Levitating the Pentagon: Exorcism as Politics, Politics as Exorcism
On 21 October 1967 Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Ed Sanders of the band The Fugs, and others, organized an "exorcism" of the Pentagon in which several thousand demonstrators participated. Most historians have regarded this event as "a put on" or at best as "performance...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2011]
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| In: |
Implicit religion
Year: 2011, Volume: 14, Issue: 3, Pages: 295-318 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ginsberg
B Magic B Exorcism B SOCIAL reality B New Left B GINSBERG, Allen, 1926-1997 B Vietnam B Protest B HOFFMAN, Abbie, 1936-1989 B PENTAGONS B MAILER, Norman, 1923-2007 B Pentagon B Vietnam War, 1961-1975 B 1960s |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | On 21 October 1967 Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Ed Sanders of the band The Fugs, and others, organized an "exorcism" of the Pentagon in which several thousand demonstrators participated. Most historians have regarded this event as "a put on" or at best as "performance art." This article takes seriously the nominal status of the ritual as a "sacred" or "magical" event. It argues that the organizers were utilizing innovative strategies ofsocial action to alter the terms of debate regarding the Vietnam War. In as much as these strategies drew on "secret" insights into the nature of social reality, they were seen as "magical" and in continuity with pre-modern esoteric traditions. Finally, it is argued that the new left turned to such tactics out of a deepfrustration with traditional forms of democratic political engagement. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Implicit religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/imre.v14i3.295 |