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abbie hoffman by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - May 29, 2001 |
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| Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) was a complex and deeply paradoxical social activist and media celebrity, whose legendary culture-jamming exploits have come to characterise the period's para-political turmoil and counter-culture. His early 1950s experiences as a Brandeis student and sexual experienced aesthete marked Hoffman as a future American Rebel (Outsider). Under the tutelage of famous humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow, Hoffman conceived of political protest as a positive and life-affirming self-actualising process. During the early 1960s, Hoffman was involved with civil rights activism as an organiser in Mississipi for the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee. In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, Hoffman became involved with the Diggers (actors turned social activists), distributing free food and organising accomodation. He first came to national exposure with Jerry Rubin during the infamous 1967 New York Stock Exchange "money-burning" incident. Through his involvement with anti-Vietnam War protests and the Chicago Eight trial which resulted from 1968 Chicago Democratic convention riots, Hoffman became a counter-culture icon and the face of American radical dissidence. Hoffman mixed with many of the leading protesters, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Tom Hayden, Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy, and was notable for fusing creativity with righteous fury and savage humour. He pioneered many tactics of guerilla survival and personal autonomy. Drifting into an outlaw life-style, Hoffman was implicated in a 1973 cocaine deal gone wrong, and busted by undercover agents. Fleeing, Hoffman lived underground for six years, working on environmental campaigns. Re-surfacing in 1980, Hoffman served a brief prison sentence, before returning to social activism. Hoffman battled many fronts, but his demons were largely personal, in an environment that had dramatically changed since the demise of the Counter-culture. Psychosis, substance abuse and relationship breakdowns created a messy personal life. The rise of the Moral Majority as a political force, increased on-campus student conservatism and a critical re-appraisal of New Left radicalism countered his many attempts to re-mobilise university campus and environmental progressive forces into raising hell. Hoffman also encountered a media backlash against his clown persona and culture-jamming legacy, as many critics claimed that he had betrayed his earlier ideals. But despite his deep flaws, Hoffman remained committed to progressive campaigning, and criticised the Reagan administration's War on Some Drugs. Hoffman's social revolution ideals were finally realised through the 1989 collapse of Eastern European 'puppet' Communist states, but plagued by manic depression, Hoffman had died by suicide. Sadly, he did not live to see the resurgence of his ideas and radicial dissidence in the 1990s by a variety of individuals and progressive foundations. Hoffman's legacy has been chronicled in several excellent biographies: Marty Jezer's American Rebel (1992); Damien Simon and Jack Hoffman's Run Run Run (1994); Jonah Raskin's For the Hell of It and Larry 'Ratso' Sloman's Steal This Dream (1998). The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd. |
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Bold Type: Larry Sloman Vintage Vinyl: Steal This Book '68 Convention Figures: Where Are They Now? Abbie's Road: 1936-1989 The Trial of the Chicago Seven Yippie! Chicago '68: An Introduction Bobby Seale's Homepage Abbie Hoffman Web Page Steal This Web Page Thesite: R.U. Sirius The Revolution We Loved You, Abbie Hoffman: Student Activism Reefer Madness Woodstock 69 Program Guide: Abbie Hoffman On The Chicago Seven Cures Not Wars Online! Remembering Abbie Hoffman 50 Years of Radio With Vision: Abbie Hoffman Bookmarks: Steal This Dream Freedom Festival of Life Excerpts From The Chicago Conspiracy Trial The Sixties 1968: Timeline Abbie Hoffman David Obst: Interview Philm Freax Digital Archive: Abbie Hoffman Abbie Lives! History Channel: Abbie Hoffman Abbie Hoffman: Inspirational Messages Images of Brandeis: 1948-1998 Wildman The American Experience: Chicago 1968: Who's Who Abbie Lives! For the Hell of It Hippy Land Hippie Magazine Kill Your Television: Political and Social Commentary Cosmic Baseball Association The Unofficial Abbie Hoffman Homepage Cancer Claims Anita Hoffman, Yippie Activist Abbie Hoffman's Widow Dies at 56 Environmental Portraits: Abbie Hoffman Ya Say Ya Want a Revolution Abbie Hoffman Visits the Stock Exchange And Some Other Places Abbie Hoffman and a Song Hooray for Abbie: A Tribute Abbie Hoffman Gives Finger Sliders: Just Say Yes Books by Abbie Hoffman |
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