today." The situation may have been further complicated by Governor Rockefeller's refusal even to come to the prison or meet with the inmates. Instead, Rockefeller dispatched Commissioner of the Office of General Services Almerin C. O'Hara , a retired National Guard major general, as his personal representative and liaison. Because Rockefeller

12243-417: The conditions in Attica prior to the uprising, Prisoners spent 14 to 16 hours a day in their cells, their mail was read, their reading material restricted, their visits from families conducted through a mesh screen, their medical care disgraceful, their parole system inequitable, racism everywhere. Overcrowding contributed to the poor conditions, as in recent years the prison's population had increased from

12402-425: The counterculture movement. Everyday fashion experienced a decline of the suit and especially of the wearing of hats; other changes included the normalisation of long hair worn down for women (as well as many men at the time), the popularization of traditional African, Indian and Middle Eastern styles of dress (including the wearing of natural hair for those of African descent), the invention and popularization of

12561-569: The counterculture music encouraged a spirit of non-conformism and anti-establishmentarianism. By 1968, the year after a large march to the United Nations in New York City and a large protest at the Pentagon were undertaken, a majority of people in the country opposed the war. The application of nuclear technology , both as a source of energy and as an instrument of war, has been controversial. Scientists and diplomats have debated

12720-748: The counterculture of the 1960s. As the era unfolded, what emerged were new cultural forms and a dynamic subculture that celebrated experimentation, individuality, modern incarnations of Bohemianism , and the rise of the hippie and other alternative lifestyles . This embrace of experimentation is particularly notable in the works of popular musical acts such as the Beatles , Jimi Hendrix , Jim Morrison , Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan , as well as of New Hollywood , French New Wave , and Japanese New Wave filmmakers, whose works became far less restricted by censorship. Within and across many disciplines, many other creative artists, authors, and thinkers helped define

12879-405: The counterculture. The three-day Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro , held in 1971, was organized in the valley of Avándaro near the city of Toluca , a town neighboring Mexico City, and became known as "The Mexican Woodstock". Nudity, drug use, and the presence of the US flag scandalized conservative Mexican society to such an extent that the government clamped down on rock and roll performances for

13038-415: The doors locked. The inmates believed they were about to be punished and a melee broke out, which resulted in chaos as some inmates attacked the guards and others tried to flee. The chaos spread to other nearby companies of inmates, and the uprising began. During this stage, several guards and inmates were injured. Officer William Quinn would die in the hospital two days later of injuries sustained during

13197-524: The early 1970s. It is often synonymous with cultural liberalism and with the various social changes of the decade. The effects of the movement have been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights movement in the United States had made significant progress, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , and with the intensification of the Vietnam War that same year, it became revolutionary to some. As

13356-482: The enduring uniform of the generation, as daily wearing of suits along with traditional Western dress codes declined in use. The fashion dominance of the counterculture effectively ended with the rise of the Disco and Punk Rock eras in the later 1970s, even as the global popularity of T-shirts, denim jeans, and casual clothing in general have continued to grow. In the western world, the ongoing criminal legal status of

13515-586: The exception of Indian massacres in the late 19th century, the State Police assault which ended the four-day prison uprising was the bloodiest one-day encounter between Americans since the Civil War." State officials, including Oswald and Rockefeller, initially stated that inmates slit the throats of many of their hostages. The false information was widely reported in the media. But less than 24 hours later, official medical examiners confirmed that all

13674-618: The expansion of LNS. In December 1967 they opened an international Telex line to Oxford, England; and later that winter LNS merged with the Student Communications Network (SCN), based in Berkeley, California , which had its own nationwide Telex network with terminals in Berkeley, Los Angeles, New York, Ann Arbor, Ames, Iowa, Chicago, and Philadelphia, leased from Western Union . The Student Communications Network

13833-417: The expensive townhouse office in D.C. to the large storefront space in New York, which Cavalletto was renting for only $ 200 a month. Bringing Allen Young, Harvey Wasserman , Verandah Porche , and some of the other Washington staff with them, along with Sheila Ryan of the Washington Free Press , they moved into the New York office. A culture clash soon developed, however, between the headquarters staff and

13992-479: The families of the deceased, and for their correctional officer counterparts who had been killed or injured and their bereaved as well. Partially in response to the Attica uprising, the New York State Department of Corrections implemented changes including: While there were improvements in prison conditions in the years immediately following the uprising, during the "tough on crime" era of

