Michael Justesen
Encyclopedia
Michael Justesen is a former member of Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS), the Seattle Liberation Front
(SLF) and Weather Underground Organization (WUO).
as a freshman in 1968. Justesen's first involvement with politics was participating in the University of Washington draft resistance in 1968, and he consequently withdrew from the University to devote all his time to the revolution. He became active in SDS soon after.
on December 27 - 31, 1969.
, Roger Lippman, Joe Kelly, Jeff Dowd, Michael Lerner, Chip Marshall, and Mike Abeles. Before the trial began, Justesen went underground in early 1970. The remaining members charged were called the Seattle 7. Judge Boldt declared a mistrial "because the defendants have seriously prejudiced themselves."
, Naomi Jaffe
, Bill Ayers
, Julie Nichamin, and 16 other Weather Underground member's prints were found by FBI in an abandoned apartment dubbed "Pine Street Bomb Factory" in San Francisco, California. Weather Underground members used the apartment during April 1970 to mid April 1971. FBI inspections found explosives and bomb making paraphernalia.
"The Puget Sound Partisan" was a publication that identified with the Seattle Liberation Front. In the July 15, 1979 edition, volume 1, #1 appeared a letter from Michael Justesen expressing his feelings. Click here to view the letter.
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
(SDS), the Seattle Liberation Front
Seattle Liberation Front
The Seattle Liberation Front, or SLF, was a radical anti-Vietnam War movement, based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. The group, founded by then-University of Washington visiting philosophy professor and political activist Michael Lerner, carried out its protest activities from 1970 to...
(SLF) and Weather Underground Organization (WUO).
Early education and activism
Two different sources give conflicting places of birth for Michael Justesen. According to the FBI Surveillance Files, Justesen was born in Sacramento, California. However, Michael Justesen was born in Seattle, Washington, according to Susan Stern, the author of With the Weathermen: The Personal Journal of a Revolutionary Woman. Justesen attended the University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
as a freshman in 1968. Justesen's first involvement with politics was participating in the University of Washington draft resistance in 1968, and he consequently withdrew from the University to devote all his time to the revolution. He became active in SDS soon after.
SDS
Justesen was a part of the SDS leadership in the Seattle collective. From August to mid September 1969, Justesen traveled to Japan to attend the Second International Anti-Imperialist Conference to make contact with "Red Army" student activists. The focus of the conference was opposition to the United States in Vietnam and Korea and support for the Vietnamese people. On October 8 - 11, 1969, Justesen volunteered to co-ordinate and send bail for SDS members from Seattle who were in Chicago, Illinois for the protest demonstrations for "Days of Rage." Justesen attended the "War Council" meetings in Flint, MichiganFlint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
on December 27 - 31, 1969.
Seattle Weatherman
Michael Justesen played a leading role in the Seattle Weatherman collective. On December 1, 1969, Justesen led a group whom attacked the University of Washington Army ROTC.Seattle Liberation Front
Justesen attended the Seattle Liberation Fronts first meeting on January 19, 1970 led by the visiting University of Washington philosophy professor Michael Lerner. Susan Stern, the author of With the Weatherman, wrote "The SLF was based on premises exactly opposite to Weatherman, and we were not invited to the first meeting, or to any others for that matter." The SLF issued a call for people to shut down the Seattle Federal Courthouse. This was in response to the Chicago 7 trial verdict. Dozens were arrested including Justesen on February 17, 1970. On April 16, 1970 a Federal Grand Jury in Seattle indicted eight people, for conspiracy to cause damage to Federal property at "The Day After." Justesen was charged along with Susan SternSusan Stern
Susan Ellen Stern was an American political activist.She was a member of the prominent anti-Vietnam War groups Students for a Democratic Society , Weatherman and the Seattle Liberation Front ....
, Roger Lippman, Joe Kelly, Jeff Dowd, Michael Lerner, Chip Marshall, and Mike Abeles. Before the trial began, Justesen went underground in early 1970. The remaining members charged were called the Seattle 7. Judge Boldt declared a mistrial "because the defendants have seriously prejudiced themselves."
Weather Underground Organization
Michael Justesen's fingerprints as well as Karen AshleyKaren Ashley
Karen Ashley is a former member of Students for a Democratic Society and The Weatherman .-SDS:In February 1968, Karen Ashley and Mark Rudd along with eighteen other SDS members traveled to Cuba as guests of the Cuban government...
, Naomi Jaffe
Naomi Jaffe
Naomi Esther Jaffe is a former undergraduate student of Herbert Marcuse and member of the Weather Underground Organization. Jaffe was recently the Executive Director of Holding Our Own, a multiracial foundation for women.-Early life:...
, Bill Ayers
Bill Ayers
William Charles "Bill" Ayers is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction...
, Julie Nichamin, and 16 other Weather Underground member's prints were found by FBI in an abandoned apartment dubbed "Pine Street Bomb Factory" in San Francisco, California. Weather Underground members used the apartment during April 1970 to mid April 1971. FBI inspections found explosives and bomb making paraphernalia.
"The Puget Sound Partisan" was a publication that identified with the Seattle Liberation Front. In the July 15, 1979 edition, volume 1, #1 appeared a letter from Michael Justesen expressing his feelings. Click here to view the letter.