New Anti-War Documentary on PBS's show P.O.V. tonight! "The Camden 28" (On Now in some places)

[Up2Late]

Anti-Vietnam War/Draft that is. :hippie:

<http://www.pbs.org/pov/index.html>

<http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/camden28/>

FILM SYNOPSIS

Early Sunday morning, August 22, 1971, then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell announced that 20 antiwar activists had been arrested the previous night attempting to break in and vandalize a Camden, New Jersey draft board office. Five days later, eight more plotters were indicted. Charged with conspiracy to remove and destroy files from draft, FBI and Army intelligence offices, destruction of government property and interfering with the Selective Service system, members of the "Camden 28" faced up to 47 years in federal prison. Who were these dangerous radicals that America's premier law enforcement agency so proudly took down? They included four Catholic priests, a Lutheran minister and 23 members of the "Catholic Left."

The Camden 28 were a far cry from bomb-planting Weathermen or even fist-waving militants. But the very difference of these "Catholic Left" conspirators — their religious motives — as shown in "The Camden 28," may well have made them more dangerous opponents in the eyes of the Nixon administration. A growing Catholic and religious opposition to the war could not be dismissed as extremist to mainstream America, so they had to be brought down.

"The Camden 28" reveals just how far the government was prepared to go in the cloak-and-dagger story leading up to the arrests, including the participation of a 29th man who was wonderfully adept at solving practical problems that otherwise baffled the well-meaning but un-handy activists. But "the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry," as Nixon, Mitchell, Hoover and the nation would learn from the ensuing trial.

Participants in the religious antiwar movement shared the belief that killing, even in war, was morally indefensible. Led by the charismatic Berrigan brothers, the "Catholic Left," though it included many non-Catholic religious and lay people, had conducted over 30 draft board raids, destroying close to a million Selective Service documents by 1971. But they were hardly a centralized or even structured movement. Actions were carried out by independent groups of activists, angered by the war's mounting toll and its collateral effects on poor cities like Camden.... (more at link)

<http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/camden28/about.html>

[Up2Late]

1. kick n/t

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[alfredo]

2. It is Emmy worthy. A real inspiration. We can win against evil.

[Up2Late]

3. Check you local listings for more air-times

:kick: