10/05/04 - Hundreds of activists from across the country who participated in the 1964 Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the event that inspired protests from Paris to Kent State and opened the floodgates of student political activism. Once jailed for defying the authorities, then honored worldwide, FSM activists are finally being welcomed back by UC Berkeley, where it all began.

With a week's worth of speeches, panels, and workshops, this commemoration will be the largest event ever to focus on the broad range of civil liberties under siege in the United States since the adoption of the Patriot Act.

The high point of the weeklong program will evoke the past during a rally in Sproul Plaza with guest speakers standing on top of a police car. Howard Dean, State Senator Jackie Goldberg, and others will honor the seminal victory of the FSM, and evoke students’ powers to take action, vote, and change the world. A dramatic event will also take place to focus attention on the Patriot Act and its infringement of free speech rights today.

Coordinator Michael Rossman, author of "The Wedding Within The War" and "New Age Blues," and close friend of the FSM’s Mario Savio, who died in 1996, says, “We hope to inspire young activists to go beyond what we achieved. In a time when civil liberties are under attack, the way to commemorate a great victory of free speech is to speak freely about issues of the present. Over fifty cities." he adds, "have quietly passed resolutions against the Patriot Act, but we hope to send a signal of freedom across the entire nation.”
Free Speech Movement Website | Program for Events | Other Media Coverage | Photo Collage by Ron Enfield
Photos From The Event: 1  2  3