Rennie Davis

Ilian

Chicago 7, Sixties Legend

RENNIE DAVIS

Calls A New Generation To Change the World Again

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In a voice reminiscent of Tom Payne’s Common Sense, Chicago 7 Sixties legend Rennie Davis calls a new generation to change the world again. How does the human race cut the Gordian knot on its unsustainable world? How can a new movement emerge in the present time to re-script the human future? This book is a call for a second 1960s to unlock the passion of a new generation and ignite a new way of living on Earth.

Rennie Davis was one of the Chicago 7, described by the NY Times as ‘the most significant political trial in U.S. history.’ He was the coordinator of the largest coalition of anti-war and civil rights organizations in the 1960s and organized many of this country's most dramatic public events, including the largest civil disobedience arrest in American history. He coordinated the anti-war demonstrations at the Chicago Democratic Convention, viewed by more people on television than witnessed the first man landing on the moon. He partnered with John Lennon to bring a million people to the Republican National Convention and end the Vietnam war. He is a recognized and respected spokesman of his generation, appearing on CNN, VHI, the CBS Legend Series, Larry King Live, Barbara Walters and other diverse national media forums. He was a leader of a generation that stood down an entrenched racist culture and ended the war in Vietnam. Now he believes a new generation can change the world again.

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When you search the archive for the oldest language ever spoken, there is no one source from which all modern languages derive. One writer, however, created his own ancient language. Christopher Paolini set forth his ‘original words’ based on the early Norse and Celtic languages. It was created for his fictional book, Eragon. In this ancient language, the word Ilian* meant happiness. As this original ‘true word’ evolved into the language of Latin, it described a youth possessing a deep desire to use his or her leadership abilities for humanity. Ilian was the name of the individual that focused on large, important issues with the qualities of love, compassion, intuition and humanitarianism. A reference to Ilian is found in the 9th century BC when it meant an action-oriented, energetic, strong-willed person wanting to make a difference in the world. As the word evolved into the French, German and Swedish languages, it continued to describe the individual that could inspire, lead and finish what was started.

In our search for the true name of the people that will re-write the human story, Ilian stands at the summit. A summit can also be challenging to climb. The biggest single hurdle for readers of this book may be its persistent invitation to abandon the blame and finger pointing. The future of humanity requires a new stage of awareness. It doesn’t do finger-pointing. A new humanity has no need to make others wrong. Instead of blaming human history for our strange and dangerous predicament, Ilian inspires an age of discovery empowered by the open-curious, life-affirming pursuit of happiness to solve humanity’s biggest problems. Realizing a new generation has entered a time like no other, it hears the call to unlock the prison of the historic human condition by realizing the troubles of our world are inside ourselves. Ilian is a real-world movement whose mission is to Be the Change that changes the world.

3 The story begins in the 1960s. It argues that the Millennial does not have to be remembered as setting the table for humanity’s last supper. Launching a new global nation, Millennials are invited to realize they can re-script the human future out of a great turning in themselves. Dedicated to the proposition that this nation shall not perish from the Earth, Ilian uncovers a new pathway into the magnificence of the human promise and changes a troubled time with its new way of living on Earth.

*Ilian: pronounced ee-lee-an

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Forward Introduction PART ONE: The 60s Chapter 1. Memories: Farm Boy to Activist Chapter 2. A Movement Takes Shape: Students for a Democratic Society Chapter 3. Discovering Vietnam: Seeing the War With My Own Eyes Chapter 4. Chicago, 1968: Police Riot and the Anti-war Movement Chapter 5. Return to Vietnam: Bringing P.O.W.s Home Chapter 6. The Chicago Seven: Political Trial of the Century Chapter 7. The Seven Behind Bars: Events Inside and Outside Cook County Jail Chapter 8. Escalation: Cambodia, Kent State, and Students on Strike Chapter 9. May Day in D.C.: My Decision to Shut Down the Government Chapter 10. 60s Epilogue: John Lennon and the Final Miami March Chapter 11. Transition: Redwoods, Humpbacks and Gurus Chapter 12. Into the Grand Canyon: Discovering the Earth Can Talk

