Students and Counterculture in the '60s
There is a difference in the outcomes of different protests, some end in success, others in failure.
When the students, at the University of California at Berkeley, did their peaceful protests it was
more impactful and seen as more successful than the violent protests by groups, like the terrorist group, the Weathermen, that broke off from the Students for a Democratic Society.
more impactful and seen as more successful than the violent protests by groups, like the terrorist group, the Weathermen, that broke off from the Students for a Democratic Society.
During the '60s social, political, and economic conditions made peaceful protests successful.
Great social progress was made in the 60’s. There was the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was holding peaceful protests and Malcom X was trying to violently beat his ideas into the brains of Americans. People were starting to look at the world through new eyes. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), were all created, all fighting for rights for African Americans. The American youth were coming together to fight the draft for the Vietnam War. The country was acting as a whole, many different groups fighting for what they believed in, they might not have been all fighting for the same thing, but they were getting their ideas out there. This was important because it allowed for the country to move forward, it allowed people to find their feet, regarding everything, after the Depression.
1964, at the University of California at Berkeley, student activists organized the Free Speech Movement, fighting for the right to promote political views on campus. Students involved with this group participated in both civil disobedience and also nonviolent protest. Both of these worked. On October 1, 1964, Jack Weinberg was arrested at a political table right off of the campus. When Weinberg was placed into a police car hundreds of students sat on the ground surrounding the car, this kept the car from leaving. Weinberg was in the car for thirty-two hours. During this time many activist gave speeches while standing on top of the police car. This was an act of civil disobedience that was ended by university officials agreeing to organize an administration-faculty-student committee, the goal of which would be to change campus rules on political activism, demonstrations, and speech.
The 1960’s were the longest period of interrupted economic expansion in United States history. During the 1960’s computer engineering and the housing industry boomed, becoming larger than automobiles, chemicals, and electrically powered consumer durables. The economy was growing, gaining speed after the end of the Great Depression. Majority of Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs were still in effect, helping many people get back on their feet. This economic stability allowed for people to express their views through arts and social movements.
Throughout history protesting has been a way the public has used their voice to get their ideas to others. Protesting has not always been a riot outside a government building, sometimes it was just a letter to the editor in a local newspaper. This has become a successful method for minority groups in the United States to gain rights.
Significance
Today protest is being used similarly to how it was used in the '60s. Currently there are groups fighting for gay rights, abortion, certain drug laws and many other things. People are still finding it successful to protest peacefully. Violent protests still happen even though they have proven to be much less effective. The above image is of a protest in 2008 in Arizona. These people were fighting for civil rights, though different civil rights, the motive was the same. These protests all work to give minority groups rights that they didn't previously have. Most of the protests promote equality between genders, races, and groups of different sexualities.