First Published: Harvard Crimson, September 27, 1969.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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To the Editors of the CRIMSON:
Around noon, September 25, a group of people, apparently from the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) broke into the Center for the Study of International Affairs (CIA) painted the walls with slogans signed SDS, put up a banner identified with SDS, beat up someone, and threw rocks through the windows of the secretaries’ offices.
SDS was not involved in this demonstration. This was done by a splinter group of the group that walked out of SDS last June. While SDS is committed to fighting the ways that the university aids American Imperialism, and that includes attacking the Center, I am opposed to the tactics of the action taken by RYM. First of all, it is clear that the Center cannot be stopped or even seriously harrassed by such isolated terrorist tacitics. Any successful fight is going to have to involve huge numbers of students. The RYM members made no attempt to explain either the nature of the Center or the nature of their opposition to it, to the campus or the community.
Second, the attack itself was not focused on the real cause of the problem. Rocks were thrown through the windows of the secretaries’ offices although clearly, the secretaries are not responsible for the programs at the Center. In fact, the sercetaries, with low pay and bad working conditions, have an interest in fighting the same administration that is responsible for the Center.
I feel that these kinds of actions carried out in the name of SDS are designed to do nothing but isolate SDS from students and the community and, as such, are an attack on the attempts of SDS to build a strong movement that fights racism and Imperialism.
Beth Harvay, Cochairman SDS