PART TWO: A New Generation Chapter 13. Looking for Tesla: Technologies to Change the World Chapter 14. S.O.S: Humanity on the Brink Chapter 15. Millennials: Who They Are and What They Must Do Chapter 16. Ilian: Pioneering a New Nation on Earth Chapter 17. The Be:Tribe: Festivals and Emergency Mobilizations Chapter 18. Thirteen Principles: Be the Change that Changes the World Chapter 19: Earth Whispering: A New Human Earth Accord Chapter 20. Yellow Hills Ranch: Re-scripting the Human Future

5 CHAPTER SUMMARIES

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INTRODUCTION

PART ONE

CHAPTER 1: Memories: Farm Boy to Activist

As a teenager, I lived on a farm and loved 4-H. As I entered college, I had a “normal” life—like many young people today. This chapter identifies the extraordinary events that changed my generation and put me personally on a trajectory to be called “the most dangerous man in America” just a few years later by the Vice President of the United States.

CHAPTER 2: A Movement Takes Shape: Students for a Democratic Society

In the early years of the student movement (1962-1966), our activism focused primarily on racial discrimination and economic inequality, regardless of race. I was one of the founders of America’s most impactful student organizations and became the national director of its Economic Research and Action Program (ERAP.) This chapter tells the story of those early years when 800 students went to Mississippi for a voter registration drive, three were murdered on the first day and another 150 moved into ten Northern poor white and poor black ghettoes. I joined these organizing efforts in a poor white neighborhood in Chicago where I brought 1,000 poor whites who had previously lived in the rural south to march with Martin Luther King, Jr. in support of open housing in Chicago.

CHAPTER 3: Discovering Vietnam—Seeing the War With My Own Eyes

In 1967 I was part of an anti-war delegation that met with ranking members of the North Vietnamese and PRG (Viet Cong) government in Czechoslovakia to learn about the war from their perspective. From that conference, I was invited to travel to Vietnam and personally assess the impact of U.S. bombing raids on the country’s civilian population. My eye witness account that American planes were dropping bombs on Hanoi and Vietnamese villages was carried by virtually every U.S. media outlet. To my shock, it was also ridiculed and discounted by the Pentagon as the account of someone who had been ‘brainwashed.’

6 CHAPTER 4: Chicago, 1968: Police Riot and the Anti-war Movement

I became coordinator of America’s largest coalition of anti-war and civil rights organizations during the summer of 1968 when I directed anti-war demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Repeated permit applications—to march to the International Amphitheater where the convention was taking place—were denied by Mayor Daley, despite direct appeals from U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark’s office that permits be granted. As a result, the 1st Amendment right to petition the government became integral to this protest. I chose to proceed with demonstrations without a permit. This chapter chronicles the historic police riots witnessed by billions of television viewers and the dramatic shift of American public opinion against the war that resulted from this historic demonstration.

CHAPTER 5: Return to Vietnam—Bringing P.O.W.s Home

For my part in Chicago, I was indicted with 7 others for causing the riots. One month before I went on trial, the North Vietnamese government announced their decision to free U.S. prisoners of war to the anti-war movement. The Vietnamese stipulated they would only release these American pilots captured during bombing raids to me. With the full support of the U.S. State Department that petitioned the court for me to go because ‘the trip was in our national interest,’ the judge for the Chicago 7 refused my request. He was quickly reversed on appeal. I traveled to Hanoi. I also visited the Panhandle region of Vietnam—the world’s most heavily bombed territory ever where no foreign guest had previously been allowed to witness. This chapter presents these extraordinary Vietnam travels and the world media frenzy that ensued when I returned the downed navy pilots held prisoner in North Vietnam to their families.

