THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

The story goes that in October 1968, the Democratic Party convention was supposed to elect its presidential candidate. Things had changed in recent months. The days seemed faster than ever. President Johnson had to resign his reelection anxiety because of the discredit of the growing American involvement in Vietnam.

Then, who seemed the perfect candidate to succeed him, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated; this death came shortly after another that shook American society, that of Martin Luther King.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey was to be elected as candidate. A bad choice: it was Johnson, though without LJB's charisma and past. But before that, before his candidacy was established, in those four days of speeches, rites and endorsements, outside the room where the delegates were playing politics, the streets of Chicago burned .

What produced the riots was a cocktail of social pressure, organized protest groups, an effervescent epochal climate, the resistance produced by the Vietnam War, and the militarization of the city by Mayor Richard Daley. The mayor wanted to show that in one violent year (the riots after Martin Luther King's death had spread throughout the country), he could ensure order in his city and that the way forward was a firm hand. Among police and federal troops 15,000 armed men besieged the city.

The various peace organizations decided to mobilize to Chicago to express their opposition to the war and to President Johnson. The city was firm in prohibiting them to demonstrate in front of the place where the Convention was held. Nor did it allow them to hold a music festival (Festival por la Vidase would be called). Every request to hold a march or a public event was rejected by the officials. The demonstrators (their leaders) knew that clashes would be inevitable and that it would serve their cause.