‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ is up for six Oscars at the Academy Awards, to be announced on 25 April. The film, which dramatises the trial of seven social activists who opposed the Vietnam War, sheds light on key issues about the right to protest. It has particular resonance today – as is shown by the fact it is reportedly one of Netflix’s most watched movies – when mass mobilisation is increasingly common across the globe.
The 1960s, like today, were marked by peaceful protests, sit-ins and strikes, in the United States and around the world. A youth-led counterculture embraced the civil rights movement and called for an end to the Vietnam War.
In 1968, seven activists led an anti-Vietnam protest in Chicago to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. The film follows the trial of the seven defendants, who were charged with conspiracy and inciting riots after violence erupted during the protest. As the charges against the seven are laid out, the audience becomes aware of various laws and standards that regulated protest in the United States at the time.
