Portside

No Free Speech on Christmas

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, IS THE 105TH ANNIVERSARY of a large march in Manhattan to protest the Wilson administration’s use of the Espionage Act to imprison some 2000 women and men as part of a blatant attack on freedom of speech.

Since the law was passed in 1917, almost everyone who had been convicted of Espionage Act violations had been accused of doing nothing except opposing the war or the draft, either in writing or by spoken word, activities that were perceived by many as being protected by the First Amendment. 

But the President, Congress, and the federal courts unanimously rejected that position, with the result that prisons and jails throughout the U.S. were overcrowded with people – Socialists, Communists, Wobblies, pacifists and others – whose words had been deemed illegal.

To make matters even worse, more than a year after the war in Europe had ended, the Espionage Act was still in effect, and large numbers of progressive activists were still being arrested and convicted for what they were saying or writing.

In 1919 the People’s Freedom Union chose Christmas Day to lead a march down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, past many of the biggest churches in New York City, calling for an amnesty of Espionage Act prisoners and an end to new prosecutions.

The protesters’ plan was for both a large body of marchers and smaller groups of pickets with banners reading “Let Good Will Unlock the Doors for Political Prisoners,” and “This is Christmas Day; Will You Keep 2000 Men and Women in Jail for Believing in Brotherhood?” The picketers stationed themselves on the sidewalk in front of each church, where they would be seen by everyone departing church services.

But the NYPD refused to cooperate. Mounted police used billy clubs to break up both the main body of marchers and the smaller picketlines outside individual churches. At least five of the protesters were arrested. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2017/06/15/defining-a-spy-the-espionage-act

Killing Babies Is the Ugliest War Crime 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, IS THE 55TH ANNIVERSARY OF the Art Workers Coalition’s 1969 publication of the enormously effective anti-war poster that is often referred to by its brief text -- “Q. And babies? A. And babies.”

The simple poster consists of a graphic color photo of about a dozen dead Vietnamese women and babies, victims of the mass murder by U.S. forces at My Lai. Just the photo and two short lines of text printed in red. 

The photo was taken on the day of the My Lai massacre, March 16, 1968, by U.S. Army photographer Sgt. Ronald Haeberle.  Haeberle was certain that some of the photos he took that day would be suppressed by Army brass, so he secreted them and smuggled them into the U.S. when his enlistment ended.

Haeberle was correct, the Army kept the massacre secret until it was first reported by freelance journalist Seymour Hersh in November 1969, 21 months after the event. 

Once the news of the massacre was out, Haeberle took his photos to his hometown newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which published one of them on page 1.  The “And babies?” poster uses the same photo featured by the Plain Dealer a month earlier. 

Please be aware that the “And babies?” poster is graphic and shocking. If you wish to view it, click here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/And_babies_%28anti-Vietnam_War_poster%29.jpg

Can (Will?) the Media Help Defend Democracy Again?

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF the publication, in 1974, of the annual report of the International Press Institute, which included this: “Watergate, with all the critical currents surrounding it, and the reactions to President Ford's pardon decision have once again given the American press the opportunity to demonstrate its role of watchdog,

“Looking back on the attitude of the media as a whole when faced with a vindictive and unscrupulous Administration, and also allowing for certain exaggeration in the scurry of fighting, we have to state once more that the American press as a whole, and broadcasting to a large degree, showed the world a democracy conscious of its values and ready to defend them."

Is it too much to hope that the U.S. media keep those words in mind during the next four years? https://www.journalisminaction.org/case/watergate/outcome

Young Lords Speak Truth to Power

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, IS THE 55TH ANNIVERSARY OF the Young Lords’ takeover of the First Spanish Methodist Church in Manhattan’s El Barrio to turn it into La Iglesia de la Gente.

In 1969 roughly 100 Young Lords members forcefully but non-violently commandeered the building at 111th Street and Lexington Avenue for 11 days and used it to provide the community with free services, including a medical clinic, day-care center, breakfast program and evening entertainment. “This is the first time the people of El Barrio have taken over one of the institutions that have so long oppressed them,” 20-year-old Pablo (Yoruba) Guzman told the media, adding “We are one with the Cuban revolution.” 

The Young Lords’ occupation of the church ended on Jan. 8, 1970, when 105 Young Lords agreed to be peaceably arrested by sheriff’s deputies for contempt of a court order that they vacate the space. https://remezcla.com/features/culture/young-lords-east-harlem-legacy/

A Highway to Nowhere

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, IS THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY of the first meeting to discuss one of Robert Moses’ misbegotten plans to fill New York City with a network of superhighways. 

In 1949 the city’s Board of Estimate, which shared power with the Mayor, gathered to consider a proposal to build the Mid-Manhattan Expressway, a 6-lane, 100-foot wide, elevated freeway following 30th Street across Manhattan from the East River to the Hudson. At the time, there was no strong opposition to the idea, but there was a strong disagreement whether it should be an elevated highway or a tunnel. There was more support for building the less obtrusive tunnel, but the cost of a tunnel was many times greater than a highway, and the officials found it impossible to arrive at a plan that was both politically acceptable and affordable. 

The result was a stalemate that continued until the early 1960s when the public’s acceptance of new super-highways in Manhattan had  diminished to the point that the project was totally abandoned. https://www.millefoto.com/manhattan-reimagined

Russia’s Leader for 25 Years

MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY of the surprise resignation, in 1999, of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, resulting in the ascension to power of Yeltsin’s then-Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. 

Putin has remained Russia’s leader during the subsequent 25 years, even though his title has changed several times, from Prime Minister to President (in 2000) back to Prime Minister (in 2008) and then back to President (in 2012). https://portside.org/2023-07-21/wagnerization-how-putin-degraded-russian-state   

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