Christopher Svihra

Editing the Doc.

Treatment:	2nd Draft



VOLUNTEERS





PREMISE

Volunteers will be a thirty-minute documentary made with the intent of showing how 

political activism has deteriorated in the United States since itŐs zenith in the late 

nineteen-sixties. The passion for change that fueled the political activism at the 1968 

Democratic convention has all but disappeared from American society. The groups 

that do participate in political actions have become small, pretentious groups of 

people, unfocused in their goals, and ineffective in their attempts to create a sense of 

urgency for there causes among the average citizen.



TREATMENT

The documentary will look at political action organizations, their causes, and the 

tactics they employed in attempting to achieve their goals during the 1996 Democratic 

national convention in Chicago Ill. and compare them to the to the political actions that 

occurred in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic national convention. Specifically the 

project will look at The South Loop Campaign organized by the Chicago Coalition for 

the Homeless and The Industrial Workers of the World, a national group of anarchists 

that came together for the convention. During the summer of 96 The South Loop 

Campaign made an unsuccessful attempt to shed light on the growing number of 

displaced homeless and low income residents during the on going development of 

the south loop. Their targets were the mayor of Chicago Richard Daley and the press. 

However, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless failed in convincing either the press 

or the mayor that it was a subject worth addressing. The Industrial Workers of the 

World made a sterile attempt to protest the Democratic convention eventually 

becoming even less effective in getting their message heard then the Chicago 

Coalition for the Homeless. When you compare these organizations failed attempts at 

political activism to the overwhelming success the political organizations had at the 

1968 Democratic national convention protesting the war and the state of the 

environment one is struck by the fact that political activism in this country has become 

something of a joke.



Why were the political actions of the late nineteen-sixties so effective in capturing the 

attention of so many people and creating a genuine passion in main-stream America 

while todayŐs activist incapable of gaining even modest recognition? What is wrong 

with the political activists of today? What are todays organizers doing so wrong and 

what were the organizers in 68 doing so right? These are the questions the project 

will try to answer.