Thousands marched Chicago on May Day in what will likely be a busy month in the windy city. The NATO Summit is set to take place on May 20-21st and attract 10,000 attendees, as well as scores of protestors from around the world.
Former 60’s anti-war activist William “Bill” Ayers was among those protesting in Chicago on Tuesday in a march that passed the site of the Haymarket Massacre in 1886. Ayers is a retired professor of education reform at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of multiple books, including “Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist.” He co-founded the Weather Underground, a self-described communist revolutionary group that conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings during the 1960s and 1970s. Ayers was involved in the bombings of New York City Police Department headquarters in 1970, the United States Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972, as he reported in his 2001 book, Fugitive Days. Ayers was a fugitive, but charges against him were dropped in 1974. He is the son of Thomas G. Ayers, who was Chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Edison from 1973 to 1980.
Video from upper floor in downtown Chicago on May 1, 2012.
Promotional video for May 2012 protests in Chicago by ‘Anonymous’ … see facebook.com/TheAnonPress88
Civil rights activist, protest organizer, and Gay Liberation Network founder Andy Thayer: Chicago police force has a world class reputation for violence.
More info from the protest organizers …
Chicago Principles
• Our solidarity will be based on respect for a political diversity within the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice. As individuals and groups, we may choose to engage in a diversity of tactics and plans of action but are committed to treating each other with respect and working towards a common goal of peace and justice.• As we plan our actions and tactics, we will take care to maintain appropriate separations of time and space between divergent tactics.
• We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, limiting our action to “free speech zones,” and violence, or attempts to divide our movement through the conscious creation of divisions regarding tactics, organization, strategies, and alliances.
• Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.
chicagomassaction.org — Chicago home of Midwest AntiWar Mobilization and Coalition Against NATO/G8. March & Rally: Sunday, May 20th, 2012. A rally is at Petrillo Bandshell at the corner of Columbus & Jackson at Noon. The march steps off at 2:00pm and will end within sight and sound of the summit at McCormick Place.