CHAPTER 6: The Chicago Seven: The Political Trial of the Century

In 1969, the newly elected Nixon administration prosecuted eight public leaders of the Chicago protests under a new “anti-riot” law passed to target Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders traveling from state to state speaking in the south. We became known as the Chicago 7 after Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale was bound and gagged in the courtroom and then “severed” from our trial. I spoke every night during the trial to thousands of college students. Abbie Hoffman and I were the two defendants to take the witness stand and testify in what the New York Times called “the most significant political trial in U.S. history.”

7 CHAPTER 7: The Seven Behind Bars: Events Inside and Outside Cook County Jail

Like the country as a whole, our jury was divided over the Chicago 7 but the judged refused to accept the jury’s deadlock decision. As a result, the jury compromised, finding us guilty of crossing state lines with the ‘intent to incite a riot,’ but innocent of conspiracy. I was sentenced to five years in prison plus 2 ½ years of additional time for ‘contempt of court’ for my testimony during cross examination. In the first hour inside Cook County jail, the entire prison was locked down as 25,000 people gathered outside the building demanding our release. That evening, 10,000 communities in the United States erupted. We stayed in jail for two weeks to raise additional bond money to bail out our fellow prisoners—mostly young black men who had languished in jail for nine months because they couldn’t pay their bail of $100. This chapter describes these events inside and outside Cook County jail including the prisoners that turned out to be a surprising source of camaraderie and inspiration.

CHAPTER 8: Escalation: Cambodia, Kent State, and Students on Strike

Richard Nixon came to office in 1969 having promised to end the war in Vietnam. On April 30, 1970 he announced an expansion of combat operations into Cambodia. In response to this shocking escalation, students throughout the United States organized protests. On May 4, members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a student rally at Kent State University. Four students were killed and nine were injured. As the national coordinator of America’s coalition of anti-war organizations, I, along with the Chicago 7 defendants, called for a nationwide student strike. Over four million students participated, closing 900 campuses across the country.

CHAPTER 9: May Day in D.C.: My Decision to Shut Down the Government

After the Kent State massacre and student strike that followed, the anti- war movement felt frustrated and unclear about next steps. Time magazine described the mood in a cover story called “The Cooling of America.” I went back to my family farm to collect my thoughts. As various reports were emerging about Agent Orange—the toxic defoliant used by the U.S. in South Vietnam—scientists in France and Vietnam were implicating Agent Orange in birth defects affecting thousands of people. I felt the urgency to “up the ante” with large scale civil disobedience in Washington, D.C. The anti-war coalition was concerned the movement was unable to mount such an effort and turned down my proposal. So on my own, I began speaking on college campuses as an individual. I spoke everyday to an average turn out of 5,000 people. I called on my audiences with the words, “if the government of the United States will not stop the war in Vietnam than we will stop the government of the United States.” The plan was to engaged in non-violent disruption of commuter traffic by

8 occupying key roadways and intersections of the nation’s caitol. On the opening day of this demonstration, 350,000 people attended the first rally. John Kerry led thousands of Vietnam veterans in giving back their metals of bravery to Congress. When I spoke to the demonstrators prepared to be arrested, 100,000 people were in attendance. The federal government responded with an overwhelming deployment of police and military units. Most demonstrators were driven out of the city by police actions but more than 13,000 protesters were arrested. The RFK stadium was turned into a temporary prison. It was the largest arrest in American history. Historians of the event have described this protest as the turning point for the White House in ending the Vietnam war.

CHAPTER 10: Sixties Epilogue: John Lennon and the Final Miami March

In 1971, John Lennon and I teamed up to organize a 42-city tour of the country, culminating in bringing one million people to the Republican National Convention that summer. After one event—aimed at freeing John Sinclair who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing two marijuana cigarettes—the U.S. Justice Department launched deportation proceedings against Lennon, effectively ending the tour. (Two weeks after our rally, the Michigan supreme court freed Sinclair.) The Republican Party moved their convention site from San Diego to Miami Beach to make a large-scale demonstration more difficult. I organized the anti-war protests that year in Miami in what became the movement’s final march. On that Miami march, I was forced to break a 42 day water fast when police lobbed tear gas into the march hitting me in the chest.

CHAPTER 11: Transition: Redwoods, Humpbacks and Gurus

As the Sixties wound down, many activists took time out and retreated into the solitude of nature. The Beatles traveled to India to practice a meditation. I accepted an invitation from the famous poet, Allen Ginsberg, to live at his ranch in the Sierra Mountains and unwind and reflect after years of involvement in the anti-war movement. Before my own ‘time out’ in California, I was invited to Paris in January 1973 to attend the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. On that trip, I met an old friend that wanted me to visit India with him. I traveled to India where I learned a meditation. I spent time sitting in silence with an established spiritual tradition. In one of India’s poorest regions, I spoke to a million people involved in that tradition. When I returned to the United States, the press picked up on my ‘spiritual conversion’ so I decided to publically explain myself to the delight of many young people and the horror of some political activists. This chapter describes my personal transition out of the Sixties and into inner reflections.

CHAPTER 12: Into the Grand Canyon: Discovering the Earth Can Talk

This chapter continues to deepen my Sixties transition with experiences involving the mystique of an ancient Redwood forest and one of the world’s magnificent acrobatic creatures known for its beautiful songs and slapping ocean tail. When astronauts travel above the Earth’s atmosphere, deep personal changes in how they see the world are known to occur. Trips to an ocean depth or skiing down a breathtaking summit can change a person’s perspective too. I traveled into a 277 mile long Canyon with depths of 2,400 feet below Yavapai Point on the South Rim to 7,800 feet at the North Rim. While the exact history of the Canyon remains unsettled, what is undisputed is the Canyon’s erosion has become one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet. Havasupai Indian elders who live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon built sweat lodges for me to experience. In this chapter, the thick sequence of ancient rocks beautifully preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon speak their geologic history. Drawing upon the wisdom of the native Americans who have been the stewards of this ancient artifact, the case is made that if this generation wants to carry on as a species, it must find a way to stand down the human assault on the environment and pioneer a new way of living on Earth.

PART TWO

CHAPTER 13: Looking for Tesla: Technologies to Change the World

After the Sixties, I went into business and became a financial and management consultant to senior managers of various Fortune 500 companies, including the board of directors of Gates Rubber Company, the Presidents of the Manville Corporation and HBO and people in the Forbes 400 richest. My partner and I acquired the historic Greystone Estate built by the Phipps family in the foothills of Denver at the turn of the century. From this 80 acre retreat with 10 homes, I launched an initiative to find and develop emerging breakthrough technologies. It was my belief that “the next Tesla or Edison was out there.” I searched for inventors whose work could solve society’s most intractable problems in energy production and environmental degradation. The transition from a fossil fuel civilization to a sustainable energy future has largely focused on solar, wind and hydroelectric technologies. Less visible to the public is the worldwide effort to develop ‘free energy’ devices under the radar. Pioneering developments are presently occurring on every continent. As a result of this thirty year search for inventors of breakthrough technologies, these inspiring discoveries have become part of the Ilian vision to be showcased at Yellow Hills Ranch.

CHAPTER 14: S.O.S: Humanity on the Brink

I am convinced that humanity’s present way of life is unsustainable, and the social and environmental consequences of the past three hundred years are ignored at our own peril. In this Sobering OMG Scientific (SOS) conversation with leading scientists, this chapter summaries diverse climate change events from top soil blowing away in China to a species extinction currently exceeding any previous period since the lost of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This chapter underscores the apparent lack of awareness about the world in which we live and the need for citizen action again. Our situation is dire and our window for change is closing.

CHAPTER 15: The Millennials: Who They Are and What They Must Do

In the 60s, people in their twenties came together to change the world. Today’s young people can change the world again. The ‘Millennial generation’— the new generation—is history’s largest. While more people were born during the past 50 years than the last 5,000 years, half the world’s population is currently under age 25. That is one indicator of who will lead this modern movement to change the world. With virtually every country on Earth driven by its addiction for growth and consumption, a new generation faces humanity’s first self-inflicted ecosystem collapse. This generation is at risk—and they know it. What they may not realize is they possess within themselves everything they need to re-script the human future.

