Abbie Hoffman z"tl (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989)
Today is the anniversary of the death of Abbie Hoffman.
Abbott “Abbie” Hoffman was a social and political activist in the United States, and was co-founder of the Youth International Party (“Yippies“)
Hoffman was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brandeis in 1959, then picked up a master’s degree at Berkeley. In the early 1960’s, he returned to Worcester to work as a psychologist in a state hospital. His career in political activism began with his work for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (“SNCC“) in the South. Hoffman was still relatively straight until 1966 when he turned onto drugs and began the loosely organized Yippie movement.
One of his most clever protests was on August 24, 1967, when he led a group opposed to capitalism (and other things, including the Vietnam War) in the gallery of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). They threw fistfuls of dollar bills down to the traders below, who began to scramble frantically to grab money as fast as they could. Of course, Hoffman’s protest was pointing out that, metaphorically, that’s what NYSE traders were already doing.
Hoffman went underwent plastic surgery and assumed the underground alias of “Barry Freed” in 1974 to avoid trial on charges of possessing cocaine. He stayed underground in upper New York state until 1980, when he surrendered to authorities. He was sentenced to a work-release program in 1981-82, then resumed his life of political activism. In 1987, Hoffman was arrested for the forty-second time while protesting CIA recruitment at the University of Massachusetts with Amy Carter and thirteen others.
Hoffman was arrested for conspiracy and inciting to riot as a result of his role in protests that led to violent confrontations with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He was among the group that came to be known as the Chicago Seven, which also included fellow Yippie Jerry Rubin, and several other radical activists, including future California state senator Tom Hayden and Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale. Abbie Hoffman’s courtroom antics frequently grabbed the headlines; one day, defendants Hoffman and Rubin appeared in court dressed in judicial robes, while on another day, Hoffman was sworn in as a witness with his hand giving the finger. At sentencing (the convictions were ultimately overturned), Hoffman suggested the judge try LSD, and offered to set him up with a dealer he knew in Florida.
At a 1988 reunion of the Chicago Seven, Hoffman described himself as “an American dissident. I don’t think my goals have changed since I was four and I fought schoolyard bullies.”
Abbie Hoffman is the author of Steal this Book, a commercially successful guide to living outside of the established system. Other titles include Fuck the System, Revolution for the Hell of It, Woodstock Nation, his 1980 autobiography, and his last book, published two years before his death, Steal This Urine Test.
On April 12, 1989, Hoffman was found dead at his home in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The death was later ruled a suicide.
All these deaths are always ruled suicides. Even when there’s two gunshots (which didn’t necessarily happen with Abbie). Somebody spends their entire life pissing off our equivalent of the KGB, and the most logical death for them is suicide, and it’s completely ridiculous to suggest that the people who assassinated Black Panthers might’ve not stopped there.
it’s definitely within the realm of possibility .. though I’d probably be more inclined to buy it if he had died in 1970 instead of 1989
Suggest a few folks “here” track down some of Hoffman’s Jewish connections, which are many. He did not shy away from acknowledging his Jewishness, I seem to recollect. I’m sure that a google whirl with ` “Abbie Hoffman” and Jewish’ would produce a few `hits.
That movie they recently made of him, despite the excellent cast, sucked royally. It could’ve been so much better and instead it’s like the crowning monument to boomer apathy and laziness.
Are these true?
He was able to get his wives to co-exist peacefully and happily.
When his father died, he requested permission from the various agencies he was hiding from to attend the funeral; they refused, so he smuggled a tape-recording of himself weeping to his mother.
He obtained official Playboy stationery and unofficial credentials and ate at the best restaurants in Europe for free posing as the food critic. (this last is fucking awesome–enduring beatings to help blacks register to vote is one thing, heroic, yes, but you have a stomach as well as a soul)
I disagreed with Abbie Hoffman’s position on Zionism (he bought into the colonial/imperialism dreck), but his overall approach to political dissent is a legacy worth preserving if quite difficult to live up to. The man had an ingenious sense of theater. And fun. He truly lived the Emma Goldman nugget, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be a part of your revolution.”
“Somebody spends their entire life pissing off our equivalent of the KGB, and the most logical death for them is suicide, and it’s completely ridiculous to suggest that the people who assassinated Black Panthers might’ve not stopped there.”
Actually, it was the Elders of Zion, acting through “our equivalent of the KGB” in conjunction with the Justice League.
What’s my evidence for this? What’s yours?
Ha, J to the rescue. This post was starting to sound a little too Indymedia.
“I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.”
— Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman FBI files
“….frantically to grab money as fast as they could. Of course, Hoffman’s protest was pointing out that, metaphorically, that’s what NYSE traders were already doing….”
