Love and Struggle

Gilbert David

Description

A nice Jewish boy from suburban Boston—hell, an Eagle Scout!—David Gilbert arrived at Columbia University just in time for the explosive Sixties. From the early anti-Vietnam War protests to the founding of SDS, from the Columbia Strike to the tragedy of the Townhouse, Gilbert was on the scene: as organizer, theoretician, and above all, activist. He was among the first militants who went underground to build the clandestine resistance to war and racism known as “Weatherman.” And he was among the last to emerge, in captivity, after the disaster of the 1981 Brink’s robbery, an attempted expropriation that resulted in four deaths and long prison terms. In this extraordinary memoir, written from the maximum-security prison where he has lived for almost thirty years, Gilbert tells the intensely personal story of his own Long March from liberal to radical to revolutionary.

Today a beloved and admired mentor to a new generation of activists, he assesses with rare humor, with an understanding stripped of illusions, and with uncommon candor the errors and advances, terrors and triumphs of the Sixties and beyond. It’s a battle that was far from won, but is still not lost: the struggle to build a new world, and the love that drives that effort. A cautionary tale and a how-to as well, Love and Struggle is a book as candid, uncompromising, and humane as its author.

Sujets

• Love
• Love (disambiguation)
• Libération
• Weathermen
• Crime
• Heist
• New Left
• 1960s
• 1970s
• Political prisoner
• Años 1960
• Años 1970

Informations

• Publié par: PM Press
• Date de parution: 30 décembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781604866841
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise for Love and Struggle
"Warning: this is not your daddy’s New Left heroic adventure memoir, nor is it your conventional right-turn mea culpa. Dave Gilbert has written an honest, self-critical, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous reflection on what he learned over the course of three decades of activism. His journey from democrat to revolutionary was filled with mistakes and miscalculations, as well as extraordinary insights and revelations. Speaking to a new generation of activists, Gilbert reminds us that speeches and demonstrations alone do not make change, and the ‘good fight’ of the 1960s and ’70s was a global fight a bold act of solidarity with the world’s oppressed."
Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
"David Gilbert’s story is a tale of consciousness, counterculture, and action during the generation of revolution, love, and hope. A tale of the best and worst of America, of struggle and love, and of hope and repression."
Zack de la Rocha, rapper, poet, activist, Rage Against the Machine vocalist
"Required reading for anyone interested in the history of radical movements in this country. An honest, vivid portrait of a life spent passionately fighting for justice. In telling his story, Gilbert also reveals the history of Left struggles in the 1960s and ’70s, and imparts important lessons for today’s activists.
Jordan Flaherty, author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six
"This story is from a true freedom fighter, a warrior against U.S. imperialism and for peace and justice."
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960–75
"When Malcolm X said John Brown was his standard for white activism, he could have easily meant David Gilbert. He is our generation’s John Brown. His support of Black liberation as a method of freeing the world is to be studied, appreciated, and applied."
Jared A. Ball, associate professor of communication studies at Morgan State University, author of I Mix What I Like! A Mixtape Manifesto
"David Gilbert’s memoir is a gift to the future. His story brings together three generations of social justice movements. The book is more than a fascinating history of an incredible life; it is an example of political praxis. Gilbert combines humor and humility, analysis and adventure, as he shows what it means to live one’s life in pursuit of freedom. Brimming with insight and optimism, Love and Struggle shows the way."
Dan Berger, author of Outlaws in America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity
"David Gilbert has written a rigorously honest, analytic memoir that grapples with the many dimensions of his history as a revolutionary anti-imperialist. Responding to a request from his son to write a book that reflects on his personal experiences, David is unafraid to examine his mistakes and shortcomings, especially regarding sexism and racism, while affirming the revolutionary principles that have guided him throughout his adult life. For thirty years, David has engaged in a dynamic conversation across the walls about radical history and the path forward. Love and Struggle is a compelling contribution to that critical dialogue."
Diana Block, activist, author of Arm the Spirit: A Woman’s Journey Underground and Back
"David Gilbert was there when it all jumped off: from the Civil Rights movement, to the emergence of Black Power, to the movement against the U.S. war in Vietnam and the subsequent years of resistance against the genocidal policies our government was carrying out in our name. This starkly honest history told from the prison cell where David has spent thirty years and where, if nothing changes, he will spend seventy-five to life is infused with the sharp intelligence of a scholar and the courage of a man of conscience. It is full of hope, even as it recounts, with brave honesty, too many losses and hard lessons learned."
Laura Whitehorn, activist, former political prisoner
"Like many of his contemporaries, David Gilbert gambled his life on a vision of a more just and generous world. His particular bet cost him the last three decades in prison, and whether or not you agree with his youthful decision, you can be the beneficiary of his years of deep thought, reflection, and analysis on the reality we all share. I urge you to read it."
Peter Coyote, actor, author of Sleeping Where I Fall
"After suffering thirty years of hard time in several of America’s most brutal dungeons, after enduring separation and isolation and loss, after braving a decades-long campaign of demonization and misinformation orchestrated from the pinnacles of power, David Gilbert speaks up with hope and a simple clarity that belies his circumstances. This is a unique and necessary voice forged in the growing American gulag, the underbelly of the ‘land of the free,’ offering a focused and unassailable critique as well as a vision of a world that could be but is not yet a place of peace and love, joy and justice. Gilbert’s humanity, dignity, and integrity are entirely intact, his fierce intelligence full up, his sense of urgency unchanged. Anyone who wants to understand the sorry state we are in and hopes to participate in finding a more hopeful path forward should read this passionate and compelling book.
Bill Ayers, author of Fugitive Days and Teaching Toward Freedom
"This book should stimulate learning from our political prisoners, but more importantly it challenges us to work to free them, and in doing so take the best of our history forward."
Susan Rosenberg, author of An American Radical: Political Prisoner in My Own Country
"David Gilbert’s revolutionary spirit vibrates after thirty years in prison. His wisdom and love have empowered him to withstand and positively transform personal and political difficulties throughout the decades and still remain a loving and courageous human being and teacher. Most importantly, the reader cannot escape a dialogue with the heart and a constant reexamination of what is real and human about love and struggle. Gilbert’s understanding of mistakes made in the name of liberation serves as a valuable lesson and inspiration. This is a book of hope kindled in the love and struggle of the world’s people."
Alicia and Lucy Rodriguez, former Puerto Rican political prisoners

Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond
David Gilbert
© PM Press 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any means without permission in writing from the publisher
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org
Cover by John Yates
Interior design by Jonathan BHR
ISBN: 978-1-60486-319-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011927953
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the USA on recycled paper, by the employee owners of Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan.
www.thomsonshore.com
CONTENTS
An Appreciation by Boots Riley
INTRODUCTION
BEGINNINGS
Missing the Wink
Illusions Replaced by a Dream
THE 1960S AND THE MAKING OF A REVOLUTIONARY
Columbia and the Black Struggle
Assault on a Black-Jewish Alliance
Black Education
Black Power
Internationalism
Vietnam
National SDS
Local Action
"Hey, Hey, LBJ, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today?"
Strike!
Women: Relationships
Women: Politics
Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll
Political Theory
The Weapon of Theory
Revolutionary Youth Movement
COINTELPRO
From Protest to Resistance
Equal Rights and Unequal Power
First Bust
Affinity Groups
Foco
Revolution in Our Lifetime?
Making Choices
Sectarianism
A Seismic Fault Line
The Split of SDS
THE MOST SANE/INSANE OF TIMES
Criticism/Self-Criticism
Breaking and Brawling
Fighting in the Streets
Rocky Mountain High
On a Life Trip
The Panthers in Denver
County Jail
War Council
The Townhouse
UNDERGROUND
Weather Declares War
High on Youth Culture
New Morning
Encirclement
Clandestinity
Regrouping
Action
Status and Hierarchy
Democratic Centralism
The Doldrums
Kathy Boudin
Prairie Fire
Organization Man
Hard Times
Things Fall Apart
Alone
A MILE HIGH: ABOVEGROUND IN DENVER
Back to Brookline
Rebuilding My Life in Denver
Adams Street
Men Against Sexism
El Comité
Iran
My Two Worlds Collide
Sexist Dog of the Century
BACK UNDER
Socialism?
Dancing Feet
Back Above, the Hard Way
BUSTED
Trial by Trial
Isolation
Climbing Mountains
The Rock Is a Hard Place
Daily Life
Facing Life
Heading up the River
AFTERWORD
Five Pages on Twenty-Eight Years
GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To today’s activists and organizers
"Love is an action, never simply a feeling."
bell hooks
"Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories… Our experience has shown us that in the general framework of daily struggle this battle against ourselves, this struggle against our own weaknesses… is the most difficult of all."
Amilcar Cabral
{ An Appreciation by Boots R