Author: Tony Williams <[log in to unmask]> Date: 12/19/94 12:37 PM [Editor's note: This message was submitted to SCREEN-L by the "Author" noted above, and not by Jeremy Butler ([log in to unmask]).] From: Tony Williams English SIUC Reply to Gloria Monti re. STRAWBERRY STATEMENT. I believe the video is officially out of print but may be found if you search video stores. Anyway, it is available in John Baky's La Salle University collection of imaginative representations of the Viet Nam War. Tend to agree over your comments about Benjamin and Levi. The former had no choice. He would have faced a horrendous death. Levi was emotionally scarred by his experiences which remained with him over the years. It is sad when a major figure like Debord or Claire Johnston choose the final option. But it is often easier to have radical opinions in a fairly hospitable era rather than face the hostility of less hospitable ones. I think the feeling during the 60s was that the bad old reactionary decades (as well as mass unemployment) was a thing of the past and would never return. But, as those of us seeing the return of the conservative repressed in the Thatcher and Reagan eras, it did with a vengeance. Much as we admire the achievments of these theorists, it is important to remember that activism often takes place in the minor as well as major areas. The dedicated activist still selling the Party newspaper on street corners, those operating in local community politics, the teacher in a classroom telling students (who often react with astonishment) that there was once an anti- war movement composed also of Viet Nam veterans - all have equally important roles to play but are often neglected by the mainstream, As well as regretting the end of the major figures, let's also not forget that people are also active in the less highlighted areas of radicalism. They also have a claim to be regarded as the real heroes, not the phony bourgeois Marxists of the ilk of Colin McCabe who proclaim in AMERICAN FILM 80s interviews that they were never Marxists in SCREEN. The whole issue does need to be seen in a much wider perspective. Leading figures may go but many unsung people are still active and have been over the years. Tony Williams