CHAPTER 16: The Be:Tribe: Festivals and Emergency Mobilization

In a time of global warming, melting ice and rising ocean levels, humanity faces a future of tsunamis, droughts, fires and floods that threaten the human habitat. Emergency preparedness that mobilizes large youth campaigns to respond with disaster relief know-how is an integral component of the Ilian vision. In the area of disaster relief, Ilian volunteers can respond to the hardships of destroyed homes where there is no road access. Ilian can also shine the light on the self-serving people descending on the area to siphon off the in-coming financial aid for themselves. These volunteers are organized, energetic and know what to do. They are prepared for global disasters where hospitals are destroyed, medical professionals killed, water sources contaminated, anesthetics unavailable and survivors waiting for aid with no recovery practices in place before the disaster. To strengthen this capacity, several national festivals are currently tied into this project where Millennials can find each other, acquire the necessary skills and training and build a network of mobile health programs, effective communication systems, off-the-grid power, and ‘houses in a box.’ Ilian

11 has the know-how for turning rubble into durable safe building materials. It can deliver mobile water contamination clean-up systems into an area by boat. It can bring in emergency food meals while building self-sufficient food production farms fully managed by the survivors themselves.

CHAPTER 17: Ilian: Pioneering a New Nation on Earth

This chapter sets forth the Ilian strategy. It is not a piece meal solution to humanity’s unsustainable future but a comprehensive and timely vision for a new way of living on Earth. It invites a new generation to cut the Gordian knot on humanity’s unsustainable ways and unlock the prison of the historic human condition. Drawing from recent discoveries in the field of particle physics, Ilian is organized around a set of breakthrough understandings about how things work. Ilian leaves the growth and consumption model embraced by every government to showcase how an individual or community can thrive and prosper independent of the world’s fears, food insecurities and cycles. Delivering options to regions of no option despair, Ilian has re-scripted every modern practice from how we build our homes to grow our foods, produce and use energy, respond to emergencies and dispose of waste. Ilian brings sound practices and innovative technologies to inspire the world. For Ilian, it is not necessary to point fingers or “fix” them when solving humanity’s biggest problems. The citizens of Ilian have discovered a way to change the world out of a great turning in themselves.

CHAPTER 18: Thirteen Principles: Be the Change that Changes the World

This chapter presents the hands-on, how-to principles and practices for creating a new way of living on Earth. Dropping the blame, it presents a new explanation of how things work. Here is the essential new springboard for effective change during a time like no other.

CHAPTER 19. Earth Whispering: A New Human Earth Accord

Earth Whisperers are citizens of Ilian that choose to support the Earth’s agenda as the way to support humanity. They know how to make rain, reclaim the soil, grow nutrient rich plants in a time of food insecurity, capture every drop of water, teach survival skills, douse for water, activate their 14 senses and reclaim an ancient Earth knowledge for humanity’s future.

CHAPTER 20. Yellow Hills Ranch: Re-scripting the Human Future

In the sage and juniper-covered hills of northern New Mexico, there is a stunning, special place, designed to become a showcase of the Ilian principles and practices. Proving to a skeptical world there is another option to the enormously destructive path of our current momentum, this 4,700 acre Ranch--

12 surrounded by a million acres of protected land--presents the practical components for a new way of living on Earth. The mission of Yellow Hills Ranch is to showcase solutions with breathtaking financial and new living benefits. It also supports hundreds of additional communities embracing the Ilian model. From locations of flowered meadows and open spaces, Ilian will roll out its principles and practices including its zero-emission energy sources and whole- system solutions. City planners will notice and wonder if Ilian citizens could bring their know-how to population centers so energy budgets and transportation costs could be re-directed to new purposes. Ilian is a call to a new generation to change the world. Yellow Hills Ranch is a showcase for how it is done.