free speech - an anniversary

[Tony&Cheri]

As there’s been a lot of talk about “Free Speech” lately, in the news and on this board (thank you Mr. Ahmadinejad), I though it appropriate to remember this day in history.

On October 1st 1964, a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a non-violent civil rights organization dedicated to registering black voters in the segregated south, was arrested by campus police for setting up an information table on a street adjacent to the University of California at Berkeley. Passing students observing the arrest formed a line around the police car refusing to let it take the CORE volunteer away.

As word spread they were joined by thousands of others. Students blocked the police car for over 24 hours. The sit-in spilled over onto University property as students filled the steps leading to the Administration Building. The students asked for a repeal of University Policy which prohibited students from organizing or advocating political causes not approved by the University. The sit-in became known as the “Free Speech Movement”. After several weeks of student protest and multiple student arrests the University repealed the prohibition of free speech.

Ronald Reagan subsequently ran for Governor of California in 1966 promising to "clean up that mess in Berkeley" started by the Free Speech Movement. He won a landslide victory and dismissed the University's President.

-Papa T

“We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, ‘That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.’ You never heard a real American talk in that manner.”- Frank Hague

“When one makes a Revolution, one cannot mark time; one must always go forward -- or go back. He who now talks about the ''freedom of the press'' goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism”.-Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

“If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all”.-Noam Chomsky

[Bevoz]

Thanks for reminding us

[gingele]

Wanted to add one of my faves:


"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it''


The Friends of Voltaire (1906), written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall

[ami]

Originally Posted by gingele

Wanted to add one of my faves:


"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it''


The Friends of Voltaire (1906), written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall

That's one of my favorites too!

[horizon200]

He obviously did not apply for the proper permits to set up said table.

First form 1098 needs to be submitted in triplicate to The County Office of Is It Ok To Set Up A Table. Then a form 789 needs to be sent to the State office of Is He Going To Say Anything Embarrassing. Finally, he needs to make sure the area where his information table is going to be set up does not interfere with the local hot dog vendor or good humor man...that can be done through the Office of I Can't Walk Too Far For A Snack.

[Sol]

Originally Posted by gingele

Wanted to add one of my faves:


"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it''


The Friends of Voltaire (1906), written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Love this quote!

[roni]

One of the events of the free speech movement days at Berkeley was a physical demonstration of the support that the faculty gave to the students. They held a faculty meeting and marched out of it in the same type of processional used in graduation ceremonies, many of them in full academic regalia, in support of the students.

Clark Kerr was the chancellor of UC during that time. One of Reagan's first acts as governor was to fire him. Clark is quoted as having said something along the lines of:

I left my job here in the same way I came to it; fired with enthusiasm

[Just Lucky]

CORE is still very much alive!I believe I posted this on another thread last week, on their website they have display of buttons worn by CORE members in the south. We should never forget the bravery they have shown and do show or that it is up to us to continue the struggle.

Here's a link to the buttons although the entire website is well worth a visit:Civil Rights Movement Pins

[Tony&Cheri]

Originally Posted by Just Lucky

CORE is still very much alive!I believe I posted this on another thread last week, on their website they have display of buttons worn by CORE members in the south. We should never forget the bravery they have shown and do show or that it is up to us to continue the struggle.

Here's a link to the buttons although the entire website is well worth a visit:Civil Rights Movement Pins

JL, I agree. The definition of bravery can easily be a reference to the young men and women, black and white who under the banners of CORE and the NAACP and the Black Christian movement of MLK walked into the Lion's mouth of the deep south to try and stop segregation. Some paid with their heads, some with their lives.

However, free speech means not only letting those brave souls speak out...it means offering the same right to H. Rap Brown, Malcom X, Huey Newton (whom I despise), and NWA. It also means offering the same right to Strom Thurmond, Jerry Falwell and Rush Limbaugh.And it probably means being willing to listen to the anti-gay, anti-semetic, anti-truth of a Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. We should celebrate Free Speech not by listening to our heroes, but by giving a public forum to our enemies.

I recently read "Troublesome Young Men" (see the "What I am reading now" thread). One of the suggestions of those brave young men was that if Adolph Hitler's true speeches and writings, uncensored, were avaialble to the British public, they would have risen up against him long before he took control of Europe.

Papa T

P.S. Am I the only one who looks at your Avatar and thinks of Jerry Jeff Walker? (Cowboy Boots and Bathing Suits).

P.P.S. Relevant to other threads, my friend PDS, like CORE, is still alive and well. As he deserves to be. Strictly on a personal level I find his opinions and contributions to this forum to be worthwhile and...most importantly...thought provoking and challenging. He makes me ask questions of myself. How wonderful is that?