“The Youth International Party, whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American radically youth-oriented and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s. It was founded on December 31, 1967. They employed theatrical gestures, such as advancing a pig (‘Pigasus the Immortal‘) as a candidate for President in 1968, to mock the social status quo. They have been described as a highly theatrical, anti-authoritarian and anarchist youth movement of ‘symbolic politics’. Since they were well known for street theater and politically themed pranks, they were either ignored or denounced by many of the ‘old school’ political left. According to ABC News, ‘The group was known for street theater pranks and was once referred to as the Groucho Marxists.’ The Yippies had no formal membership or hierarchy. Abbie and Anita Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Nancy Kurshan, and Paul Krassner founded the Yippies (according to his own account, Krassner coined the name) at a meeting in the Hoffmans’ New York apartment on December 31, 1967. … A Yippie flag was frequently seen at anti-war demonstrations. The flag had a black background with a five-pointed red star in the center, and a green cannabis leaf superimposed over it. When asked about the Yippie flag, an anonymous Yippie identified only as ‘Jung’ told The New York Times that ‘The black is for anarchy. The red star is for our five point program. And the leaf is for marijuana, which is for getting ecologically stoned without polluting the environment.’ This flag is also mentioned in Hoffman’s Steal This Book. … The Yippie ‘New Nation’ concept called for the creation of alternative, counterculture institutions: food co-ops; underground newspapers and zines; free clinics and support groups; artist collectives; potlatches, ‘swap-meets”‘ and free stores; organic farming/permaculture; pirate radio, bootleg recording and public-access television; Squatting; free schools; etc. Yippies believed these cooperative institutions and a radicalized hippie culture would spread until they supplanted the existing system. Many of these ideas/practices came from other (overlapping and intermingling) counter-cultural groups such as the Diggers, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Merry Pranksters/Deadheads, the Hog Farm, the Rainbow Family, the Esalen Institute, the Peace and Freedom Party, the White Panther Party and The Farm. There was much overlap, social interaction and cross-pollination within these groups and the Yippies, so there was much crossover membership, as well as similar influences and intentions. …”
Wikipedia
50 years after the Chicago Democratic National Convention, Paul Krassner still hasn’t sold out (Video/Audio)
These photos of the radical Left riot in Grand Central show Yippies and cops squaring off
How the Yippies ‘Stuck It to the Man’ at the 1968 DNC
Bill Davis
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