Borat to Play Abbie Hoffman in Hollywood Movie

Have you heard about this yet? The guy who played Borat & Ali G is going to be portraying Abbie Hoffman in a movie about the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention!

In a movie called "The Trial of the Chicago Seven 7", Sacha Baron Cohen will portray Abbie Hoffman, the founder of the Yippies and an icon of 1960's counterculture. The film is planned to be released this summer.

Hoffman, a Worcester Mass native, is most famous for using pranks and an array of tongue-in-cheek actions to campaign against the Vietnam war. His actions brought together the counter-culture atmosphere of the 60's and the revolutionary politics of groups like the Students for a Democratic Society.

Among his antics, Hoffman and the Yippies nominated Pigasus, a Californian pig who wore a cape, for president at the 1968 democratic convention. Shortly before the convention in 68, the Yippies shut down the New York stock exchange by sprinkling fake money onto stock market floor. The Yippies also surrounded and tried to levitate the Pentagon in protest of the war on Vietnam.

Anyway, back to the movie. The Trial of the Chicago Seven follows the demonstrators who successfully disrupted the 1968 Democrat party convention with an anti-Vietnam-war “carnival”. After police attacked the festival, protesters threw bricks and police shot tear gas. For days Chicago was filled with demonstrations against the convention and protesters clashed with police.

When the smoke cleared, the police pointed the finger at eight protesters including, Abbie Hoffman. The court had convicted the protesters before the charges were even read.

The police were not charged but the protesters were accused of inciting a riot. One of the protesters, Bobby Seal, was bound and gagged in the court-room after calling the judge a fascist. He was later jailed for contempt, leaving the seven to fight the charges

The defendants knew that the proceedings were a sham, so they mocked the court. At one point, Hoffman came to the court dressed in a judge robes and wearing a white wig. Abbie put the court on trial. Hoffman is also famously quoted for recommending that the judge relax and try some LCD. Hoffman offered to connect him with a friend in Florida who had access to the drug.

In 1970, five of the original seven were found guilty of crossing state lines to incite a riot. Two years later, the ruling was overturned on appeals. If you want read more about the Chicago Seven, there's a really good wikipedia page on it.

The Spielberg movie is planned to come out this summer, just in time for this year's DNC and RNC. This movie will certainly provide activists with an opportunity to get the word out about the summer's demonstrations.

via CrashtheConventions.com