14151-489: The first time, even as Hollywood film studios were still considered a part of the establishment by some elements of the counterculture. Successful 1960s new films of the New Hollywood were Bonnie and Clyde , The Graduate , The Wild Bunch , and Dennis Hopper 's Easy Rider . Other examples of hippie modernist cinema includes experimental short films made by figures like Jordan Belson and Bruce Conner ,

14310-403: The forefront as an increasing number of primarily younger people broke free from the constraints of 1950s orthodoxy and struggled to create a more inclusive and tolerant social landscape. The availability of new and more effective forms of birth control was a key underpinning of the sexual revolution . The notion of "recreational sex" without the threat of unwanted pregnancy radically changed

14469-538: The government fearing a repeat of the student protests of 1968. Few bands survived the prohibition, though the ones that did, like Three Souls in My Mind (now El Tri ), remained popular due in part to their adoption of Spanish for their lyrics, but mostly as a result of a dedicated underground following. While Mexican rock groups were eventually able to perform publicly by the mid-1980s, the ban prohibiting tours of Mexico by foreign acts lasted until 1989. The Cordobazo

14628-422: The governor's refusal, Oswald and Rockefeller agreed that Oswald would order the State Police to retake the facility by force, a decision which was later criticized. On the night of Sunday, September 12, 1971, plans were drawn up to retake the prison by force. Members of the team of observers argued for Oswald to deliver to inmates one final appeal for a settlement before the forcible retaking. Oswald agreed, but

14787-410: The growing subculture in the US and associated with the hippie phenomenon, generating its own magazines and newspapers, fashion, music groups, and clubs. Underground figure Barry Miles said, "The underground was a catch-all sobriquet for a community of like-minded anti-establishment, anti-war, pro-rock'n'roll individuals, most of whom had a common interest in recreational drugs. They saw peace, exploring

14946-458: The hallmarks of the era. Many younger people began to show deep distrust of police, and terms such as " fuzz " and "pig" as derogatory epithets for police reappeared, and became key words within the counterculture lexicon. The distrust of police was based not only on fear of police brutality during political protests, but also on generalized police corruption—especially police manufacture of false evidence, and outright entrapment, in drug cases. In

15105-570: The highest number of fatalities in the history of United States prison uprisings . Of the 43 men who died (33 inmates and 10 correctional officers and employees), all but one guard and three inmates were killed by law enforcement gunfire when the state retook control of the prison on the final day of the uprising. The Attica Uprising has been described as an historic event in the prisoners' rights movement. Prisoners revolted to seek better living conditions and political rights, claiming that they were treated as beasts. On September 9, 1971, 1,281 of

15264-420: The hostages had been killed by bullets fired by law enforcement officers. The Special Commission found that state officials failed to quickly refute the early rumors and false reports. Troopers and prison officers set about with physically violent and humiliating reprisals. Inmates were made to strip naked and crawl through mud, broken glass, and the prisoners' hand-dug latrines. State officials also subjected

15423-414: The hostages if the state was to come in by force. The inmates brought eight corrections officers to the catwalk on top of the command center and surrounded them with inmates armed with homemade weapons. According to surviving inmates, they did not intend to kill the hostages, but rather to use them as insurance. Shortly after inmates and hostages were positioned on the catwalk, Oswald gave the order to begin

15582-406: The inevitable perceived divide in worldview between the old and young, was perhaps never greater than during the counterculture era. A large measure of the generational chasm of the 1960s and early 1970s was born of rapidly evolving fashion and hairstyle trends that were readily adopted by the young, but often misunderstood and ridiculed by the old. These included the wearing of very long hair by men,

15741-407: The initial riot. By noon on September 9, correctional officers and police controlled about half the prison and its inmates, while 1,281 of Attica's approximately 2,200 inmates controlled the other half, including D-yard, two tunnels, and the central control room, referred to as "Times Square". Inmates held 42 officers and civilian employees as hostages. Once inmates had secured their section of

15900-459: The inmates' demands, but refused to agree to amnesty for the inmates involved in the uprising or to fire the Attica warden. William Kunstler, a lawyer who agreed to represent the inmates in negotiations, said, "The prisoners had two non-negotiable demands: the removal of the warden, and general amnesty, and they had already given up on the removal of the warden. And on the general amnesty, we had worked out several formulas that we were discussing with

