Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press, Part 1

Foreword to the original publication of Voices from the Underground

Foreword to the original publication of Voices from the Underground WILLIAM M. KUNSTLER, 1993 I t is a privilege to be asked to write a foreword to Voices from the Underground, a collection of alternative journalistic pieces of that portion of the 1960s and 1970s loosely referred to as the Vietnam era. This work could not have come at a more opportune time when, as starkly illustrated by the reportage of the Gulf War, the establishment media have supinely surrendered their appropriate functions in favor of accepting official briefings and handouts as legitimate sources of news. It is my hope that these fascinating and uniformly well-written pieces enjoy a wide currency, particularly among those who believe that the First Amendment means more than reprinting or broadcasting the words of Marlin Fitzwater or Norman Schwarzkopf. It serves little purpose and probably would be a disservice to the book to attempt to discuss, in detail, every essay. It is enough to say that their subjects range from Joe Grant’s long analysis of the history of the Penal Digest International, to John Woodford’s critique of the black press, to Tim Wong’s study of alternative journalism in Madison, Wisconsin, to JoNina M. Abron’s reminiscences about the life and death of the Black Panther newspaper. Underlying each article, however, is a common thread—the so-called underground press was indispensable in providing essential information about individuals, organizations, and subjects either totally ignored or profoundly distorted by the mass media. In reading these essays, it is important not to contemplate the period in which their subject publications flourished in merely historical terms. The essential problem in probing any aspect of the Vietnam era is not to give the impression that corpses are being dissected. Even in the Reagan-Bush desert, there are still periodicals like Lies of Our Times, The Nation, the Guardian, and In These Times, to name but a short handful, that are managing to give truth a chance. Perhaps, the most significant message of Voices from the Underground is to underscore the inestimable value of alternative journalism, especially in a period when the mass media are suffused with the antediluvian concepts of the beings they so routinely and unimaginatively classify as newsmakers, namely those sitting in high places. Here’s hoping that Voices from the Underground permeates upward. ...