Monday, March 24, 2014

The Free Speech Movement: 50th Anniversary



The Free Speech Movement: 50th Anniversary

By Bettina Aptheker







Berkeley students now study at the Free Speech Movement Café.





  1. I was there! I had just transferred to Berkeley from a small east coast women's college in the fall of '64, and the FSM jolted me into a different world. Thanks Bettina and cohorts! Ruth, I look forward to reading The Ninth Day.

    1. I was also there, part of the crowd, recently transferred from an eastern university. I felt proud at the range of the movement, from left to (initially, at least) Goldwater Republican. And that the Steering Committe as it evolved included, without comment, a member identified as communist.

      In my view, "free speech" was a great selling point. But it wasn't really about free speech. No one denied the right of students to speak freely. What the university relinquished, in response to student and then faculty demand, was its role of protecting students in loco parentis. The issue at the time was off-campus Civil Rights groups recruiting students on campus for off campus demonstrations where they were subject to arrest. For example, at the Cadillac dealership in San Franciso. I recall a discussion about the sidewalks at the edge of campus--did they belong to the city or the university. (Answer: the city. And tabling was unhindered there.) By the way, Jack Weinberg, the trigger, was not at the time a student. He was a recruiter for CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). But the question went back several years to the student organization SLATE and and a demonstration in San Francisco against hearings by HUAC (House Unamerican Activities Committee). The argument was, students are adults; let the civil authorities deal with any alleged criminal conduct. Of interest, there is now a resurgence of interest in university adminstration resuming its role in loco parentis to protect students from sexual assault by other students. -

    My blog covers a lot of interesting and helpful posts just like yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. And also, I think you'll love my recent blog post titled How To Re-awaken A Passion & Stop Being Lazy About Your Goals



  3. I was there in 1964 and Bettina Aptheker's mind and self remain as unattractive now as they were then. Quit making a diseased person into some sort of hero. She wasn't and isn't.

  4. Miss Aptheker, you are a vile individual. People like you are the reasons for why democracies fail.

  5. I was not there. However, those are the kind of seminal events or moments that inspired me to come to America for my grad schooling and settle down here. Sadly, this country has been growing the wrong way for the past few decades. While conservatives' power continues, the increasing intolerance and perversion of the political correct is worse. In fact, I'm horrified and disappointed at how organic the PC culture has become to our life in the USA. It's disgusting. Aptheker and her logic is indeed scary and disgusting. She was right then. She is wrong now.