{"id":28088,"date":"2013-06-16T00:18:19","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T00:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=28088"},"modified":"2016-02-25T23:44:30","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T23:44:30","slug":"220-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=28088","title":{"rendered":"Q220 Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

To read the Tape Transcript, click here<\/a>. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1<\/a>, Pt. 2<\/a>).
\nTo return to the Tape Index, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0FBI Catalogue:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Jones Speaking<\/p>\n

FBI preliminary tape identification note:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 None<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Likely summer 1978 (reference to \u201cthe Shah of Iran [being] completely surrounded,\u201d and while strikes and demonstrations against the Shah had started in January 1978, they didn\u2019t begin to fully isolate him until August)<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

People named:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/em>
\nRichard Nixon, former president of the United States
\nHenry Kissinger, National Security Adviser
\nSen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin)<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adolf Hitler
\nMartin Niem\u00f6ller, German pastor, critic of Nazism (by reference)Salvador Allende, President of Chile, deposed in 1973 coup
\nVictor Jara, Chilean singer<\/p>\n

Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran<\/p>\n

Rolando Carrasaco, author of Chile\u2019s Prisoners of War<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jonestown residents:<\/em>
\nWesley Breidenbach
\nYvonne Morrison
\nJim Simpson
\nMary Tschetter<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bible verses cited:<\/strong> None<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(This tape was transcribed by Sarabeth Trujillo. The editors gratefully acknowledge her invaluable assistance.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Jim Jones reads two chapters from a memoir of a Chilean citizen imprisoned after the coup of 1973 that resulted in the death of Pres. Salvador Allende and the installation of a military junta as the country\u2019s governing body. Jones begins the tape by saying he will present both \u201creading and commentary,\u201d and while sometimes it is fairly apparent when the commentary appears \u2013 when he speaks about the relationship of the events in Chile to life in Jonestown, or when his voice becomes less theatrical and more conversational, or when he reprises one of his axioms such as the imminence of nuclear war \u2013 but oftentimes it is not.<\/p>\n

At one point, for example, Jones offers a fairly lengthy aside about the book-burning in Chile and compares it to Nazi Germany\u2019s book-burning. He continues with sentiments and conspiratorial assertions which seems closer to his own \u2013 \u201cGermany was tricked into getting into the war\u201d by the leaders of its fascist government \u2013 but the language and Jones\u2019 oratory as he pursues the aside are not his standard fare.<\/p>\n

There are numerous messages he wants to deliver to the people of Jonestown as he reads the chapters, some inspired by the text, others more spontaneous. As he begins reading, for example, he speaks of the hopelessness he feels of ever being able to teach some of his followers. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we feel the spirit of suffering of our comrades,\u201d he says in an early aside, \u201c[but even] if I read and commented and gave my own opinions as I did earlier today for several hours, \u2026 some of you would not be educated.\u201d These periodic, free-floating denigrations of some of his followers, and his references to his deteriorating health suggest that the tape was made in Jonestown\u2019s final months.<\/p>\n

There is also a bitterness in his remarks, and increasingly hardened political positions, that do not appear with such stridency in Jonestown\u2019s earlier period. The overthrow of Allende demonstrates that meaningful change will only come through violent revolution, as Italy\u2019s Red brigade has shown. \u201c[Y]ou have to have activism, [you] cannot believe in democratic change. Chile proves that you cannot work within the system.\u2026 The people supported [Allende]. They tried to bring change by gradualism and democracy, and that is revisionism. It will not work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones has chosen the book because it shows the harsh brutality of the military junta in the days and weeks following the coup. When the book wanders from the message of oppression and resistance, Jones\u2019 voice becomes tight with disagreement. \u201cYou don\u2019t need entertainment,\u201d he interjects while reading about the men in the cellblock organizing to present skits, songs and comedy routines to keep their spirits up. \u201cThis is no time for songs, poetry readings, or jokes.\u201d Moments later, after reading descriptions of the skits, he adds, \u201cI can\u2019t relate to this at all. At all. Maybe some of you in Jonestown can. I can\u2019t relate to this at all.\u201d Instead of using laughter as a survival technique, he says, \u201cMy hate and talk of hate and planning conceptions to how to get at the enemies who were raping the women and little children being tortured woulda been all<\/em> that I needed to kept my will and kept it alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, when the author speaks of the need to do what one can to survive, Jones replies with a literal harrumph and adds, \u201cBoy, you see, they lack revolutionary awareness. You shouldn\u2019t want to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The theme of death infects much of what he passes along in his commentary. Chile had succumbed to the military because its people were not sufficiently revolutionary, he says, especially the women who \u201cshould\u2019ve been emancipated from this role of screaming and looking so passive.\u201d He doesn\u2019t want the people of Jonestown to follow that example. Rather, \u201cI want to see every one of you with a plan of what you will do if you face death, and how you will face revolutionary death, and what you will do, if necessary, to die for the revolution.\u201d In critiquing how the prisoners learned to cooperate with each other so that there would be food for all, Jones counters, \u201cYou pounce on it like a crowd of hungry animals, with the result that some of you go hungry. That\u2019s why you must be prepared in Jonestown for revolutionary death. \u2026 There should no fear of death here, and I am very impatient with you that still fear death, which is the last enemy that we\u2019ve overcome in many White Night.\u201d<\/p>\n

His message as he signs off summarizes the bleakness with which the people of Jonestown were becoming increasingly familiar. \u201cThe pulse of revolution goes on,\u201d he says, but what that means to them is they must \u201c[i]dentify with the sufferings of our comrades, and know that life is meaningless, no more meaningful than a worm\u2019s existence, or one of these beetles that live only just fourteen to twenty-four hours that you see flying around at this time of the year. Then there\u2019s no meaning outside of communism, but in communism, there becomes revolutionary purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

FBI Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date of transcription: 6\/7\/79<\/p>\n

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.<\/p>\n

On May 28, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B70-6. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

JIM JONES reading and editorializing on Chapter 5 of \u201cChile\u2019s Prisoners of War\u201d by ROLANDO CORASACO.<\/p>\n

At 25 minutes and 50 seconds into the tape JONES said, \u201cYou here in Jonestown must be prepared for revolutionary death \u2026 I\u2019m very impatient with you who still fear death \u2026 which is the last enemy that we\u2019ve overcome in many white nights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Differences with FBI Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n

Tape originally posted December 2009<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you. To read the Tape Transcript, click here. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1, Pt. 2). To return to the Tape Index, click here. \u00a0FBI Catalogue:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jones Speaking FBI preliminary tape identification note:\u00a0\u00a0 None Date cues on tape:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":88,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28088","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28088"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66415,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28088\/revisions\/66415"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}