Real leftists, people who long ago abandoned the Democratic party, are used to sparse turnouts at their various gatherings.  Other than a few of the better attended anti Iraq War protests a few years ago, most demonstrations, marches, and other events have not reached beyond the core faithful; somewhat surprising given the widespread dissatisfaction with almost every aspect of the George W. Bush regime.  Some blame it on America’s hyper-materialistic culture, other’s on the lack of media coverage outside of the two mainstream parties.  The real reason, and the hardest for many of us to come to terms with, is the strident Balkanization of countless special interest groups who are fixated on their own self interests without concern for the greater movement.  (It might even be  argued that no larger movement exists; the Left has been effectively reduced to a large number of non-allied individual interest groups)

This situation only makes the events of this past weekend all the more surprising, and hopeful.  Down in the basement of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, over in a corner of the parking garage, Cal-Arts operates a theatre and gallery space.  As small, “alternate” arts spaces go, the REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney, Cal Arts Theatre) space is unusually well done.  The entire theatre is floated on rubber isolating pads, to isolate any noise from the adjacent parking garage.  The 300 seat theatre, and large gallery space are joined by a combination bar, internet café and bookstore, and the restaurants, stores and other facilities of the Concert hall are easily reached via the central escalator lobby.  And, unlike most downtown ‘indie’ arts spaces, REDCAT patrons do not have to wander the dark, deserted streets of the city after the show to find their cars: due to the theatre’s location inside a parking garage.

Cal-Arts presented a three day film festival last week, titled “All Power to the People: the history and legacy of the Black Panther Party”.  Each night consisted of one or more films, followed by a panel of speakers.  I attended by the Thursday and Friday night presentations.  Thursday began as an overview of the Party, with two short documentaries that provided viewers with an introduction to the Party and their Ten Point Platform.  These short films also documented the extreme tactics used by local police and the FBI to repress and harass the Party.  But the full force of the government’s atrocities became clear in the third film shown that night, “The Murder of Fred Hampton.”   Hampton, the twenty-one year old Chairman of the Chicago branch of the Party was assassinated in his bed by a hit squad led by Chicago Police.  Remarkably, the Chicago Police initially tried to spin the attack as an assault by the Panthers on the police.  By tireless work by the Party’s legal team, and community pressure eventually led to a large civil judgment against the City and the dropping of all charges against the residents of the apartment.  The evidence against the police was staggering: ballistic experts testified that over ninety shots were fired into the apartment (by the cops) while only ONE round was fire out from inside, by the fatally wounded Mark Clark; and it was determined that he fired that shot after he was mortally wounded and falling to the floor!

Freedom of Information releases later proved that Hampton was assassinated as part of the larger effort to bring down the Party under the COINTELPRO program.   After the three films, a panel consisting of three speakers took the stage: Emory Douglas, the BPP Minister of Culture, Fred Hampton Jr., born two weeks after his father’s murder, and Dr. Akinyele Umoja (Professor, Georgia State University).   Mr. Douglas, best known as the artist responsible for the artwork in hundreds of issues of the Party’s newspaper, and numerous posters and other graphics, has the very controversial legacy as the artist responsible for coining the term “Pigs” in reference to the Oakland Police Department, and the even more contentious phrase “Off the Pigs” in many of his illustrations.  A related exhibit of Mr. Douglas’ artwork is currently being shown at the MOCA satellite gallery in the Pacific Design Center; the exhibit runs through February 24, 2008. 

Fred Hampton Jr., having barely survived the shootout that killed his father (his mother was nine months pregnant and in the same bed where Fred senior was murdered) has been targeted by authorities his entire life.  While serving nine years as a political prisoner, he became a leading prisoner rights advocate and chairman of Prisoners of Conscience Committee.  Both Hampton and   Dr. Akinyele Umoja stressed that government repression of activists did not die with COINTELPRO and that the USA leads the world in confining its own citizens, often under brutal circumstances designed to torture the prisoner and permanently remove them from the struggle.

Based on the description of the program for the three night’s; I was not surprised to see a full house on the first night, with maybe a small handful of open seats.  The three films on Thursday offered the best introduction to the history of the Party for those not familiar with their story.  But when I arrived at the box office to pick up our tickets for the second night, I was shocked to learn that the show was sold out and that there was a line stretching around the corner of people hoping to get in.  Friday night had a more specific theme: it concerned our government’s ongoing efforts to shut down any hint of opposition and the incredible lengths they will use to go after anyone they see as a threat. 

The show focused on the plight of the “San Francisco Eight” – former Panthers who were investigated and cleared in the murder of a cop in 1971.  If anyone has ever wondered what all of those billions of dollars in Homeland Security funding are spent on, Friday’s presentation provided a frightening answer.  As Al-Qaeda has not cooperated by sending over any more suicide bombers recently, Homeland Security execs have unleashed the dogs on any old, unsolved cases that can in any way be tied to “terrorism”, even the home grown variety.  Not surprisingly, they have not been targeting today’s white power militias in Idaho, but rather a bunch of seventy year old former black activists from the Bay Area.  The specifics demand more space that I can provide here, so please visit http://www.freethesf8.org/  for the full story. 

What was most surprising and hopeful, was the strong turnout and the remarkable diversity of the crowd.  The theatre was filled with people from 18 to 80, male and female, every imaginable race, all there in support of aging activists who were being unjustly persecuted by our government.  I can think of no better way for the left to kick off 2008 than to put aside our self-interests and to unite against the current administration and their assault on opposition groups of all kinds.