Members of the activist group Committee for the First Amendment

Members of the activist group Committee for the First Amendment

Fighting to save freedom and Democracy in America

By Lynda Carson - August 3, 2026

Oakland, CA - The Committee for the First Amendment, was relaunched last year, and is made up of a variety of prominent figures in the entertainment industry.

Additionally, the Committee for the First Amendment has garnered a lot of publicity since it was relaunched, and has become a thorn in the side of the convicted felon President Donald J. Trump, and his fascist gang of MAGA followers.

During March 27, 2026, there were more than a dozen activist performers and creators who rallied for Artists United for Our Freedoms, at an event organized by the advocacy group Committee for the First Amendment, urging US citizens to “break your silence” and “stand tall against authoritarianism.” The event was held in front of the “The Kennedy Center,” in Washington D.C.

Reportedly, “The event was hosted by Jane Fonda and the activist group called the Committee for the First Amendment, and included around a hundred invited guests gathered to hear speakers and singers rail against book bans, political censorship and other threats to free speech under Donald Trump.

Today, books are being banned, plaques and monuments depicting historical events this administration wants to forget are being removed,” Fonda said from a stage under a grey, rainy sky. “Museums, the National Endowment for the Arts, state arts councils, public broadcasting – they’re all being defunded.”

More about banned books or publications may be found by clicking here.

Members of the “Committee for the First Amendment.”

Among the many members of the Committee for the First Amendment, the list includes the local Berkeley, legendary director, actor, filmmaker, and artist, Rob Nilsson.

Local filmmaker Rob Nilsson has been known through the years as a maverick filmmaker, who has won many awards including the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for NORTHERN LIGHTS (1979), and the Grand Prize at Sundance for HEAT AND SUNLIGHT (1988).

In recent months, Nilsson had some of his films play at the Roxie cinema, and Tenderloin Museum, in San Francisco.

Additionally, The Fourth Movement, a film directed by filmmaker Rob Nilsson had a successful worldwide premier screening at the 2017 Mill Valley Film Festival. During last March, it played at Rob Nilsson Art Forms Studio, at 1418 5TH St., in Berkeley ( rnilssoncinema [at] gmail.com ).

In a January 27, 2026 email from my friend Rob Nilsson, he wrote;

“Hi Lynda, Once again thanks for your great help in getting this Points Around the Bay Nilsson Retrospective going. We had a great success, a packed house and enthusiastic audience response with ON THE EDGE AGAIN at the Sequoia in Mill Valley. But some of the few remaining art houses around the bay are still tough to get access to.

Alex Spotto at the Tenderloin Museum,, 398 Eddy St., SF, is going to play all of our 9 @ Night Films created in the Tenderloin with the Tenderloin yGroup (1998-2007) a free workshop for homeless, inner city residents, local actors and all comers which met at the Faithful Fools Street Ministry on Hyde near Eddy. And the Roxie, San Francisco's greatest and oldest art house will be giving us dates for SIGNAL 7, 1983, the first Direct Action film, presented by Francis Coppola and ON THE EDGE AGAIN with Bruce Dern, Pam Grier and John Marley.

I've lived in Berkeley for 30 some years and run my Citizen Cinema workshops with which we made 10 or so feature films all of which premiered at the prestigious Mill Valley Film Festival and played in festivals around the world. I sympathize with the problem the remaining Berkeley and Oakland cinemas have. America is still addicted to Hollywood.

True the film biz has recently helped artistic talents such as Sean Baker and Chloe Zhao make films with million dollar budgets, but the Tenderloin Action Group, the Tenderloin yGroup and Citizen Cinema didn't throw big money at films which, to me, are better because they work only with imagination and dedication to show the world, "the way things seem to be." We worked together in workshops, which you have attended, that helped actors and everyday people experience their artistic talents while learning to become fully functioning and emotionally alive. And to this day we form communities rather than dazzle the public with so- called Stars.

So I'm hoping that the excellent East Bay art houses such as the Elmwood in Berkeley, the New Parkway in Oakland and the Orinda in Contra Costa County will give us dates in order to complete our Points Around the Bay Retrospective.

Thanks again for all your support over the years. Onward! Rob.”  

Some of the many other members of the Committee for the First Amendment:

Some of the many other members of the Committee for the First Amendment include, Sean Penn — Actor; Maggie Rogers — Songwriter, Performer, Producer; Joan Baez — Musician; Billy Porter — Actor, Musician, Director; Whoopi Goldberg — Actor, Comedian, Producer; Boots Riley — Writer, Director, Musician; Oliver Stone — Director; Sam Waterston — Actor; Nicolas Cage — Actor; Bonnie Raitt — Musician; Alan Cumming — Actor, Writer, Producer; Alfre Woodard — Actor; Cyndi Lauper — Artist; Jamie Lee Curtis — Actor, Producer, Writer; Jane Fonda — Actor; Jennifer Bennett — Special Effects, IATSE  Union Organizer; Jodie Foster — Actor, Director; John Legend — Artist; Lily Tomlin — Actor; Viola Davis — Actor; Mark Ruffalo — Actor, Producer; Nathan Lane — Actor; Omekongo Dibinga — Rapper, Poet, Writer; Patrick Stewart — Actor; Patti Lupone — Actor; Wanda Sykes — Comedian; Rob Reiner — Director, Writer, Actor (died recently); Rosie O’Donnell — Actor; Comedian, Sally Field — Actor; Jennifer Phang — Director; Rosie Perez — Actor; and Tim Blake Nelson — Actor, Writer, Director.

In the photo below. Filmmaker Rob Nilsson in black leather jacket, actor Sean Penn, myself Lynda Carson with red hair, and glasses, and others celebrating at the Broken Drum restaurant/bar in San Rafael, CA, after we watched the World Premier of Rob Nilsson’s film called Scheme C6, on October 12, 2001, at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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