Voting Station

Mario Savio

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Advocate

The Resume

    (December 8, 1942-November 6, 1996)
    Born in New York City, New York
    Leader in the Free Speech Movement (FSM) protesting a ban on political activity at the University of California, Berkeley (1964-65)
    Best known for his 'Bodies upon the Gears' speech (December 2, 1964)

Why he might be annoying:

    He admitted he got involved in his first protest (against San Francisco businesses that refused to hire black employees) because 'there was this girl I wanted to impress.'
    During a campus protest, he bit a policeman on the foot.
    He ran unsuccessfully for the California state senate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket while declaring, 'I hate being in politics, having to manipulate lives.' (1968)
    He said, 'The university is a vast public utility which turns out future workers in today's vineyard, the military-industrial complex,' then became an instructor at Sonoma State University.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He graduated from Martin Van Buren High School as valedictorian of a class of 1,200 students.
    He was beaten with a club while teaching and helping African American register to vote in Mississippi during Freedom Summer (1964).
    The FBI put him on a list of 'Key Activists' to be monitored and harassed under the illegal COINTELPRO program.
    The FBI kept up its surveillance of him for a decade after he quit the FSM without producing any evidence that he had violated federal laws.
    A fellow instructor at Sonoma State said, 'He brought the same kind of enthusiasm that he had in the 60s to his teaching, and his students really appreciated it.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying