Hierarchies In The Weather Underground

These events were bolstered by the organisation's beliefs of leading an armed revolution. Dissolution by the ‘war’ against African Americans and the military’s action in Vietnam and the invasion of Cambodia, The Weatherman’s outlook was to bring down the political and social hierarchies, “disrupting the functioning of civil government” (Shughart II 2006, p. 23), and to bring the war to the Homefront. This is revealed through The Weatherman slogan, “Bring the War Home.” The group's outlook differed from SDS and many other political groups like the Black Panthers and created a marginalised section of the political movement where like-minded activists could align. In the 2002 film, The Weather Underground one of the group’s members, Naomi Jaffe

9), and to “send signals that the target is vulnerable…and that the perpetrators have the capacity to strike again” (Tilly 2004, p. 9). An example of these threats is from Bernardine Dohrn speaking in 1970, “The lines are drawn… Revolution is touching all of our lives. Freaks are revolutionaries and revolutionaries are freaks... within the next 14 days we will bomb a major US institution.' (Honigsbaum, M., 2003). It is discussed in academic sources like Tilly’s, the operational theory of the “destruction of evil objects” as being a form of common good, and that “most terror supports demands for recognition, redress, autonomy, or transfer of power” (Tilly 2004, p. 9). This is stated in the violent actions undertaken by the Weatherman, but also by publicly announcing the responsibility of such attacks and communicating to the media, government and the community as a whole, they were responsible for the destruction and they would strike again. What makes a terrorist organisation is the pursuit of striking fear at the heart of unarmed and often innocent civilians, where they inadvertently become a key part of the demonstration. When we look historically at the terms of terrorism, we see those disaffected by society, the pursuit and communication of ideology, the breaking down and ultimate destruction of a higher political power and the violence and

As they progressed in their activities, the organisation earned the respect and attention of the FBI to be treated as a serious threat that needed to be quashed. In addition, the FBI-New York City Police Anti-Terrorist Task Force was created with a focus on domestic terrorism. Further from the FBI investigation was pressure from the White House to detain members of the Weatherman. Introducing the beginning of The Weather