American actress Jane Fonda and more than 500 Hollywood celebrities have relaunched a protest for freedom of expression dating from the cold war, believing that the Trump administration is carrying out a coordinated campaign to silence criticism.
Actresses Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway, actors Pedro Pascal Sean Penn, Ben Stiller and director Spike Lee, singers Billie Eilish and John Legend are among the more than 550 signatories of a call to reform the “Committee for the first amendment” released by Jane Fonda.
The first amendment to the American Constitution protects freedom of expression.
“This committee was initially created during the McCarthy era, a dark period during which the federal government had repressed and persecuted US citizens for their political convictions,” said a statement published Wednesday.
“About our turn to join”
“These forces have returned. And it is our turn to unite to defend our constitutional rights,” adds this text.
The father of the actress and activist, actor Henry Fonda, was a precursor member of the first “Committee for the First Amendment”, created in 1947.
At the end of the 1940s, at the beginning of the Cold War, draconian measures were taken in the United States aimed at any “anti -American activities”, especially in Hollywood.
Then they had culminated with the “witch hunt” launched by Wisconsin Republican Joseph McCarthy against the communists and their supposed supporters.
Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Frank Sinatra
The original committee, which also included Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra, had denounced the repression and harassment to which the government was involved.
The reform of the committee “is not a summons. This is the beginning of a sustained struggle,” argues the site dedicated to movement.
This announcement occurs a few days after the brief suspension of the ABC channel, owned by Disney, by the animator Jimmy Kimmel, under the pressure of the Donald Trump government.
The humorist, whose program had been suspended after his comments on the murder of the influential Pro-Trump Charlie Kirk, returned to television last week.
“A government that threatens to silence an actor who does not like the president is anti -American,” he said this time during his interview program.
“History will not forget you”
The reconstituted committee promises to “remain together, fiercely united, defend freedom of expression” and warn Hollywood companies against the temptation to give in to government pressure in the future.
“For those who take advantage of our work while threatening the common workers of common workers, by submitting to the censorship of the government and floating in the face of raw intimidation: we see you and history will not forget you,” he warns.
“It won’t be the last time I listen to us.”
Source: BFM TV