16059-614: The investigation and alleged coverup The Turkey Shoot: Tracking the Attica Cover-up . A detailed historical account of the uprising was published by historian Heather Ann Thompson in 2016. The book, entitled Blood in the Water , draws on interviews with former inmates, hostages, families of victims, law enforcement, lawyers, and state officials, as well as significant archives of previously unreleased materials. Published in 2021, The Prison Guard's Daughter: My Journey Through

16218-706: The lives of not only us but of every one of you, as well. As speakers such as Barkley raised morale, the elected group of negotiators drafted proposals to present to the commissioner. The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands was a compilation of complaints written by the Attica prisoners, which speak directly to the "sincere people of society". It included 33 demands, including better medical treatment, fair visitation rights, improved food quality, religious freedom, higher wages for inmate jobs, "an end of physical abuse, for [access to] basic necessities like toothbrushes and showers every day, for professional training, and access to newspapers and books." The manifesto assigns

16377-459: The lowest-paid jobs and subjected them to regular racial harassment. There were also geographic disparities – most of the incarcerated men were from urban areas, including metropolitan New York, while most of the guards were from the local region. Anthropologist Orisanmi Burton has shown that while improving prison conditions and racial disparities were an important concern, many Attica prisoners were critical of prison reform and participated in

16536-592: The meeting. Some of them were given prison sentences. According to the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes , the Czechoslovak Ministry of Interior in 1966 even compiled a detailed map of the frequency of occurrence of long-haired males in Czechoslovakia. In August 1969, during the first anniversary of the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia , the long-haired youth were one of the most active voices in

16695-525: The mood among the inmates deteriorated. In preparation for prison authorities potentially taking the prison back by force, inmates had dug defensive trenches, electrified metal gates, fashioned crude battlements out of metal tables and dirt, and fortified the "Times Square" prison command center. After Oswald left following the inmates' rejection of his latest offer, the inmates decided to try to impress upon prison officials that they were serious about their demands, and to remind them that inmates had power over

16854-537: The movement progressed, widespread social tensions also developed concerning other issues, and tended to flow along generational lines regarding respect for the individual , human sexuality , women's rights , traditional modes of authority , rights of people of color , end of racial segregation, experimentation with psychoactive drugs , and differing interpretations of the American Dream . Many key movements related to these issues were born or advanced within

17013-579: The municipal council in Poděbrady banned máničky from entering cultural institutions in the town. In August 1966, Rudé právo informed that máničky in Prague were banned from visiting restaurants of the I. and II. price category. In 1966, during a big campaign coordinated by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , around 4,000 young males were forced to cut their hair, often in the cells with

17172-662: The nature of the 1960 U-2 incident resulted in the government being caught in a blatant lie at the highest levels, and contributed to a backdrop of growing distrust of authority among many who came of age during the period. The Partial Test Ban Treaty divided the establishment within the US along political and military lines. Internal political disagreements concerning treaty obligations in Southeast Asia ( SEATO ), especially in Vietnam , and debate as to how other communist insurgencies should be challenged, also created

17331-629: The original English Diggers led by Gerrard Winstanley and sought to create a mini-society free of money and capitalism . On the other hand, the Yippies employed theatrical gestures, such as advancing a pig (" Pigasus the Immortal") as a candidate for president in 1968, to mock the social status quo. They have been described as a highly theatrical, anti-authoritarian and anarchist youth movement of "symbolic politics". Since they were well known for street theater and politically themed pranks, many of

17490-459: The poor, and community organizers fought for the funding of anti-poverty programs , particularly in the South and within inner city areas in the United States. Environmentalism grew from a greater understanding of the ongoing damage caused by industrialization, resultant pollution, and the misguided use of chemicals such as pesticides in well-meaning efforts to improve the quality of life for

17649-585: The power to negotiate to five inmates elected to represent the others: Donald Noble, Peter Butler, Frank Lott, Carl Jones-El, and Herbert Blyden X. Additionally, the document specifically lists "vile and vicious slave masters" who oppressed the prisoners, such as the New York governor, New York corrections, and the United States courts. Inmates requested a team of outside observers to assist with negotiations, whom they considered knowledgeable of prison conditions, many of whom officials were able to persuade to come to Attica. Observers included Tom Wicker , an editor of

