To Jerry Rubin belongs the credit for the watchword of the sixties political activist thought: “Never trust anyone over 30.”
UPDATE: This turns out to have been said by Jack Wineberg, a much less famous participant in the Free Speech Movement of 1964. I wonder if I'm the only one who misattributed this saying that's outlived its originator's fame.
Rubin was an activist in Berkeley when huge public opinion was turned toward the protests there. Today, secular Jews (and everyone else) may have forgotten the counterculture movement and the New Left, but they seemed a real part of a certain sort of Jewish life in the sixties.
Rubin was one of the Chicago Seven -- activists tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Along with Abbie Hoffman and Paul Krassner, Rubin founded the Yippies. Later Rubin was known for becoming a respectable investor type, leaving many of his followers with a sense of betrayal or at least confusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment