David Gilbert, Political Prisoner

David Gilbert is a North American political prisoner. The Civil Rights struggle of the 60s exposed David to the sham of US democracy and embodied the beauty of collective struggle. In 1965 he started the Vietnam Committee at Columbia University in NY and became a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) there. In 1967, David authored the first SDS pamphlet on US Imperialism and participated in the Columbia Strike of 1968. After about 5 years of organizing in the above ground movement, David joined the revolutionary underground, spending a total of 10 years living clandestinely, actively resisting imperialism with arms. On October 20, 1981, he and other comrades were captured at Nyack, NY during an attempted expropriation by a unit of the Black Liberation Army working with white revolutionaries (known as the Revolutionary Armed Task Force- RATF). During the expropriation attempt, 3 officers were killed. Charged and convicted of felony murder, David is serving a 75 year (minimum) to life sentence.

While in prison, David has been actively involved in the struggle against AIDS, and has remained a staunch opponent of oppression still dedicated to human liberation. He is also a longtime advisor and colaborator in the annual Free Political Prisoners Calendar project.

New - Video Interview with David!

David Gilbert - A Lifetime of Struggle . David Gilbert is among the longest held anti-imperialist political prisoners in the world. A leader of the 1968 Columbia University student strike and within students for a Democratic societry, in the 1970s David joined the Weather Underground Organization and worked within the clandestine struggle throughout the decade. Along with others, he was convicted on a conspiracy charge for his participation in a Brinks truck hold-up aiming to raise funds for the Black Liberation Army in 1981. He is currentkly serving a seventy five year sentence without possibility of parole. This interview took place in July, 1998 at Great Meadows Prison, Comstock, New York. It is part of the oral history of the radical movements of the 1960s and 70s, and is useful for starting discussions in classes and study groups. VHS 30 minutes. $20

Incomplete List of Writings by David Gilbert

Born on Sunday - a tribute to fallen freedom fighter Kuwasi Balagoon, published in Hauling Up The Morning (for more on Kuwasi Balagoon, click here )

Capitalism and Crisis, Creating a Jailhouse Nation, a review of Christian Parenti's book Lockdown Nation , published in Monthly Review March 2001. Available on the internet at http://www.monthlyreview.org/301gilb.htm

Decentering Whiteness and Understanding Nationalism - a letter to Onward! newspaper Volume 3 #1.

Looking at the White Working Class Historically - a more in-depth look at the question of what social base revolutionary left-wing politics has amongst white people in North America.

New World Dis-Order - a review of the book Night-Vision: Illuminating War and Class on the Neo-Colonial Terrain.

9-11-01: The Terrorism that Terrorism has Wrought

SDS/WUO - alook at Students For A Democratic Society (SDS) and the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), two important political organizations in the history of the American white left that David was involved with. These pieces point out their contributions while not glossing over their mistakes and weaknesses. Includes WUO communiqués and a SDS/WUO chronology.

The Vortex - published in Hauling Up The Morning

David, along with political prisoners Marilyn Buck and Laura Whitehorn, has also been interviewed by comrades from the Resistance in Brooklyn group. These interviews were all published in the booklet Enemies of the State , available from Kersplebedeb. Click here for more information. 

• Never Surrender reviewed by Michael Novick in Turning The Tide Fall 2004
• Never Surrender reviewed by J. Sakai in 8th Route Readers Club #8

 

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