JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO: ANTI-VIETNAM PROTESTS.
John Lennon was perhaps one of the biggest influences upon the youth of the 60’s. Beatle-mania took over, The Beatles shaped popular music as we know it today and Lennon still remains a hugely influential figure today.
Lennon and his wife Yoko were also very well known for their activism during the Vietnam war. They took an active role in persuading thousands to protest against the Vietnam War. All he was saying, was “give peace a chance”.
John and Yoko protested peacefully over a number of years and it was a huge success. The effect that the ex-Beatle had was huge. One of the most famous being when over half a million people gathered on the second anniversary of the Vietnam Moratorium day and started to sing “give peace a chance”. Lennon used his fame to attract mass media attention, in an attempt to spread their message of peace far and wide.
The two moved to New York in 1971 and became friends with other activists like Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, who convinced Lennon to play at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally in Ann Arbour on the 10th of December 1971. The concert took place to protest against the imprisonment of Sinclair, a renowned political activist and leader of the white panther party, who had been arrested for selling marijuana to an undercover policeman in 1971.
"If everybody demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace"
-John Lennon
Opposition to the vietnam war.