What Is Free Speech? America at 250

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On the eve of the United States' 250th birthday, Michael Fox sits down with Mansa Musa [https://therealnews.com/author/charles-hopkins] — longtime activist, former Black Panther, host of TRNN’s Rattling the Bars [https://therealnews.com/rattling-the-bars], and a man who spent nearly 49 years in prison — to ask a deceptively simple question: what does free speech actually mean? From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to Quito, Ecuador, to Frederick Douglass's 1852 address "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July," this episode unravels the gap between the promise of the First Amendment and the reality of who gets to speak in America — and who pays a price for it. "There's a kind of narcotic effect of those words — free speech," says legal scholar Mary Anne Franks (Fearless Speech). "It's because we think we know it so well that we don't know anything about it." Historian Fara Dabhoiwala traces how the US broke from the rest of the world's balanced approach to free expression during the Cold War, and a forgotten 1986 Ursula K. Le Guin speech offers a radically different vision: speech as dialogue, not domination. Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/033olXvh3dLzQFJc1HSd6O?si=3bf7552736124ef3] or Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-battle-for-free-speech/id1896829044] Support Michael Fox's reporting at patreon.com/mfox [http://patreon.com/mfox]. Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com [https://therealnews.com/sign-up]. The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network. Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox [https://foxviolin.com/], Jordan Klein, and Daniel Nuñez. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and sound design: Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support: Kayla Rivara. Research: Ben Schweiger [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-schweiger]. Many thanks to Sylvia Gross [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvia-maria-gross] for providing her incredible voice acting skills in this episode. Guests * Mary Anne Franks [https://www.law.gwu.edu/mary-anne-franks], author of Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment [https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/mary-anne-franks/fearless-speech/9781645030539/] * Katherine Jacobsen [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-jacobsen1], Committee to Protect Journalists * Fara Dabhoiwala [https://dabhoiwala.com/], author of What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674987319] Resources * Ursula K. Le Guin, "We Are Volcanoes" — Bryn Mawr commencement, 1986 [https://speakola.com/grad/ursula-le-guin-we-are-volcanoes-bryn-mawr-1986] * Danny Glover reads Frederick Douglass — Voices of a People's History [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb_sqh577Zw] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/] https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support]

Toxic Avengers: America’s Poisoned and Abandoned Communities Must Stand Together or Die

From the explosion of AI data centers to the increasing number of toxic spills, explosions, and industrial disasters happening across the country, corporations and the government are turning the USA into one giant “sacrifice zone.” In “red” states and “blue” states, in rural areas and urban areas, poor and working people are suffering the toxic effects of a crisis that has resulted from decades of deregulation, corporate-capture of government, and the protection of private profits over the lives and health of the public. No one is coming to save us, and nothing is going to change unless residents of different sacrifice zones and poisoned communities, workers and unions on the frontlines of the industries poisoning us, environmental justice groups, community and faith organizations, scientists, journalists, and all others who have a stake in this fight start coming together, working together, and fighting back together. In this special panel discussion, recorded at the 2026 Railroad Workers United convention in Chicago, Illinois, we speak with a panel of guests who are part of a new coalition that is doing just that. Panelists include: Jeff Kurtz, a retired locomotive engineer, union officer, and Railroad Workers United member who also served as a state representative in the Iowa House of Representatives; Jami Wallace, a displaced resident of East Palestine, Ohio, and founder of the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC); Dr. Nicole Fabricant, a professor of anthropology at Towson University and scholar-activist who has been working with chemically impacted communities in South Baltimore, Maryland, for 15 years; Scott Smith, independent testing expert and founder of the Blue Shirt Justice League; and Lesley Pacey, Senior Environmental Officer at the Government Accountability Project. Additional links/info: * Railroad Workers United website [https://www.railroadworkersunited.org/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/railroadworkers] page, and X page [https://twitter.com/railroadworkers] * Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC) Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1076305207484310] page * Blue Shirt Justice League website [https://goblueshirtjustice.org/] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/groups/541396761947002/] page * Government Accountability Project website [https://whistleblower.org/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/GovernmentAccountabilityProject] page, X page [https://twitter.com/GovAcctProj], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/govacctproj.bsky.social] page, and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/govacctproj/] * Coal-Free Curtis Bay Facebook [https://m.facebook.com/CoalFreeCurtisBay] page and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/coalfree_curtisbay/] * South Baltimore Community Land Trust website [https://www.sbclt.org/], X page [https://twitter.com/BaltimoreSouth], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/southbaltimoreCLT] page, and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/southbaltimoreclt/] * Nicole Fabricant, University of California Press, Fighting to Breathe: Race, Toxicity, and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520379329/fighting-to-breathe] * Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “America’s toxic future looks like East Palestine, Ohio, today [https://therealnews.com/americas-toxic-future-looks-like-east-palestine-oh-today]” * Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “‘Let’s unite!’: Poisoned residents of America’s sacrifice zones are banding together [https://therealnews.com/lets-unite-poisoned-residents-of-americas-sacrifice-zones-are-banding-together]” * Maximilian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Corporations and the government are turning the USA into one giant ‘sacrifice zone’ [https://therealnews.com/corporations-and-the-government-are-turning-the-usa-into-one-giant-sacrifice-zone]” Featured Music: * Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: * Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/] https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support]

1. juli 20261 h 8 min

What Is Free Speech? America at 250

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