17808-461: The prison as a radical, was allegedly shot while he had his hands in the air trying to surrender. The final death toll from the rebellion also includes the officer fatally injured by inmates during the initial uprising and three inmates who were subjected to vigilante killings by fellow inmates before the retaking of the prison. Ten hostages died from gunfire by state troopers and soldiers. The New York State Special Commission on Attica wrote, "With

17967-527: The prison maintained a reputation as "a facility where a small group of correction officers dole out harsh punishment largely with impunity" and inmates conveyed numerous stories of poor conditions and severe treatment by guards. Interpreting the post-Attica reforms through the lens of counterinsurgency theory and practice, anthropologist Orisanmi Burton has argued that these temporary "improvements" to prison conditions were designed to fracture that organizing and activism taking place within prisons and to create

18126-431: The prison retaking and for their negligence in protecting inmates from reprisals after the riot. In October 1971, Robert Fischer was appointed as Special Deputy Attorney General to lead the Attica Task Force and was charged with investigating any criminal acts that may have been committed during the uprising or retaking (Fischer was later succeeded as the Attica Task Force leader by Anthony Simonetti). Within four years of

18285-555: The prison retaking sued the State of New York for civil rights violations by law enforcement officers and prison officials during and after the retaking of Attica. After decades in the courts, the state agreed in 2000 to pay $ 8 million ($ 12 million minus legal fees) to settle the case. In 2005, the state separately settled with surviving prison employees and families of the slain prison employees for $ 12 million. Frank "Big Black" Smith advocated both for compensation for inmate survivors and

18444-483: The prison, they began organizing. Inmates elected leaders to represent them in negotiations, appointed inmates to serve as medics and security, and began drafting a list of demands for officials to meet before they would surrender. For example, Frank "Big Black" Smith (September 11, 1933 – July 31, 2004) was appointed as head of security, and he kept both the hostages and the observers committee safe. Additionally, 21-year-old Elliott James "L.D." Barkley, an ardent orator,

18603-415: The prison. By the time they stopped firing, at least 39 people were dead: 10 correctional officers and civilian employees and 29 inmates, with nearly all killed by law enforcement gunfire. Law enforcement subjected many of the survivors to various forms of torture, including sexual violence. Rockefeller had refused to go to the prison or meet with prisoners. After the uprising was suppressed, he said that

18762-562: The prisoners "carried out the cold-blood killings they had threatened from the outset". Medical examiners confirmed that all but the deaths of one officer and three inmates were caused by law enforcement gunfire. The New York Times writer Fred Ferretti said the rebellion concluded in "mass deaths that four days of taut negotiations had sought to avert." As a result of the rebellion, the New York Corrections Department made changes in prisons to satisfy some of

18921-414: The prisoners occurred, especially in New York, but also in cities as far away as Los Angeles and Norman, Oklahoma; several rallies in support of Governor Rockefeller also took place. In addition, activists such as Angela Davis and artists such as John Lennon wrote works in support of the inmates and condemning the official response. At 7:30 p.m. on September 17, militant left-wing organization

19080-412: The prisoners to sexual violence and rape. Directed into the prison, they were forced to run hallways naked between lines of enraged officers, who beat the inmates and yelled insults and racial slurs. Some inmates, including leaders such as Frank Smith, were subject to additional reprisals and punishments, including repeated physical abuse and being locked in solitary confinement. Several days after

19239-435: The prisoners' demands, reduce tension in the system, and prevent such incidents in the future. While there were improvements to prison conditions in the years immediately following the uprising, many of these improvements were reversed in the 1980s and 1990s. Attica remains one of the most infamous prison riots to have occurred in the United States. The uprising occurred within the context of anti-colonial movements throughout

19398-694: The publications close to Émile Armand . The New Left in the United States also included anarchist, countercultural and hippie -related radical groups such as the Yippies who were led by Abbie Hoffman , The Diggers and Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers . By late 1966, the Diggers opened free stores which simply gave away their stock, provided free food, distributed free drugs, gave away money, organized free music concerts, and performed works of political art. The Diggers took their name from

