Audio Transcript

Message from Mimi Rosenberg …

Where? | When?

We who organized this workshop carry the name of Ida B. Wells as a banner. A woman of African ancestry born into slavery, she stood unflinching against the lynch mobs, exposed the machinery of white supremacy, and demanded justice with pen and fire.

Today, as a fascist regime tightens its grip on all branches of power, we rise in her tradition, knowing, as Malcolm taught, that the media can shape the world’s view of us and so must be wielded by us.

Oppressed by the people, for the people, must tell the stories of those who built the wealth, yet remained shackled by the system. And in doing so, it educates, agitates, and organizes toward a future of equality and liberation. It must.

Now, we gather here today as concerned individuals to grow a coalition united in determination to resist the escalating suppression of political expression on the page, through the airwaves, and across the digital commons. In every language of resistance, we speak truth from below, building a media that is not just a mirror but a megaphone for the people. Ours is a collective voice rising to educate and agitate and organize until every story serves liberation, not domination.

We defend a political speech that uplifts weapons for justice, not shields for oppression. With blood, sweat, and tears, we the people… We, the people, have fought to uncover the truth of America’s past, from indigenous genocide and slavery to those who built careers on the backs of scapegoated immigrants, mischaracterized for power, profit, and gain. That’s why independent media matters, to expose the lies, amplify truth from below and make communication a tool of liberation, not domination.

Similarly, the oppression of women, queer and trans communities is deeply woven into the fabric of this society and their stories, too often silenced or distorted, must be told by a media that serves the people. Because only through truth-telling and through a historic contextual lens from the margins, from the margins, can the beginning to dismantle the systems that erase us occur. And that’s exactly what Trump is trying to do. Erase, bury, and turn back.

From book bans and curriculum rollbacks to ideological targeting and attempted deportation, firings and expulsions of pro-Palestinian campus activists, we are witnessing a coordinated effort to silence dissent and coerce media into self-censorship.

Increasingly, these efforts are accompanied by false accusations of anti-Semitism or claims of reverse discrimination and red-baiting to discredit movements for justice and obscure the real issues at stake. At its core, this is about controlling public information to prevent people from accessing the knowledge to inform the theory for organizing for transformative change. These are not new assaults, however. They are part of a long and dangerous tradition. Recall, we started with Ida B. Wells, who for her journalism, her truth telling, had her newspaper office destroyed by a mob and was forced into exile. But, but, but, she never, never stopped speaking.

Now, from the Alien and Sedition Acts to the Patriot Act, the U.S. has a long history of suppressing dissent and targeting truth-tellers. Anti-war voices like Eugene V. Debs, civil rights and Black power leaders under COINTELPRO, and whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, and Julian Assange have all faced state repression.

Journalists exposing government abuse from Vietnam to the CIA’s role in drug trafficking have been silenced, surveilled, or discredited. Most recently, activists like the Uhuru 3, Black socialist activists and their supporters, were indicted for conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government, a politically motivated attack meant to chill radical speech, delegitimize Black-led movements, and reassert state control over narratives that challenge U.S. empire.

The pattern is clear. When truth threatens power, repression follows. Moreover, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, as of May 2025, at least 212 Palestinian journalists have been targeted, targeted and killed since the start of the Israeli assault on Gaza on October 7th, 2023. And it’s part of a deliberate policy aimed at silencing Palestinian voices and erasing the narrative of the oppressed.

From the Alien and Sedition Acts to McCarthy-era blacklists and the FBI’s COINTELPRO, the U.S. government has long, long suppressed dissent. After 9-11 expanded surveillance, chilled political speech, especially among Muslims and anti-war activists. But two presidents in particular stand out for their aggressive campaigns against the media. Ah, Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, felon number 47.

In the 70s, Nixon saw the press as an enemy. He wiretapped journalists. He kept an enemies list, sound familiar? that included reporters and used the IRS to harass them. He banned critical journalists from the White House and ordered aides to plant smear stories.

He even changed the language referring to the media, The Media, instead of The Press to make it sound more sinister. And when the New York Times and Washington Post even published the Pentagon Papers exposing lies about the Vietnam War, Nixon tried to stop them in court. The message was clear. Dissent would be punished.

Fast forward, to Trump and his Project 2025 blueprint for authoritarian rule, designed to consolidate power, dismantle democratic institutions, and replace civil service with political loyalty, echoing the core tenets of fascism and which actually targets the Pacifica network.

He didn’t need secret wiretaps. He had Twitter. He used it to attack journalists by name, to spread disinformation, and to rally his base against the press. He called the media the enemy of the people, a phrase with authoritarian roots. He rooted press credentials. He revoked them, threatened to change libel laws and commenced to defund public media, gutting NPR, PBS, and community voices to silence dissent and tighten control, and has floated the FCC pulling broadcast license from critical networks.

Why do they fear a free press finally? Because truth disrupts control. It exposes what power hides, amplifies voices they’d rather silence, and demands answers they wouldn’t give. So they smear, censor, and intimidate, hoping fear will do what force cannot. A free press gives voice to the voiceless. It amplifies protest. It challenges injustice. And, the suppression of dissent, protests, and press freedom is escalating; witness Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University PhD student who was abducted by Mass. federal authorities and faces deportation after writing a single op-ed on the killing of Palestine. Now, this forum isn’t just a witness to repression. It’s a call to rise. We’re not here to take notes on injustice. We’re here to organize, to resist, and to transform.

But let’s be honest, media institutions, even our beloved Pacifica Network, haven’t just been attacked from the outside. They’ve been weakened from within, by a lack of diversity, democratic leadership, and deep community roots. And if we want media that can fight back, it must be built by those who have been silenced the longest. It must be bold, inclusive, and unafraid. It must educate, agitate, and organize.

So you see, we’re not just defending press freedom. We’re reimagining it. We’re building a coalition with two urgent goals, a rapid response network to defend political speech and press freedom under attack, a long-term vision as well; for media that’s democratic, community-powered, and led by those historically pushed to the margins.

We—finally—we reject neutrality. Media is a weapon, and we choose to wield it for justice. This is about liberation, not legacy. We’re not here to replicate old hierarchies; we’re here to build something new, something fierce, something ours.

So let’s build the media movement we deserve. Please get on board and join us at our next organizing meeting: July 11th, 2025, at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, for “the media we deserve,” towards the end of that beautiful community that Martin Luther King held out as what we strive for.

And I thank you for listening and for being at this workshop, because what happens with media happens with every one of the issues that we care about. It is its collective voice. So thank you so much. And I’ll leave it to Bob or Stahimili to give you the email address that you can reach out to, to join us on July 11th.