Difference between revisions 119863913 and 119863914 on dewiki

'''Bernardine Rae Dohrn''' (born [[January 12]], [[1942]]) is an American former leader of the [[1969]]–[[1980]] radical leftist organization [[Weatherman (organization)|Weather Underground]].  She is an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and the Director of Northwestern's [http://www.law.northwestern.edu/cfjc/ Children and Family Justice Center].

==Personal life==
(contracted; show full)

==Later radical history==

[[Weatherman (organization)|The Weathermen]], as they were known colloquially, conducted a series of bombings against the U
S government throughout the early 1970s, bombing several federal buildings.  Dohrn is a principal signatory on the group's "Declaration of a State of War" (1970) that formally declared war on the U.S. Government, and completed the group's transformation from political advocacy to violent action.  Dohrn also co-wrote and published the subversive manifesto ''[[Prairie Fire]]'' (1974), and participated in the covertly-filmed ''[[Underground (documentary film)|Underground]]'' (1976). 

After the [[Greenwich Village townhouse explosion]], the accidental detonation of a bomb being made that killed three of the members, all members of Weatherman went [[Underground culture|underground]] and the group took on its last and most famous title, the [[Weatherman (organization)|Weather Underground]]. The Weathermen and Weather Underground were suspected in various bombings
&mdash; police cars, the National Guard Association building, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. Dohrn allegedly participated in many of [[Weatherman (organization)#Chronology_of_events|the group's revolutionary activities]].<ref name=nsnyt120580>Sheppart, Nathaniel, Jr., "Chicago Home of a Friend was Refuge for Miss Dohrn", ''The New York Times'', [[December 5]], [[1980]], p A22</ref> .S. government and symbols of authority in the early 1970s, bombing federal buildings and police stations. Dohrn was a principal signatory on the group's "Declaration of a State of War"  in 1970 that formally declared "war" on the U.S. Government, and completed the group's transformation from political advocacy to violent action. Dohrn also co-wrote and published the subversive manifesto ''[[Prairie Fire]]'' in 1974, and participated in the covertly-filmed ''[[Underground (documentary film)|Underground]]'' in 1976. 

The Weathermen and Weather Underground were suspected in various bombings
&mdash; police cars, the National Guard Association building, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon, and took credit for a number of them. Dohrn allegedly participated in many of [[Weatherman (organization)#Chronology_of_events|the group's revolutionary activities]].<ref name=nsnyt120580>Sheppart, Nathaniel, Jr., "Chicago Home of a Friend was Refuge for Miss Dohrn", ''The New York Times'', [[December 5]], [[1980]], p A22</ref>  

Dohrn has said that despite her sometimes inflammatory language, she never approved of violence and asserted that the Weatherman organization didn't favor it. Asked in an interview published in 1995, "Did you come to the conclusion that violence ws the way to go?", she replied in part, "I never thought violence was a good thing in a strategic sense. [...] We were trying to find ways to act that were nonviolent but more militant. [...] [A]ctually our behavior was temperate and restrained. Ours was a very decentralized and anarchistic movement, but with one or two exceptions; for over a decade, the militancy remained symbolic. [...] Millions of people chanted 'Off the pig,' but that didn't mean they were going to go out nad shoot a policeman in the head. The language was inflammatory on both sides, but the reality stayed in the realm of protest. I reject the notion that we were violent." Asked about bombings in the same interview, Dohrn said, "We only did a couple, and they were carefully done. They involved property and were not meant to harm anybody."<ref>Chepesiuk, Ron, ''Sixties Radicals, Then and Now: Candid Conversations with Those Who Shaped the Era", McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina, 1995, pp 235, 236, ISBN 0899507786</ref>

In the two months before the March 6, 1970, [[Greenwich Village townhouse explosion]] in which three members of the group were killed as a bomb was being constructed, all members of Weatherman went [[Underground culture|underground]]. At about the same time, the group changed its name to [[Weatherman (organization)|Weather Underground]]. 

In late 1975, the Weather Underground put out an issue of a magazine, ''Osawatamie'', which carried an article by Dohrn, "Our Class Struggle", described as a speech given to the organization's cadres on September 2 of that year. In the article, Dohrn clearly stated support for [[Communism|Communist]] ideology:<ref name=fbi74>[http://foia.fbi.gov/weather/weath1a.pdf "Weatherman Underground / Summary Dated 8/20/76 / Part #1"], 1976, pp 23-24, FBI website, (contracted; show full)[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Members of Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)]]
[[Category:Weather Underground]]
[[Category:COINTELPRO targets]]
[[Category:Terrorism in the United States]]
[[Category:Northwestern University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]