Youth International Party

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Youth International Party (whose adherents as Yippies were known, a variation of hippies ) was in the 1960s, a highly theatrical , anarchic oriented political party in the United States .

Yippie flag: green hemp leaf on a red star on a black background

Structure and representatives

The group itself had no formal membership or hierarchy .

Abbie Hoffman , Anita Hoffman and Paul Krassner were among the founders of the Yippies. According to Krassner, he coined this name. Other activists associated with the Yippies include Jerry Rubin , Stew Alpert , Matthew Steen , Dick Gregory , Ed Sanders , Phil Ochs, and David Peel .

History, direction and content

As an offshoot of the Free Speech Movement and the anti-war movements in the 1960s, the Yippies represented a youth-oriented, anarchist countercultural alternative to the prudish seriousness often associated with representatives of such movements.

The Yippies use gestures that are effective in the media, such as the nomination of the pig "Pigasus the Immortal" as a presidential candidate in 1968 to mock the social status quo .

Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin were the most famous yippies and also the most successful authors, in part due to the publicity surrounding the five-month " Chicago Seven " conspiracy lawsuit of 1969. Both were arguably the most colorful of the seven accused. The indictment was criminal conspiracy and popular incitement at the Democratic National Convention of 1968. Hoffmann and Rubin used the trial as a platform for their Yippie antics . For example, they once appeared in court in judge's robes.

At the Woodstock Festival in 1969 activist Abbie Hoffman interrupted the performance of the British rock band The Who while attempting to hold a protest speech against the arrest of the writer John Sinclair . Who guitarist Pete Townshend knocked him off the stage. While it wasn't one of Hoffman's proudest moments, it became part of rock and roll history . Townshend later said that he actually agreed with Hoffman about Sinclair's arrest.

Sinclair himself was charged with offering two joints for sale to undercover investigators . The sentence imposed for this was around ten years. On the basis of public initiatives, including the artist John Lennon , the judgment was revised around 1971 and with the subsequent dismissal of Sinclair within a few days, it was effectively overturned.

The hacking underground magazine TAP - The Youth International Party Line - emerged from the circle of the YIP . Another YIP-affiliated newspaper, The Yipster Times , was founded by Dana Beal in 1972 and published in New York . (In 1979 the newspaper changed its name to Overthrow .)

See also

Web links

Commons : Youth International Party  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files