By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal
Cross-posted from KeyWiki Blog.
More from Saul Alinsky. This documentary short captures a lively confrontation between the American community organizer and writer Saul Alinsky and members of the Company of Young Canadians. Among other topics, the parties argue and disagree about the means and costs of securing “social change.”
The company of Young Canadians was a Canadian version of the U.S. Peace Corps, which existed from 1966 to 1977.
After serious rioting in Montreal on October 11th, 1969, city officials pointed the finger at the Company of Young Canadians. In a scathing address, the administration accused the group of sheltering Quebec separatist extremists, masterminding violent demonstrations and plotting to make bombs.
The accusations leveled against the CYC were made by Lucien Saulnier, the chairman of Montreal’s Executive Committee and were supported by Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau and the chief of police.
Saulnier appealed to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to withhold the group’s multi-million dollar budget and establish a Royal Commission to investigate his claims. Though the leftist Trudeau failed to launch a federal inquiry, the allegations and others that followed lead to the eventual de-funding and termination of the agency.
Surprising that Saul Alinsky, a man who inspired both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, should be associated with such radicals, no?
