28 people entered the U.S. federal building in Camden, New Jersey. While some acted as lookouts...

Stopping a War

The activist connected the war machine with the abandonment of U.S. urban centers.
Reviewed by Judy Coode

Film Review: The Camden 28 by Anthony Gacchino. (First Run Features: 2006).


One night in August 1971, 28 people (including four Catholic priests and a Lutheran minister, the rest Catholic laypeople save one) entered the U.S. federal building in Camden, New Jersey. While some acted as lookouts and others served as communications coordinators, the rest of the group raided the offices of the draft board, spilling out hundreds of cards containing information about young men slated for conscription.

Planning had taken months. Using experience from previous acts of civil disobedience intended to stop the Vietnam War, they carefully considered all the details necessary to pull off this dramatic event. It would be the biggest, most extensive ruin of draft files yet, which was the simplest and most direct way to compromise the war system.

What they didn't count on was that one of their friends and co-conspirators would be an FBI informant. Their dismantling of the draft board files was interrupted by federal agents, and all of the participants (except the informant) were arrested and charged.

That event of the Vietnam-era antiwar movement, along with the participants' subsequent trial—a fascinating court case, its details sadly forgotten today—is lovingly studied in Anthony Giacchino's new film, The Camden 28. Footage includes recent interviews with several of the activists, the FBI agent assigned to the case, and the FBI informant, plus grainy photos, newspaper clippings, and film from the early 1970s, including the trial.

Left unsaid, but obvious to any observer, are the clear parallels between the frustration of the antiwar movement of the early 1970s and the nearly identical distress of those who challenge the U.S. government on its Iraq policies today.

Inspired by their faith, many of those involved in the August 1971 event had already been arrested in civil disobedience actions, part of the "Catholic left" movement whose primary luminaries were brothers Dan and Phil Berrigan. Through draft card burnings around the country, the movement protested not only the war—which by the early '70s was increasingly out of favor among the general U.S. population—but also tried to connect the spending of the war machine with the abandonment of U.S. urban centers.


Continued @ http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0708&article=070833c

How far would you go to stop a war? "The Camden 28" recalls a 1971 raid on a Camden, New Jersey draft board office by "Catholic Left" activists protesting the Vietnam War and its effects on urban America. Arrested on site in a clearly planned sting, the protesters included four Catholic priests, a Lutheran minister and 23 others. | Read the synopsis: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/camden28/about.html


Premiere: Sept. 11, 2007 at 10PM | Check Local Listings: http://www.pbs.org/pov/local_broadcast_v4.html


MORE ON THE CAMDEN 28 Watch extra scenes not included in the broadcast version of "The Camden 28," including extended footage from the 2002 reunion, an apology from Bob Hardy to Mike Giocondo, information on the legal strategies employed by the defense and more: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/camden28/special_01.html


WHERE ARE THEY NOW? What has happened to the Camden 28 in the 35 years since their acquittal? Read updates on many of the Camden 28, a few of the other figures involved in the trial and find out more about what filmmaker Anthony Giacchino has in the works: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/camden28/update.html


"I wanted to tell the story of the Camden 28, but I also wanted to raise questions about government deception and reasons for going to war."
—Anthony Giacchino

Read more in the Filmmaker Interview: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/camden28/behind_interview.html


http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/camden28/index.html