I bet if we threw a few Rubles around the USSR at the height of communism it would have been quite a scene. As I read the paper this morning I quickly glanced over the obituaries. I cared more for those people lost over the past few days, then this loser…. He doesn’t even deserve the energy I spent typing this blog….
DiGiTaL–there’s supposed to be a CIA old hand’s story about essentially subsidizing the Reds’ black market by leaving thousands in subway bathrooms, sending tremors through the legitimate Commie economy.
J– When a swastika shows up on some Jewish property, where’s the “evidence” it was put there by some neo-Nazi? Until after you decide neo-Nazis are the most reasonable guess, investigate local individuals and/or groups and prove a particular party beyond shadow of a doubt, clearly you have no right to speculate on trhe existence of hate in a community.
There are people who accept that “our side” is not composed of angels and people who insist on believing that it does. Probably this is not an intellectual problem, but one related to comfort and childhood experiences. We have already successfully “called” several fantastic incidents (some, false incidents of anti-Semitism, as with the crazy woman with the pram) as bullshit based not on psychic powers or infinite faith in secret cabals but understanding of human nature, and the long list of suicides stinks to high heaven. Conspiracy nothing–conspiracy comes into it when we claim to know exactly everything, which we don’t. You don’t need video of the death to see that this is crap, and part of a larger pattern that, far from the comforting closure of a conspiracy theory, is quite messy.
When confronted with someone who will not listen to the possibility that budget-free secret government organizations might be something other than scrupulously honest agents out of movies, it it must asked: who is it that has such irrational faith in conspiracies?
k&y – very good point about the vandalism!
k&y:
You say “When a swastika shows up on some Jewish property, where’s the “evidence” it was put there by some neo-Nazi? ”
There isn’t. That’s why I don’t assume it was done by a Neo-Nazi. In fact, I believe that most such vandalism is done by anti-semites who are not Neo-Nazis and/or bored, stupid kids.
“Until after you decide neo-Nazis are the most reasonable guess, investigate local individuals and/or groups and prove a particular party beyond shadow of a doubt, clearly you have no right to speculate on trhe existence of hate in a community. ”
Excuse me? Which is it – can I make a reasonable guess, or must I investigate and prove? Try to stay consistent, if only for the duration of one sentence.
“There are people who accept that “our side” is not composed of angels and people who insist on believing that it does.”
Talk about false choice. Apparently you believe that there’s (a) you and (b) horribly naive people who think everything their government does is wonderful. Any room for “my government does some things of which I don’t approve, out of ineptitude or bad behavior on the part of some officials, but is generally on the right side, and given that no government has ever been perfect, and that it is responsible for protecting us from real enemies, I support its efforts in general while reserving the right to criticize or condemn any specific action”? I guess not. That would impede your ability to say…
“Probably this is not an intellectual problem, but one related to comfort and childhood experiences.”
Thanks for the psychoanalysis. Yes, all your opponents are just looking for comfort. We look to you as the repository of truth.
Possibly when you’re done aping your professor whose life peaked when he got laid at an anti-Vietnam War rally or when you move beyond your prolonged adolescent rebellion (“nobody understands…besides me”) you’ll better evaluate other points of view.
“We have already successfully “called” several fantastic incidents (some, false incidents of anti-Semitism, as with the crazy woman with the pram) as bullshit based not on psychic powers or infinite faith in secret cabals but understanding of human nature,”
“Several”? What are they?
“and the long list of suicides stinks to high heaven. ”
Long list? Who?
“Conspiracy nothing–conspiracy comes into it when we claim to know exactly everything, which we don’t. ”
Novel definition of “conspiracy”. So as long as you don’t claim to know every detail, it’s not a conspiracy theory? Did anyone ever claim to know the names of each of the Elders of Zion? Well, then.
“When confronted with someone who will not listen to the possibility that budget-free secret government organizations might be something other than scrupulously honest agents out of movies, it it must asked: who is it that has such irrational faith in conspiracies?”
Apparently you haven’t seen too many movies. But regarding the original topic: It’s not that I “will not listen” to the possibility that Hoffman was killed by the CIA or whoever. Rather, I look at a pathetic character who in his his heyday was little more than an annoyance to the government, and by the time of his death was an obscure burned-out mess. Even in your world, where the CIA runs around killing whoever they want to, why would anyone bother to kill him? Large risk, little reward. (And frankly, anyone out to harm Hoffman would have forced him to live.) And why wait until 1989? Then, I consider that Hoffman was not the most stable person. Although I can’t prove that Hoffman wasn’t assassinated, I have to go with the strong odds. And going with the strong odds is what rational people do.
