Unabomber for President

Unabomber for President was a political campaign with the overt aim of electing "The Unabomber" as a write-in candidate in the United States presidential election, 1996.cite journal
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E6DF1631F934A15751C1A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
title=A Star on Your Computer Screen
date=1997-12-27
journal=The New York Times
accessdate=2008-04-08
last=Glaberson
first=William] The campaign's slogan was "if elected, he will not serve."

The campaign was launched in Boston in September 1995 by Lydia Eccles – a Boston artist who had long harbored concerns about "totalitarian tendencies in technology" – and antinatalist Chris Korda. It took the overt form of a political action committee, Unabomber Political Action Committee (UNAPACK).cite journal
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4DC173BF936A2575AC0A960958260
title=They Call It Luddite Love
journal=The New York Times
accessdate=2008-04-07
date=1996-09-15] Influenced initially by ideas of the Situationist International, the group included anarchists, hard-core punk rockers, '60s types, eco-leftists, pacifists, militants and primitivists. Its supporters included decentralized anarchist collective CrimethInc. and the Church of Euthanasia. ["Days of War, Nights of Love" (2001) , Crimethinc.Workers Collective, p. 221 ISBN 097091010X]

The campaign received national publicity, and attempts by news organizations to portray it as frivolous were resisted by UNAPACK, who insisted that the issues raised by Kaczynski were portentous, concerning "the fate of mankind". In the words of the "Phoenix New Times", the campaign was "an effort designed to cast votes in protest of the existing hierarchy and its potential replacement."cite journal
url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-09-30/news/freaks-and-geeks/3
title=Freaks and Geeks
journal=Phoenix New Times
accessdate=2008-04-07
last=Silverman
first=Amy
date=2004-09-30] The Maoist Internationalist Movement criticized the campaign as typifying "life-style politics anarchism" and as encouraging protest votes instead of seizing political power from the bourgeoisie. [cite journal |last= |first= |date=1996-12-15 |url=http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/mn/mn.php?issue=124 |journal=MIM Notes |issue=124 |title=Unabomber for President? Review of Anarchist Nonsense |accessdate=2008-04-13 ]

As Bill Brown, director of the campaign's New York office, said at the time "most of the media are unable to deal with the campaign… [t] here is no way for people to understand why you would say 'Unabomber for President' and that gives us a tactical opportunity to explain ourselves."cite interview |last=Brown |first=Bill |interviewer=Joey Manley |title=Interview with Unabomer for President Political Action Committee NYC |callsign = |url=http://www.notbored.org/manley.html |city=New York City |date=1996 |program= |accessdate=2008-04-14 ] The intended symbolism of the campaign was not that it was a joke, but that the political system was a joke.

The campaign won "Reason" magazine's best bumper sticker for their effort "FED UP WITH 'PROGRESS'? Write-in UNABOMBER For PRESIDENT '96." [cite journal
url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_n6_v28/ai_18850956
title=The best of slime, the worst of slime: winners and losers at the national conventions
journal=Reason
accessdate=2008-04-08
year=1996
month=November
last=Hazlett
first=Thomas W.]

References

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/19970427230834/www.paranoia.com/unapack/ UNAPACK's web site] (archived 1997 version).
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19970428075632/www.paranoia.com/unapack/press/press.html UNAPACK's press page] (archived 1997 version)
* [http://www.notbored.org/unapacknyc.html Unabomber for President Political Action Committee, New York City Office]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/1996/9/9/nomination_for_unabomber_for_president Nomination for Unabomber for President] radio segment from September 9, 1996 by Democracy Now!
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19970428075429/www.paranoia.com/unapack/lydia/voteuna.html Top Ten Reasons to Vote Unabomber] , by Lydia Eccles