19557-400: The rapidly growing population. Authors such as Rachel Carson played key roles in developing a new awareness among the global population of the fragility of our planet , despite resistance from elements of the establishment in many countries. The need to address minority rights of women, gay people, the disabled, and many other neglected constituencies within the larger population came to

19716-466: The recreational drug industry was instrumental in the formation of an anti-establishment social dynamic by some of those coming of age during the counterculture era. The explosion of marijuana use during the era, in large part by students on fast-expanding college campuses, created an attendant need for increasing numbers of people to conduct their personal affairs in secret in the procurement and use of banned substances. The classification of marijuana as

19875-568: The report were released in May 2015. The released pages contain accounts from witnesses and inmates describing torture, burning, and sexual abuse of inmates by prison authorities. In 2021, the 50th anniversary of the uprising, the Forgotten Victims of Attica, surviving inmates, families of killed inmates, historians, and lawyers continued to push for the release of all records related to Attica. In December 1976, Governor Carey announced he

20034-506: The rest of the decade. The festival, marketed as proof of Mexico's modernization, was never expected to attract the masses it did, and the government had to evacuate stranded attendees en masse at the end. This occurred during the era of President Luis Echeverría , an extremely repressive era in Mexican history. Anything that could be connected to the counterculture or student protests was prohibited from being broadcast on public airwaves, with

20193-476: The retaking. Of the decision, he later said, "On a much smaller scale, I think I have some feeling now of how Truman must have felt when he decided to drop the A-bomb." At 9:46 a.m. on Monday, September 13, 1971, tear gas was dropped into the yard and hundreds of New York State Police troopers, Bureau of Criminal Investigation personnel, deputy sheriffs, park police, and correctional officers opened fire into

20352-443: The routine. As inmates headed to breakfast, some managed to open Ortiz's cell door and he left with them to the mess hall. When the command staff found out what had occurred, they decided to return all of the men of 5 Company to their cells after breakfast. But they did not inform all the correctional officers, and when officers led inmates out toward the recreation area after breakfast, both officers and inmates were surprised to find

20511-399: The ruthless brutalization and disregard for the lives of the prisoners here and throughout the United States. What has happened here is but the sound before the fury of those who are oppressed. We will not compromise on any terms except those terms that are agreeable to us. We've called upon all the conscientious citizens of America to assist us in putting an end to this situation that threatens

20670-549: The same struggle against the military government . The Civil Rights Movement, a key element of the larger counterculture movement, involved the use of applied nonviolence to assure that equal rights guaranteed under the US Constitution would apply to all citizens. Many states illegally denied many of these rights to African-Americans, and this was partially successfully addressed in the early and mid-1960s in several major nonviolent movements. The Chicano Movement of

20829-516: The smoke. Among the weapons used by the troopers were shotguns loaded with buckshot pellets, which led to the wounding and killing of hostages and inmates who were not resisting. Additionally, some of the guns utilized by law enforcement used unjacketed bullets, "a kind of ammunition that causes such enormous damage to human flesh that it was banned by the Geneva Conventions ." Correctional officers from Attica were allowed to participate,

20988-440: The social dynamic and permitted both women and men much greater freedom in the selection of sexual lifestyles outside the confines of traditional marriage. With this change in attitude, by the 1990s the ratio of children born out of wedlock rose from 5% to 25% for Whites and from 25% to 66% for African-Americans. For those born after World War II , the emergence of television as a source of entertainment and information—as well as

21147-463: The stage for disillusionment with and distrust of post-war governments. Examples included harsh responses from the Soviet Union (USSR) towards popular anti-communist uprisings, such as the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Czechoslovakia 's Prague Spring in 1968; and the botched US Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961. In the US, President Dwight D. Eisenhower 's initial deception over

21306-530: The state protesting against the occupation. Youth protesters have been labeled as "vagabonds" and "slackers" by the official normalized press. Oz magazine was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London. Strongly identified as part of the underground press , it

21465-516: The time of the Attica uprising to 72,600 in 1999. In 2011, after a man incarcerated in Attica was brutally beaten by guards, for the first time in New York State history, correction officers were criminally charged for a non-sexual assault of an inmate. The guards pleaded guilty in 2015 to a misdemeanor charge of misconduct in order to avoid prison time. In news stories regarding the incident, current and former inmates of Attica reported that

