![]() ![]() Particularly in the Central American country of Nicaragua, the CIA continually backed and funded a terroristic rebel insurgent group known as the Contras, a name that reflected the fact that they opposed the legitimately elected Communist government. In order to fully explain the protest’s outcome and how it occurred, this essay will first detail the background and history of events and controversies involving the CIA in the years leading up to the occurrence of the student protest and building occupation, and then will describe and summarize the actual protest as well as the subsequent trial, its outcome, and how this came to be.ĭuring the late 1980’s in the years and months leading up to the student protest at UMass, the CIA had been receiving some negative publicity due to allegations of wrongdoing in relation to secret CIA war campaigns being conducted in Central and South America. However it is particularly significant due to its outcome as well as the means by which this was achieved. Like most radical movements and protests, the UMass anti-CIA recruitment student protest and building occupation was controversial and of questionable legality. One such instance occurred here at UMass in the fall of 1986 when student activists decided to protest the presence of CIA recruiters on campus, due to the fact that they considered the CIA a criminal organization which had no place on a state university campus. (The Boston Phoenix) (Belknap) Government were able to achieve victories, and even win legal support for their actions. Occasionally, however, radical activists who felt the need to protest against what they considered unjust actions committed by the U.S. government and law enforcement in the past for doing what they felt was necessary, and some had to deal with extremely serious consequences for it. ![]() Radical activists have provoked the ire and wrath of the U.S. Government means potentially facing the prospect of a backlash from the citizens (especially the more politically conservative-oriented ones) for questioning the government’s intentions and authority. ![]() It just so happens that the United States Government, for all the good it’s done, has also been accused of committing and perpetuating a significant share of injustices across the world, and for this reason it has fairly frequently been the target of student activists and demonstrators over the years. Many of the accomplishments achieved during the era owed some credit to the organizing and activism efforts of students, and these efforts have served as inspiration for subsequent generations of student activists who have dedicated their time and efforts to working for causes intended to benefit other people suffering from social injustices. College and University campuses have always been hotbeds of radical political activism, particularly in the years following the various largely student driven social movements of the 1960’s in the United States and abroad. ![]()
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