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. 2 FORWARD 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 4 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 FORWARD 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.