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{{Short description|Phrase chanted by anti-Vietnam War demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic National Convention}} |
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{{for|the Within Temptation song|Whole World Is Watching}} |
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{{Other uses|The Whole World Is Watching (disambiguation)}} |
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[[Image:1968 Chicago.gif|thumb|320px|Chicago police drag an [[anti-Vietnam war]] protester across Michigan Avenue on August 28, 1968, during the Democratic National Convention as the crowd chants "The whole world is watching".]] |
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"'''The whole world is watching'''" was a phrase chanted by [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War demonstrators]] as they were [[1968 Democratic National Convention protest activity|beaten and arrested by police]] outside the [[Hilton Chicago|Conrad Hilton Hotel]] in [[Chicago]] during the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]]. |
"'''The whole world is watching'''" was a phrase chanted by [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War demonstrators]] as they were [[1968 Democratic National Convention protest activity|beaten and arrested by police]] outside the [[Hilton Chicago|Conrad Hilton Hotel]] in [[Chicago]] during the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]]. |
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The event was broadcast from taped footage on the night of Wednesday, August 28, the third day of the convention. Demonstrators took up the chant as police were beating and pulling many of them into [[police van]]s, "each with a superfluous whack of a nightstick,"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Perlstein|first=Rick|authorlink=Rick Perlstein|title=[[Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America]]|year=2008|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-4302-5|page=324}}</ref> after the demonstrators, being barricaded in the park by the police, began to come into Michigan Avenue in front of the hotel. |
The event occurred and was broadcast nationally from taped footage on the night of Wednesday, August 28, the third day of the convention. Demonstrators took up the chant as police were beating and pulling many of them into [[police van]]s, "each with a superfluous whack of a nightstick,"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Perlstein|first=Rick|authorlink=Rick Perlstein|title=[[Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America]]|year=2008|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-4302-5|page=324}}</ref> after the demonstrators, being barricaded in the park by the police, began to come into Michigan Avenue in front of the hotel. |
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The prescient and apparently spontaneous chant quickly became famous. The following year, it served as the title of a television movie about student activism. |
The prescient and apparently spontaneous chant quickly became famous. The following year, it served as the title of a television movie about student activism. |
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==Chicago Transit Authority== |
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| ⚫ | The origin of the phrase is unclear. The phrase was used in the late 1950s regarding international coverage of U.S. Civil Rights events, such as the [[Little Rock integration crisis]].<ref>An editorial cartoon from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on September 11, 1957 is reprinted in Dudziak, Mary L., ''Cold War Civil Rights: Race and Image of American Democracy'', Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 122.</ref> The 1963 [[Bob Dylan]] song "[[When the Ship Comes In]]" contains the lyric "And the ship's wise men / Will remind you once again / That the whole wide world is watchin'." [[Peter, Paul and Mary]], who performed for the demonstrators during the convention,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tomifobia.com/mahoney/chicago_1968.html|title=Log Cabin Chronicles John Mahoney Covers the 1968 Democratic Chicago Convention|publisher=}}</ref> covered Dylan's song on their 1965 album ''[[A Song Will Rise]]''. |
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On track 10 of their 1969 hit [[Chicago Transit Authority (album)|debut record album]] the rock band [[Chicago (band)|Chicago]], then known as Chicago Transit Authority, used what may be a copy of the real audio clip of the crowd chanting, "The whole world is watching." The track called, "Prologue, August 29, 1968" is 57 seconds long. The chant continues into the next song, track eleven, "Someday (August 29, 1968)" but fades away after a few seconds, only to return again in the middle of the song. |
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| ⚫ | Don Rose, who was press secretary for the Chicago office of the [[National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]], the primary organizer of the Chicago actions, has said in several interviews that he coined the phrase prior to a press conference on Monday, August 26, at which Mobe organizer [[Rennie Davis]] spoke. Davis asked Rose what they could say about the violence of the Chicago police the night before in [[Lincoln Park]] and Rose said, "tell them the whole world is watching and they'll never get away with it again."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/continued/3876/the_whole_world_was_watching/|title=The Whole World Was Watching|publisher=}}</ref> |
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In their 2008 [[Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus|release]], Chicago reprised the chant in the third track, "All the Years". At about two and a half minutes into the track, the chant is played after a montage of other notable historical clips and concurrently with a harmonica solo.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Chicago (Band) | date=June 17, 2008 | title=Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus | medium=CD | publisher=Rhino Records}}</ref> |
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==Current usage== |
==Current usage== |
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Today, the phrase is regularly used in mainstream [[Left-wing politics|left movements |
Today, the phrase is regularly used in protests and mainstream [[Left-wing politics|left movements]]. It is the title of a 1980 book about mass media and the [[New Left]] by former student activist [[Todd Gitlin]]. [[Right-wing politics|Rightist]] commentators have also used the phrase to argue for such causes as U.S. condemnation of Islamic violence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/212160/whole-world-watching-victor-davis-hanson |title=The Whole World Is Watching: Three years of terrorism since September 11 |author=Victor Davis Hanson |author-link=Victor Davis Hanson|date=September 10, 2004 |work=National Review Online |accessdate=13 May 2016}}</ref> During the [[2011 Wisconsin protests]], protesters in Madison, WI chanted the phrase often in reference to the large national media presence and worldwide positive response.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFzX4TJnUfc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/EFzX4TJnUfc |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=The whole world is watching|date=1 April 2011|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>[http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49888.html From Cairo to Madison, some pizza], Politico.com, February 20, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2011.</ref> Protesters also chanted the phrase while being arrested and removed from the Capitol the morning of the first vote on the law they were protesting.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKOyHenT8a8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/gKOyHenT8a8 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=The Whole World Is Watching|date=16 March 2011|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> [[Occupy Wall Street]] protesters chanted the phrase on October 1, 2011,<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fockzr7rXys |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/fockzr7rXys |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=#OWS Protesters March On The Brooklyn Bridge 700+ Arrested 10-1-11|date=2 October 2011|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> when [[NYPD]] barricaded and arrested citizens who were blocking the roadway on the Brooklyn Bridge in one of the largest mass-arrests of otherwise nonviolent demonstrators in US history. "The Whole World Is Watching" was on a banner purposely blocking the view of ropes being tied to the statue of ''[[Silent Sam]]'' in 2018, minutes before the statue was pulled down.<ref name='newsobserver'>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article217035815.html |title=Protesters topple Silent Sam Confederate statue at UNC |date=August 20, 2018 |access-date=August 22, 2018 |first=Jane |last=Stancill}}</ref> |
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U.S. President [[Barack Obama]] used the phrase during demonstrations in [[Tehran]] over the outcome of [[2009 Iranian presidential election|Iranian elections in 2009]].<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/20/iran.obama/ Obama to Iran: 'The whole world is watching'], CNN.com, June 20, 2009. Retrieved March 31 2010.</ref> |
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During the [[trial of Derek Chauvin]] (who was facing charges for the [[murder of George Floyd]]), [[Benjamin Crump]], the attorney representing Floyd's family, said to reporters on March 29, 2021 "What we want to know is, will we see justice? […] The whole world is watching."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kelley |first=Alexandra |date=March 29, 2021 |title='The whole world is watching:' opening statements begin for first-ever televised trial of cop in George Floyd's killing |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/545422-the-whole-world-is-watching-opening-statements-begin-for/ |website=The Hill}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Donaghue |first=Erin |date=March 30, 2021 |title=Derek Chauvin Trial 3/29/21: Witness describes watching George Floyd "slowly fade away" as testimony begins in Chauvin trial |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/derek-chauvin-trial-testimony-day-1/ |website=CBS News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Fazio |first=Marie |date=March 29, 2021 |title=Sharpton and Crump warn that the 'world is watching' as witnesses begin to testify. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/us/al-sharpton-ben-crump-george-floyd.html |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | The origin of the phrase is unclear. The phrase was used in the late 1950s regarding international coverage of U.S. Civil Rights events, such as the [[Little Rock integration crisis]].<ref>An editorial cartoon from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on September 11, 1957 is reprinted in Dudziak, Mary L., ''Cold War Civil Rights: Race and Image of American Democracy'', Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 122.</ref> The 1963 [[Bob Dylan]] song "[[When the Ship Comes In]]" contains the lyric "And the ship's wise men / Will remind you once again / That the whole wide world is watchin'." [[Peter, Paul and Mary]], who performed for the demonstrators during the convention,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tomifobia.com/mahoney/chicago_1968.html|title=Log Cabin Chronicles John Mahoney Covers the 1968 Democratic Chicago Convention|publisher=}}</ref> covered Dylan's song on their 1965 album ''[[A Song Will Rise]]''. |
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[[Israel–Hamas war protests in the United States|Israel-Hamas war protesters]] outside the [[2024 Democratic National Convention]], also in Chicago, used the phrase.<ref>{{Cite web |last=SKENE |first=LEA |last2=CAPPELLETTI |first2=JOEY |last3=TAREEN |first3=SOPHIA |date=2024-08-19 |title=Some protesters tear down security fence as thousands march outside Democratic National Convention |url=https://apnews.com/article/protest-democratic-convention-chicago-war-87d32321eb5714e2005fe8410b928513 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819075401/https://apnews.com/article/protest-democratic-convention-chicago-war-87d32321eb5714e2005fe8410b928513 |archive-date=2024-08-19 |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=[[AP News]] |language=en}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Don Rose, who was press secretary for the Chicago office of the [[National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]], the primary organizer of the Chicago actions, has said in several interviews that he coined the phrase prior to a press conference on Monday, August 26, at which Mobe organizer [[Rennie Davis]] spoke. Davis asked Rose what they could say about the violence of the Chicago police the night before in [[Lincoln Park]] and Rose said, "tell them the whole world is watching and they'll never get away with it again."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/continued/3876/the_whole_world_was_watching/|title=The Whole World Was Watching|publisher=}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
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* {{cite |
* {{cite news |
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|title=The Siege of Chicago. 'The Whole World Is Watching' |
|title=The Siege of Chicago. 'The Whole World Is Watching' |
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|first=Sasha |
|first=Sasha |
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{{Chicago Seven}} |
{{Chicago Seven}} |
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{{Anti-Vietnam}} |
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{{1968 protests}} |
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{{Anti-war}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:whole world is watching, The}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:whole world is watching, The}} |
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[[Category:Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War]] |
[[Category:Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War]] |
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[[Category:1968 Democratic National Convention]] |
[[Category:1968 Democratic National Convention]] |
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[[Category:English words and phrases]] |
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[[Category:Police brutality in the United States]] |
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Latest revision as of 14:56, 7 September 2024
"The whole world is watching" was a phrase chanted by anti-Vietnam War demonstrators as they were beaten and arrested by police outside the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
The event occurred and was broadcast nationally from taped footage on the night of Wednesday, August 28, the third day of the convention. Demonstrators took up the chant as police were beating and pulling many of them into police vans, "each with a superfluous whack of a nightstick,"[1] after the demonstrators, being barricaded in the park by the police, began to come into Michigan Avenue in front of the hotel.
The prescient and apparently spontaneous chant quickly became famous. The following year, it served as the title of a television movie about student activism.
Origin
[edit]The origin of the phrase is unclear. The phrase was used in the late 1950s regarding international coverage of U.S. Civil Rights events, such as the Little Rock integration crisis.[2] The 1963 Bob Dylan song "When the Ship Comes In" contains the lyric "And the ship's wise men / Will remind you once again / That the whole wide world is watchin'." Peter, Paul and Mary, who performed for the demonstrators during the convention,[3] covered Dylan's song on their 1965 album A Song Will Rise.