21624-522: The university and its corporate sponsors. Other rebellious young people, who were not students, also contributed to the Free Speech Movement. The New Left is a term used in different countries to describe left-wing movements that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s in the Western world. They differed from earlier leftist movements that had been more oriented towards labour activism, and instead adopted social activism. The American "New Left"

21783-407: The uprising because they understood prisons like Attica as sites of revolutionary warfare. Burton therefore argues that the Attica rebellion was informed by the politics of prison abolition . For example, in 1972 an Attica prisoner named Joseph Little told a government panel, "I'm not for no penitentiary reform. I'm for abolishing the whole concept of penitentiary reform." During this period, there

21942-435: The uprising's end, doctors treating wounded inmates reported evidence of more beatings. As the repression was happening in Attica, incarcerated people in other New York State Prisons, especially Auburn Correctional Facility and Clinton Correctional Facility , were subjected to similar forms of violence. Many of these men had previously been incarcerated in Attica and had been involved in political organizations. Following

22101-406: The uprising, 62 inmates had been charged in 42 indictments with 1,289 separate counts. One state trooper was indicted for reckless endangerment. In May 1975, two former inmates were convicted in the death of William Quinn, despite the fact that "[o]nly faltering evidence linked the two inmates to the actual beating that left Quinn dead". Charles Pernasilice, who was Catawba Indian , was sentenced to

22260-435: The uprising, protests and riots occurred in prisons across the United States, including in prisons in New York, Massachusetts, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, and Georgia. According to a Prisoners Solidarity Committee newsletter from September 30, 1971, "[t]he 13 reported rebellions since the Attica massacre doubles the total number of reported prison rebellions since the beginning of this year". Numerous rallies in support of

22419-430: The wearing of natural or " Afro " hairstyles by Black people, the donning of revealing clothing by women in public, and the mainstreaming of the psychedelic clothing and regalia of the short-lived hippie culture. Ultimately, practical and comfortable casual apparel, namely updated forms of T-shirts (often tie-dyed , or emblazoned with political or advertising statements), and Levi Strauss-branded blue denim jeans became

22578-455: The world. The night before the march, Bloom, Mungo, and the other staffers convened a chaotic meeting in a Washington loft with underground press editors from around the country who were in town to cover the event; but they failed to reach an agreement to create a democratic structure in which LNS would be owned and run by its member papers. Operating on their own with a volunteer staff of 12, Bloom and Mungo moved forward with ambitious plans for

22737-454: Was "closing the book on Attica". He pardoned all inmates who had previously pleaded guilty to obtain reduced sentences, commuted the sentences of the two inmates convicted in court, and dismissed pending disciplinary actions against 20 law enforcement officers relating to the uprising. Though the possibility of criminal suits was closed with Carey's decision, civil suits were allowed to proceed. Surviving inmates and families of inmates killed in

22896-573: Was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina , in the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía , which occurred a few days after the Rosariazo , and a year after the French May '68 . Contrary to previous protests, the Cordobazo did not correspond to previous struggles, headed by Marxist workers' leaders, but associated students and workers in

23055-634: Was a counterculture movement that focused on "provocative direct action ('pranks' and 'happenings') to arouse society from political and social indifference". In France, the General Strike centered in Paris in May 1968 united French students, and nearly toppled the government. Kommune 1 or K1 was a commune in West Berlin known for its bizarre staged events that fluctuated between satire and provocation . These events served as inspiration for

23214-625: Was a growing culture of activism in which prisoners not only demanded better treatment, but sought to participate in broader movements for radical social transformation within and beyond the United States. The previous year, multiple rebellions occurred throughout the New York City Jail system, including the Manhattan House of Detention, the Brooklyn House of Detention, The Queens Branch House of Detention at Kew Gardens,

23373-496: Was a project of the University Christian Movement, a liberal Protestant church organization described as "mostly concerned with political and social issues rather than Christian evangelization." By February 1968, LNS was becoming the hub for alternative journalism in the United States, supplying the growing movement media with interpretive coverage of current events and reports on movement activities and

23532-434: Was a strong force during the negotiations. He spoke eloquently to the inmates, journalist camera crews, and viewers at home. Barkley, just days away from his scheduled release at the time of the uprising, was killed during the recapturing of the prison. We are men! We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such. The entire prison populace, that means every one of us here, has set forth to change forever

