Radicalism reborn

But after 21 days in the cell, even among radicals who shared the experience with her, her romanticism began to fade. "I was a middle-class kid. It was shocking to find yourself in a place where your opinions, and logic, and reason just don't count," she says. "They are meaningless in prison."

The bulk of the radical movement today is comprised of young idealists, in their late teens and early 20s. It is gaining momentum on college campuses, just as it did in the '60s. Many believe activists today are more politically astute than those of the '60s, because of their access to large amounts of information.

A stark difference between the first group and the current one is that activists today, unlike those in the '60s, are not mindlessly protesting, says Parenti, but carefully calculating who and what is the enemy, and then asking why.

Today's radicals have a greater consciousness of where the seats of power are, he says. "Activism without deep analysis does not sustain itself. That is why so many former radicals have been taken in by the very thing they profess to oppose," Parenti says. "This time it's different."

"It is a far smaller world today, there is so much information," says Kevin Danaher, the co-founder of Global Exchange, a San Francisco organization that played an active role in the Seattle protests. "The Internet has changed everything," he says. This is why he believes there is a greater consciousness of where the seats of power are. "Activists are much more well-informed today," Mr. Danaher says. "So they are bolder, and more assertive." He believes the activist movement is less sectarian today, which makes it a stronger force.

Radicalism today looks the same as it did in the '60s. "They [the mainstream] complain about us on the streets. But we have to take the streets to be heard," Danaher says. "You put thousands in the streets, and they understand: 'We can disrupt you.' "

But there are new twists today. Danaher believes that '60s radicalism was contained within a national framework. Protesters were outraged with the decisions that the US government was making. "Now it's much bigger," he says. With the Internet, activists from all over the world are banding together. "This is a global movement."

"In the '60s, we were worried about getting sent off to Vietnam. We were motivated by fear. Now, the issues are more universal, involving a collective consciousness. It's about preserving forests; it's about [feeding] starving children in the world."

Attorney Rubin had dreamed of becoming a civil rights lawyer. She chose to work within a powerful bank in corporate America. She struggles for women's rights within the bank and considers herself a radical within the institution. But she has always been ambivalent about her position. "Sometimes I just want to hide my head. Sometimes I ask myself: Why didn't I just become a civil rights lawyer? Part of the answer is: I don't know." She says friends have called her a sell-out; some never talked to her again. She is often embarrassed to say what she does, she says.

But if the modified views of Rubin or Parenti seem like the closing of a chapter in radicalism, another chapter may have begun with Lori Berenson and the antiglobalist activists she typifies. Sentenced to 20 years in a Peruvian jail for alleged association with a terrorist group there, Ms. Berenson continues to maintain her innocence.

She has stood as a symbol of fortitude with her insistence on not admitting any wrongdoing. A confession could have set her free much earlier. Now, she could be 46 years old by the time she's released. "The majority of people are going to say, 'I'm going to save myself,' " says her mother, Rhoda Berenson, "confessing to what they have not done for freedom."

On June 20, Berenson wrote in her closing statement: "I have been very open and honest about this, because it has been part of my way of life for many years - I believe that when things are wrong, one should say they are wrong. One should speak when faced with injustice."

Were it so simple. The years have given Rubin perspective on what it means to be a radical. "Now I realize there are a lot of different ways to effect change," she says. "When I was younger, I was adamant that it could only be done one way."

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