The Symbionese Liberation Army - US Naxalism Nipped in The Bud

Most Indians would have never heard of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a revolutionary pro-black militant group in the US that lasted from 1973-75.

It was founded by Donald DeFreeze, a black. He had escaped from prison while serving a sentence for robbing a prostitute.

He was convinced that the large black prison population in the US was a white conspiracy against blacks. Therefore he started this group to liberate blacks, through violent means if needed.

The SLA had a number of white supporters. In fact, DeFreeze was its only black member.

During the two-year period of its existence, it had committed bank robberies and two murders.

But the most notorious incident which catapulted it to fame was the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst (who is the subject of the classic movie Citizen Kane). In an interesting twist, she became a victim of Stockholm syndrome and became a member of the group, and even participated in a robbery by it. The picture shows her posing in front of the symbol of the SLA.

The SLA's success was quite short-lived. DeFreeze, along with a few other members, died in a shootout with the police in 1974, less than two years after his escape from prison.

The SLA managed to survive after DeFreeze's death and went underground for a while. It finally died when Patty Hearst was arrested along with another female member in September 1975. She served 21 months in prison and was eventually pardoned by President Bill Clinton.

The SLA has a lot of interesting parallels to India's Naxalism. Like the SLA, the initial support for Naxals came from leftist intellectuals from the upper classes of society (like Kobad Ghandy).

Both the SLA and Naxalism believed that the underprivileged (Dalits in India and blacks in the US) could never receive a fair deal from the socio-political system, and were therefore subversive and anti-establishment.

I wonder what would have happened had the SLA thrived and created a black militant movement instead of dying off. In India, Naxals operate in rural areas. In the US, black militants would have operated out of inner city neighbourhoods.

Given the high rate of gun ownership in the US (even among blacks and Latinos), traditional law enforcing agencies like police departments would have had a tough time dealing with it. Just like in India, a plain law and order situation would have been projected as a race war.

Just like in India, it would have led to excesses committed by both sides, with innocent blacks caught in the cross-fire.

I am not ruling out other movements in the near future catching on and attaining critical mass. When the police officers who brutalised Rodney King were acquitted, Los Angeles erupted in flames. A few more incidents like this will see the rise of another militant black movement, this time much longer lasting and more vicious than the SLA.