23691-409: Was allegedly alive after the initial retaking. Assemblyman Arthur Eve testified that Barkley was alive after the prisoners had surrendered and the state regained control; another inmate stated that the officers searched Barkley out, yelling his name, and executed him with a shot to the back. Sam Melville , a member of the committee that helped organize and draft inmates' demands and who was known in

23850-473: Was also an ongoing issue in the UK during the era. The Vietnam War, and the protracted national divide between supporters and opponents of the war, were arguably the most important factors contributing to the rise of the larger counterculture movement. The widely accepted assertion that anti-war opinion was held only among the young is a myth, but enormous war protests consisting of thousands of mostly younger people in every major US city, and elsewhere across

24009-606: Was instructed not to phrase the demand as an ultimatum, as Rockefeller did not want to let inmates know that the assault was beginning. At 8:25 a.m. on Monday, September 13, 1971, Oswald gave the inmates a statement directing them to release the hostages and accept the offered settlement within the hour. However, he did not tell them that negotiations had ended and he would take the prison back by force if they refused, even stating, "I want to continue negotiations with you." The inmates rejected his offer, and as it appeared to them as though Rockefeller remained opposed to their demands

24168-572: Was produced by an evolving collective, many of whom had previously produced counterculture newspapers Revolution and High Times , and all three of these magazines were co-founded by publisher/editor Phillip Frazer , who launched Australia's legendary pop music paper Go-Set in 1966, when he was himself a teenager. In Mexico, rock music was tied into the youth revolt of the 1960s. Mexico City, as well as northern cities such as Monterrey , Nuevo Laredo , Ciudad Juárez , and Tijuana , were exposed to US music. Many Mexican rock stars became involved in

24327-544: Was released to the public; in 1981 the State Supreme Court ordered that the other two be sealed permanently. The Forgotten Victims of Attica, a group made up of officers injured in the riot and families of killed officers, pushed for the State of New York to release state records of the uprising to the public. In 2013, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he would seek release of the entirety of volumes 2 and 3, totaling 350 pages. After redactions, 46 pages of

24486-488: Was repeatedly outvoted in staff votes by the locals, who outnumbered them; only Steve Diamond of the New York group sided with the outsiders. In August 1968, the fight over control of the organization came to a head. In the wake of a successful fundraising event, Bloom, Mungo, and Diamond surreptitiously took the $ 6,000 cash that had been raised, and used it to make the down payment on a farm in Montague, Massachusetts which

24645-713: Was restarted as New Liberation News Service with Ray Mungo's blessing by a group of younger radical journalists led by Jason Pramas .... They ... publish[ed] NLNS from their offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts ," from 1990 to 1993. LNS records are archived variously in the Contemporary Culture Collection of Temple University Libraries, the Archive of Social Change of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Library, Interference Archive , and

24804-541: Was the subject of two celebrated obscenity trials, one in Australia in 1964 and the other in the United Kingdom in 1971. The Digger was published monthly between 1972 and 1975 and served as a national outlet for many movements within Australia's counterculture with notable contributors—including second-wave feminists Anne Summers and Helen Garner ; Californian cartoonist Ron Cobb 's observations during

24963-492: Was to be the new headquarters of LNS. An angry posse followed them from the New York office to the farm to recover the funds and a tense six-hour standoff ended with Bloom writing a check to Cavalletto, but after the New York group left, Bloom filed kidnapping charges against 13 people, including Cavalletto, Ryan, Dreyer, and Victoria Smith. The charges were later dismissed. For the next six months LNS subscribers received rival news packets from LNS-Montague and LNS-New York, but

25122-417: Was unwilling to compromise, some analysts' later evaluations of the incident postulated that Rockefeller's absence prevented the situation from deteriorating. Negotiations broke down, as Oswald was unwilling or unable to make further concessions to the inmates. Oswald and members of the observers committee called Rockefeller and begged him to come to the prison to calm the situation, but he refused. Following

25281-428: Was viewed as an unjust Vietnam war. The American Asian Movement differs from previous Asian-American activism due to its emphasis on Pan-Asianism and its solidarity with US and international Third World movements . "Its founding principle of coalition politics emphasizes solidarity among Asians of all ethnicities, multiracial solidarity among Asian Americans as well as with African , Latino , and Native Americans in

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