Vietnam Then, Gaza Now: Bill Ayers & Juan Gonzlez on 1968 and 2024 Antiwar Protests at Chicago DNC

[Uncle Joe]

The 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, taking place against the backdrop of an unpopular war opposed by a growing number of voters, carries echoes of the 1968 DNC in the same city, when police violently attacked protesters calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. Much of the police riot unfolded on live national television, showing police, members of the National Guard and U.S. Army soldiers brutally assaulting and arresting protesters, many of them students. After four days and nights, more than 650 people were arrested and more than 1,100 injured. We look back on the infamous 1968 DNC with Bill Ayers, longtime Chicago activist, author and founding member of the Weather Underground, and Democracy Now! co-host Juan González. Both of them were in Chicago to take part in the protests. "It was really an eye-opening period for all of us who attended, who were out in the streets," says González. "Chicago showed us what the crisis in the country was, the crisis of racism and white supremacy, the crisis of empire and war," adds Ayers.

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

[wryter2000]

1. This is not 1968

We were at war in 1968. Our people were there fighting.

I knew the press would try to stir up some excrement because it's Chicago.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Obviously this isn't 1968, much has changed since then

Trump fires back after judge expands gag order: ‘This judge should be recused’

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4569258-trump-fires-back-after-judge-expands-hush-money-gag-order/

[peppertree]

2. Dear activists: There won't be much of the Middle East left, if Cheeto and his AIPAC/neo-con handlers worm their way in

If they think 40,000 deaths is an atrocity - which it very much is - it'll look like a stick-up compared to what will befall the region, if they help Cheeto win.

[comradebillyboy]

3. The media want a repeat of 1968. The anti-war

demonstrations helped elect sink Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. Republicans controlled the white house for 20 of the next 24 years. Until Bill Clinton finally led the Democrats out of the political wilderness in 1992.

[Deep State Witch]

5. The Difference Is

We were actually fighting in Vietnam. We're not fighting in Gaza. We're trying to fix the problem, but what can you do when neither side wants an end to hostilities? We get an agreement set up, get people ready to sign it, then either the Israelis or Hamas does something to blow it up.

[murielm99]

6. Another Democracy-not post?

This is looking spammy.