Tuesday, March 29, 2011

News at Eleven: Mr Weinglass: I asked him to explain what a be-in was.

I thought the question was directed to that possible confusion. He was interrupted in the course of the examination.

Mr. Foran: I would love to know also but I don't think it has anything to do with this lawsuit . . . .

The Court: I will let him, over the objection of the government, tell what a be-in is.

A[nswer from witness Allen Ginsberg]: A gathering together of younger people aware of the planetary fate that we are all sitting in the middle of, imbued with a new consciousness and desiring a new kind of society involving prayer, music and spiritual life together rather than competition, acquisition and war . . . . There was what was called a gathering of the tribes of all of the different affinity groups--political groups, spiritual groups, Yoga groups, music groups and poetry groups that all felt the same crisis of identity and crisis of the planet and political crisis in America, who all came together in the largest assembiage of such younger people that had taken place since the war in the presence of the Zen Master Sazuki [whom] I mentioned before, in the presence of a number of Tibetan Buddhists and Japanese Zen Buddhists and in the presence of the rock bands and the presence of Timothy Leary and Mr. Rubin.

The Court: [To Mr. Foran] Now having it explained to me, I will hear from you.

Mr. Foran: I object, your Honor.

The Court: I sustain your objection . . . .

Q: Now do you know the defendant Abbie Hoffman? . . . Would you identify him for the jury?

A: At the corner of the table on your right with the wine-colored jacket . . . .

from The New York Review of Books: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial: Allen Ginsberg on the Stand
then The Atlantic Monthly (November 1966): The Great Marijuana Hoax

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