Now, how about you? Why won’t you listen to the possibility I proposed before? There’s supposed to be an Elders of Zion old hand’s story (possibly my great-aunt’s third cousin’s brother-in-law, but don’t tell them I said anything) about the Elder of Upper Scarsdale whispering that Hoffman was an “embarrassment”. Who else to assign to do the deed but that tool of International Jewry, the CIA, and the Justice League (surely you don’t think it’s a coincidence that nearly all the superheroes were created by Jews, do you? Hah! (except that pagan shiksa…) They just want you to think the heroes aren’t real, but let me tell you, right after Yonatan and Miriam Kentowitz found that rocket ship, you should have seen the price of Kryptonite futures rise at the secret room at the Chicago Board of Trade, what with the Elders bidding against the Freemasons and KAOS for a monopoly on theworld’s supply…
Hey! Conspiracy theories are fun!
J wrote : “ Rather, I look at a pathetic character who in his his heyday was little more than an annoyance to the government…”
Um J maybe you should have a glance at those FBI files ‘anonymouse’ posted
It seems like the government took him quite seriously and followed his every move for decades
Brown:
Whether or not the FBI or other agencies overreacted in the sixties based on what they knew then, I wrote that Hoffman was “little more than an annoyance” in his heyday from the perspective of the late 80’s, which is when the decision to kill him would have been made. I don’t see how in 1989 Hoffman could be seen as someone worth all that trouble.
J wrote “ I don’t see how in 1989 Hoffman could be seen as someone worth all that trouble.”
I agree – probably not (though you never know) – That’s why my initial reaction to k&y’s comment was “ I’d probably be more inclined to buy it if he had died in 1970 instead of 1989 ”
However in his FBI files they repeatedly say things like “his philosophy and activities portray him as an individual who would constitute a threat to the national defense of the nation in time of a national emergency”, which is ridiculous, but it shows how seriously they took him
Oh man J, if there was an award for best posts…
k&y,
You’ve been schooled son.
what amazes me is that some you people actually speak of this dreck with some sort of admiration or dignity…He accomplished nothing of any importance, and only succeeded in making other peoples lives more difficult.
The “schooling” is an exemplary lesson in the worst Victorian sense of the adjective “womanish;” we’ll deconstruct it if you like, but as with too many responses to challenges, the only trick some people know is to scoff. When all you can do is scoff, you vary the dressing and you use sheer verbiage. The more important things are what gets excluded in scoffing: Governments obsess over minute challenges to their power, but we’re supposed to believe our perfect angels of Bond-ness kill only those worth killing (hey, holy cow, J’s logic dovetails with stock defenses of the IDF! Who’da thunk?). What we know of the record of the CIA (and all comparable government agencies) is that they are creepiness– as in frustrated shoe salesman harboring thirty year old grudges creepiness, not the camera in the sunglasses bullshit– enthroned. They arrest people for using the wrong colors in paintings, they demand to talk to schoolchildren about incorrect art. The idea that once you become their enemy your hostility can just sort of expire is insane. It doesn’t process, and it shouldn’t, because this is actually another idea. What J didn’t say was that the CIA are after all, reasonable guys, out to protect us, and if they have an enemy well, nice boys they are, they must have some reason to suspect this guy, and they certainly would never think of abusing their powers for some personal grudge, and the reason just kind of went away.
In other words, we are supposed to be schooled by a party line from the US State Department– or for that matter the Syrian secret service!
Homo sapiens are scum, and invariably fuck or kill you when you give them inordinate power. And just as invariably for the best of reasons, for your protection.
k&y,
I may not agree with 99% of Brown’s posts, but at least he makes sense. What in the world are you trying to say?
Shtreimel what dont dont you understand. Isnt it obvious that the Elders of Zions working in tandem with the Illuminati, reverse vampires and the saucer people are plotting a devious plan to make sure that none of K&ys comments pass Jewschool’s anti spam blocker.
we are never going to make sense to you, barring certain changes in presuppositions and in the importance of dismissing a challenging bit. really what it comes down to is not credulity but cynicism. Individuals should be innocent until proven guilty, but governments should be guilty until truly fully investigated and not just by a whitewash panel, and what’s even crazier is we see no contradiction there. That’s actually the same principle, provided you assign “government” and “individual” their right respective weights.
here, we must go re-foil our ceiling, we’ll leave you with this:
1 – a concession, but on emotional grounds that mean nothing, say, the next time “we need to start
worrying about Iowa.”
