There is this big part of me that wants to believe that terrorism and acts of terrorism are still a distant reality from the American soil. The reality is that regardless of what I want to feel the truth is terrorism is here. The events of September 11th 2001 can be called day one of the age of terrorism in America, but the documentary film The Weather Underground (Sam Green and Bill Siegel, 2002) can be considered the prologue to terrorism in America. In the turbulent 1960's, university students raised their voices in protest over many issues. Those issues ranged from the war in Vietnam, Civil Rights, the military draft and the actions of the United States government.
During those years students from colleges and university's organized different protest groups in order to unify their frustrations. One group was the S.D.S. (Students For A Democratic Society). S.D.S would gain moment on campus's across the United States making them one of the loudest voices of protest in the country. With the escalation of the Vietnam war and the deaths of prominent protest figures (Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X) and the increased violence coming upon protesters, S.D.S went through inner turmoil over differences in the means to protest their ideology. By 1969 the S.D.S fractured and a new group of extreme radicals formed called the Weathermen.
The Weather Underground interviews members of the Weathermen and their explanations about their actions are all in the guise of violent protest which they display as revolution. The violence that the Weathermen propose is in reaction to the believed failure of peaceful protest. The films use of footage of the Vietnam war and the recollections of the former Weathermen coalesce into a believed justified cause for the actions of the Weathermen. These actions include a jailbreak of Timothy Leary and the bombing of the Pentagon, amongst other bombings. But the price of being a group of revolutionaries did not come without its cost. Three members were killed when a homemade explosive detonated in an apartment in Greenwich village New York. After this incident the United States government began monitoring the members of the Weathermen and warrants for their arrests led them to go underground.
Throughout the film reasons are given for the attacks that are made by the Weathermen. The former members of the group espouse the United States government as the real killers with their actions in Vietnam. Every attack that the Weatherman planned or executed was seen as part of a greater war for humanity. The juxtaposition of Vietnam footage along with recollections of former members seems to show a world gone wrong and life being expendable. The manifesto's and declarations of war by the Weathermen seem heartless but for the greater good. But after the death of their own members in the explosion in Greenwich village, the members of the Weathermen realized that any violence that killed innocent people was terrorism and that they would do whatever it took to not kill anyone who was innocent.
The Weather Underground seems to be a film that looks at the spirit of the Weathermen as a necessity and a justified cause, one that only makes sense in light of the desperation of the counter culture. But what is disturbing about the rhetoric spoken by the Weathermen in the film is the similarity of ideas and tactics by modern day terrorists. Though many agree that todays form of terrorism is connected to religious ideology, there is still a sense of a bond between today's terrorism and terrorism of the past. Maybe that is because of the frustration of knowing that at times the voice of the people is lost in times of turmoil. As governments choose violence or ignore the people they serve, radicalism will exist. With the Weathermen, time led to their downfall. Disillusionment set in as the acts of violence that they proposed did not have the effect that they intended. Within the Weathermen fractures began to form and it seems that some of the members began to see life as something greater than violence. Many surrendered to the government and jail sentences were commuted do to illegal investigations by the United States government.
By the end of the film one member of the Weathermen sees the danger in today's terrorism and comes to understand that the Vietnam war led many people to act outside of who they were. War does root out a high string of emotions and an illusion of extremeness. As long as there are those who feel injustice and are ignored violence will emerge. What will also emerge is the inner turmoil of knowing that violence breeds more violence. May we all discern the lessons learned by the Weathermen.
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