Don Rose, who was press secretary for the Chicago office of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the primary organizer of the Chicago actions, has said in several interviews that he coined the phrase prior to a press conference on Monday, August 26, at which Mobe organizer Rennie Davis spoke. Davis asked Rose what they could say about the violence of the Chicago police the night before in Lincoln Park and Rose said, "tell them the whole world is watching and they'll never get away with it again."[4]
Current usage
[edit]Today, the phrase is regularly used in protests and mainstream left movements. It is the title of a 1980 book about mass media and the New Left by former student activist Todd Gitlin. Rightist commentators have also used the phrase to argue for such causes as U.S. condemnation of Islamic violence.[5] During the 2011 Wisconsin protests, protesters in Madison, WI chanted the phrase often in reference to the large national media presence and worldwide positive response.[6][7] Protesters also chanted the phrase while being arrested and removed from the Capitol the morning of the first vote on the law they were protesting.[8] Occupy Wall Street protesters chanted the phrase on October 1, 2011,[9] when NYPD barricaded and arrested citizens who were blocking the roadway on the Brooklyn Bridge in one of the largest mass-arrests of otherwise nonviolent demonstrators in US history. "The Whole World Is Watching" was on a banner purposely blocking the view of ropes being tied to the statue of Silent Sam in 2018, minutes before the statue was pulled down.[10]
U.S. President Barack Obama used the phrase during demonstrations in Tehran over the outcome of Iranian elections in 2009.[11]
During the trial of Derek Chauvin (who was facing charges for the murder of George Floyd), Benjamin Crump, the attorney representing Floyd's family, said to reporters on March 29, 2021 "What we want to know is, will we see justice? […] The whole world is watching."[12][13][14]
Israel-Hamas war protesters outside the 2024 Democratic National Convention, also in Chicago, used the phrase.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ Perlstein, Rick (2008). Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. Simon and Schuster. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-7432-4302-5.
- ^ An editorial cartoon from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on September 11, 1957 is reprinted in Dudziak, Mary L., Cold War Civil Rights: Race and Image of American Democracy, Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 122.
- ^ "Log Cabin Chronicles John Mahoney Covers the 1968 Democratic Chicago Convention".
- ^ "The Whole World Was Watching".
- ^ Victor Davis Hanson (September 10, 2004). "The Whole World Is Watching: Three years of terrorism since September 11". National Review Online. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ^ The whole world is watching. 1 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
- ^ From Cairo to Madison, some pizza, Politico.com, February 20, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
- ^ The Whole World Is Watching. 16 March 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
- ^ #OWS Protesters March On The Brooklyn Bridge 700+ Arrested 10-1-11. 2 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
- ^ Stancill, Jane (August 20, 2018). "Protesters topple Silent Sam Confederate statue at UNC". Retrieved August 22, 2018.
- ^ Obama to Iran: 'The whole world is watching', CNN.com, June 20, 2009. Retrieved March 31 2010.
- ^ Kelley, Alexandra (March 29, 2021). "'The whole world is watching:' opening statements begin for first-ever televised trial of cop in George Floyd's killing". The Hill.
- ^ Donaghue, Erin (March 30, 2021). "Derek Chauvin Trial 3/29/21: Witness describes watching George Floyd "slowly fade away" as testimony begins in Chauvin trial". CBS News.
- ^ Fazio, Marie (March 29, 2021). "Sharpton and Crump warn that the 'world is watching' as witnesses begin to testify". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ^ SKENE, LEA; CAPPELLETTI, JOEY; TAREEN, SOPHIA (2024-08-19). "Some protesters tear down security fence as thousands march outside Democratic National Convention". AP News. Archived from the original on 2024-08-19. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
Further reading
[edit]- Abramsy, Sasha (August 27 – September 3, 2018). "The Siege of Chicago. 'The Whole World Is Watching'". The Nation. pp. 12–15.
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