2 – there is no contradiction since a reasonable guess is a necessary precursor to further investigation; nevertheless the important thing is to keep screaming. We must not only be wrong, we must be the worst kind of wrong, which is anti-Semitic, just like Andrew Lloyd Webber.
3 – no, we know that there are horribly naive people, say Aaron Brown, who can look at some ungrateful wog and ask why he’s not happy about being liberated. Gee, that took seconds, and landed us in the obscure anti-Semitic catacombs of CNN. But don’t worry about our supporting examples (a few more points and you’ll just be ignoring them anyway)–keep up with the cheap ones and maybe we’ll cry over the stupidity accusations. Supporting say Vietnam in general while condeming what specific actions that same culprit instructs you to condemn is not real morality.
4 – the psychoanalysis bit was irresistable, because this is as stock and as old a line of jokes/arguments in Jewish culture as schtick about the old country. Cf a piece in a recent Harper’s in which “gun control nuts” are dismissed by Friendly Uncle Boris the Head Shrinker as crazy.
5 – the several incidents: the French pram bit
mentioned, and later a bit with a soup kitchen. They were only in the infamously National Socialist BBC so you might not have heard of them. There were others before, largely going back to what you said about the vast majority of swastikas being some adolescent proving his manhood with what has become an ultimate “f-you.”
6 – list of suicides: well, no kidding, it really is a long list. We leave it to you to dismiss us as crazy: a large number of experts on bioterrorism and weaponized organisms died in bizarre circumstances, roughly a dozen of them within the same time frame, but that group extends well past a dozen; “threatening” journalists have been commiting suicide, often miraculously coming back to life to shoot themselves a second time. The point here is not that we suspect NSA, or CIA, or the MMC, or anyone. If we suspected a conspiracy, we’d be conspiracy theorizing. If this were happening in Saudi Arabia or Chad or El Salvador or Russia, there’d be nothing unreasonable about saying, well no kidding a journalist who went after the government was found dead! Thus the angel metaphor earlier.
7 – well, yes. The British Government was convinced that Jews ran the German (!), Russian(!!) and Ottoman (!!!) Empires, and later the Soviet Union, and they convinced themselves of this by literally looking at the last names of key figures, eg, Marx (relying on racial rather than religious definitions of Judaism).
8 a- In dismising the possibility that the government might be generally bad, and going so far as to replace it with a generally good hypothetical government (with specific actions, hey, we don’t want to forget the specific actions, that’s what committees are for! Free Ollie North!!), how could anyone accuse you of not being willing to listen to what you’re dismissing? We must be ani-Semites and conspiracy theorists.
8 b- Abby Hoffman pissed them off royally. That’s all you have to do. It has no expiration date, it has no logical or legal rationale. And it has plenty of precedents. But of course the more reasonable thing to believe is that all serious threats to the government (as perceived by them, not j) happen to take their own lives (sometimes twice).
It’s just like the Florida mess: if it happened in Africa, the voices of reason would be jumping on anyone who doubted its illicit nature. But it happened here, in the land of the good people who are reasonable, so it’s insane to think like that.
see, none of that made any sense. It’s just like the irrational Arabs who never have to be answered because they’re crazy.
DiGiTaL: “what amazes me is that some you people actually speak of this dreck with some sort of admiration or dignity…He accomplished nothing of any importance, and only succeeded in making other peoples lives more difficult.”
While a fugitive, Hoffman organized the upstate community to defend the Thousand Island area from the destructive riparian policies at the time of the Army Corps of Engineers. He was awarded by recognition from Senator Daniel Moynahan.
DiGiTaL writes comments on blogs, kicking the dead when they’re as down as they can get, resenting the shit out of such legacies that expose his superfluousness. Mr. Bolton isn’t the only “kiss-up kick-down kinda guy” these days who wants desperately to be thought of as a hero without doing much to earn it.
Zionista – wow!
well I guess someone had to say it
The man was a true freedom fighter, and spent much of his life fighting (and spilling his own blood, sweat and tears) for the freedom of people who were not him or his family (southern blacks, vietnamese etc)
THanks for the comparison to Bolton… Zionista, you say I only focus his excessiveness, I disagree, I looked at the man as a whole and factored in all factors. Now of course its my opinion and I won’t deny some of the more positive causes hes been associated with, but I won’t deny the negative, outright destructive things he is associated with. You seem to pick and choose what you like to believe about this man, and don’t seem to be able to look at the whole picture
Please excuse, some of the incoherentness of my statements, its almost the end of the semester, and my research article is sapping all of my writing strength….THis time of year is always crunch time
what ‘destructive’ things do you think he was associated with exactly
J to the B: why, of course he refers to the dybbuk weed Marihuana.