Michael Justesen
| Michael Thomas Justesen | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 17, 1950 |
| Known for | Former member of the SLF, SDS , and Weather Underground Organization |
Michael Justesen (born May 17, 1950) is a former member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Seattle Liberation Front (SLF) and Weather Underground Organization (WUO).
Two different sources give conflicting places of birth for Michael Justesen. According to the FBI Surveillance Files, Justesen was born in Sacramento, California. However, Michael Justesen was born in Seattle, Washington, according to Susan Stern, the author of With the Weathermen: The Personal Journal of a Revolutionary Woman. Justesen attended the University of Washington as a freshman in 1968. Justesen's first involvement with politics was participating in the University of Washington draft resistance in 1968, and he consequently withdrew from the University to devote all his time to the revolution. He became active in SDS soon after.
Justesen was a part of the SDS leadership in the Seattle collective. From August to mid September 1969, Justesen traveled to Japan to attend the Second International Anti-Imperialist Conference to make contact with "Red Army" student activists. The focus of the conference was opposition to the United States in Vietnam and Korea and support for the Vietnamese people. On October 8–11, 1969, Justesen volunteered to co-ordinate and send bail for SDS members from Seattle who were in Chicago, Illinois for the protest demonstrations for "Days of Rage." Justesen attended the "War Council" meetings in Flint, Michigan on December 27–31, 1969.
Michael Justesen played a leading role in the Seattle Weatherman collective. On December 1, 1969, Justesen led a group which attacked the University of Washington Army ROTC.
Justesen attended the Seattle Liberation Front's first meeting on January 19, 1970, which was led by the visiting University of Washington philosophy professor Michael Lerner. Susan Stern, the author of With the Weatherman, wrote "The SLF was based on premises exactly opposite to Weatherman, and we were not invited to the first meeting, or to any others for that matter." In response to the Chicago 7 Trial verdict, the SLF issued a call for people to shut down the Seattle Federal Courthouse on February 17, 1970. Dozens of people were arrested, not including Justesen.
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