The youth of the 1980s by avoid following the elders of their time, abandoned the traditional values and culture of their society and formed a radical society with its own characteristics. They abandoned their families and began a new way of life to protest against the social traditions, discrimination, policies of the ruling system and militancy.
The hippie movement began in San Francisco and spread throughout the US to Canada and part of Europe. But it had its biggest impact in America. Hippies came from different places with different backgrounds. Young people between the ages of 15 and 25 who had left their families.
Features of the hippie community can be described in some items:
- Collective life: In hippie societies, individuals usually live in the tribe and in the commune, and for a child in the commune or tribe, all adults are parents. In these communes, people do not have a double relationship, and anyone can have sex with any other member.
- No economic activity. Most of them wouldn’t do anything except when necessary. The group also don’t pay attention in private ownership.
- Drug use was known as one of the foundations of the hippie movement, LSD was one of the most important and widely used types of drugs for hippies, and marijuana was widely popular among the youth of that time.The illusion of some went so far as to think that they could establish a new religion from the time of the illusion of this substance. Dr. Timothy Leary, a Harvard professor, calls LSD Western Yoga!
Hippies congregated in a designated area of San Francisco at the intersection of Hyatt and Ashburn Streets. The Hyatt-Ashburn intersection is right in the center of San Francisco. The area had two parks that all hippies knew about. They set up a festival called the trips festival in the area. They called the festival a one-week program to celebrate the LSD experience. There were many other events beside the festival in the park, including free concerts by Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane and anti-war demonstrations.
- The lack of hierarchy in the hippie community in a way that created a sense of obedience, conscientiousness and respect in the members.
- Great attention to music. They used music to express their thoughts. Pop music is, in fact, a Trojan horse for the hippies, and has been at the heart of American society and other European countries the best means of protesting against the social system of their land in the community. Many of the hippies were made up of musicians. Bob Dylan was one of the most influential musicians of the time.
- The hippie movement is primarily interested in living in the promised paradise of nature and escaping machine life. Because the more non-industrial and non-machine, the more interesting they are. They make their favorite objects, clothes, and accessories from Native American artifacts. One of the most important features of hippies is their type of appearance and makeup, which often has long hair and strange and different clothes.
“Long hair is a symbol of unity for us. We are distinguishable from others by this symbol. As oppressors, we are white. “But our long hair ties us together and our night name for the club is the opposition of the status quo.”
- The hippie movement was also involved in the day-to-day issues; the most prominent period of its political orientation was to launch a wave of demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War. The hippies expressed their strong opposition to the Vietnam War and their association with the civil rights movement. They expressed their protest in various ways such as music and quiet sit-ins.
“The elderly believe that young people should go to war and be killed for them. They want to kill for their economic prosperity.
Our answer is: die on your own! We don’t want to be sacrificed for you!
The American youth movement is seeking to build a new identity. We believe that we must break out of the middle class norms dictated by the owners of power and wealth. Leave their schools. Run away from home and build new communities and communities.
Hippies were aware that the United States had lost the war and killed thousands of American soldiers. There was a huge march that involved not only hippies but also students, intellectuals, radicals and all sorts of people. The protest took place in Washington in the heart of the United States, where 25000 of people came together for a common cause. They wanted their troops back home and the US involvement in the war to end. Hundreds of anti-war marches took place during the Vietnam War.