AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Today, an organization that was first created during the Red Scare just after World War II has been resurrected. It's called the Committee for the First Amendment. Hundreds of A-list celebrities have signed on to, quote, "stand together - fiercely united - to defend free speech and expression" in the U.S. The group includes people like Whoopi Goldberg, Billie Eilish and Jane Fonda. She's leading the organization, following in the footsteps of her father, Henry Fonda, who was one of the very first members of the original Committee for the First Amendment. Jane Fonda joins us now. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
JANE FONDA: I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
CHANG: So tell us, why is now the moment to relaunch this committee?
FONDA: Because our First Amendment, our constitutional rights are under attack all across the country. And I don't think that we or any other Americans should take it sitting down. We have to fight. And if we fight together in solidarity, we can win. Democracy has to be political, it has to be economic and it has to be in the bedroom. And it has to include everybody, and that hasn't been the case always in the past.
CHANG: But can you talk more about how you're seeing those rights violated or threatened? Like, what particular action taken by this administration has struck you as an especially compelling reason to relaunch this organization?
FONDA: The Committee for the First Amendment, it's the entertainment industry. We're storytellers. We're creatives. We need to come up with the narratives that put the lie to things like immigrants are an existential threat to American life, that protesters, people speaking their minds, if the government doesn't like what they're saying, become domestic terrorists. I mean, the firing of Jimmy Kimmel is, you know, it's the most recent example.
CHANG: Well, he's returned to the air.
FONDA: But it's not the first, and it won't be the last. And it's not just about one person. It's about building a movement of people - Democrats, Republicans, of all stripes - to demand our rights and demand real democracy and to defend democracy.
CHANG: I hear what you're saying about how you all are storytellers, that you help build a narrative. But let's talk about what this committee will actually do beyond that, if there is a beyond. Like, you know, this committee says there are forces of repression at work today and you, quote, "refuse to stand by and let that happen." How will this committee refuse exactly?
FONDA: By engaging in creative nonviolent noncooperation. Noncooperation is the key word at this time. It means when large numbers of people engage in a strategic action that has an effect on the opponent, which in this case are the people that are attacking our constitutional rights. Strikes, boycotts, the lunch sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement, the bus boycott are examples of noncooperation. That's the kind of thing that we can look at. But also, again, I said because we're creatives, I think that we're going to come up with some wonderful ideas that are unusual and that will help model for everybody in the United States what creative noncooperation, nonviolent cooperation can look like.
CHANG: Well, let me ask you this, because there could be a lot of people listening to us talk right now and thinking, it sounds like the formation of this committee is mostly about just making a statement. And Hollywood has been famously known, or the entertainment industry has been famously known, as a pretty liberal community. So is there any concern that this message coming from the entertainment industry will just ring hollow to conservatives? What do you think?
FONDA: I don't think so. But the constitutional rights - our freedom of speech and of assembly and of protest - this isn't a partisan issue. So, you know, I think our job is to reach as many people as possible. We understand, of course, that there are many other sectors of our society outside the entertainment industry that's being impacted by what's happening. We're not the only ones. And we hope eventually to be able to work, you know, across sectors.
CHANG: Your dad, Henry Fonda, did very similar advocacy work during the McCarthy era, of course. Can you talk about, like, what parallels do you see to that time versus now?
FONDA: Well, the one thing that is in common is that people are coming under attack for expressing views that the government doesn't like right now. That was true in the '50s. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee were going after people who they accused of being communists, and a lot of people went to jail. You know, we're facing attacks on our rights. What's critical is solidarity, strength in numbers. You know, our democracy isn't going to survive with an ethos of every person for themselves. Unity and large numbers is what's critical.
CHANG: But when you look back on your father's work, in his advocacy work, was there ever something that he shared with you that...
FONDA: No, my dad never shared anything. He didn't talk about it.
CHANG: (Laughter) Oh, really?
FONDA: I only found out he...
CHANG: Well, that's interesting to me.
FONDA: It's true of a lot of men coming from the Midwest at a certain time. You know, it's a generational thing. He was a fantastic human being. But I learned what he believed and what his values were from his films, "Grapes Of Wrath," "12 Angry Men," young Abe Lincoln.
CHANG: Yeah.
FONDA: You know, he made a lot of movies that spoke about fairness and democracy and things like that. That's how I learned from him. And I remember once when I was writing my memoirs, I was writing about my dad when the phone rang. And it was Martin Luther King's daughter, Yolanda. And I don't remember why she was calling. But at one point, I said to her, did your dad ever take you on his knees and teach you about the values of life? And she said no.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FONDA: And I said, no, neither did my dad.
CHANG: (Laughter).
FONDA: But you had your father's sermons, and I had my father's films to teach us about values.
CHANG: So he never spoke about his activism or advocacy. Well, you have been an activist for so much of your career, so I imagine you have dealt with pushback like this. But has anyone ever said to you, or is now saying to you, hey, stick to your day job?
FONDA: No, nobody's ever said that to me. I think growing numbers of people are understanding that what's going on is not right. This is not the American way. Our fathers and grandfathers fought in major wars to defend the values that are now coming under attack. And so more and more people, I think, are going to want to find ways to speak up. And I think that the entertainment industry is well-positioned to model ways of doing it. And again, when you do it with large numbers of people, there's less risk.
CHANG: Is there any part of you that is worried you are exposing yourself to some risk by taking a position like this?
FONDA: Well, there's always a worry, of course. I mean...
CHANG: What is the worry in your mind at this moment?
FONDA: There's plenty of evidence that people who say things that the president doesn't agree with are being fired. But, you know, as I said when I accepted my Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, you know, we've all probably seen documentaries where people are standing up to hoses and dogs and police batons, crossing bridges and being beaten, standing up against racism, etc. And we've asked ourselves, would I have been brave enough to do that? Well, this is our documentary moment right now. We have to ask ourselves. This is the time. Am I going to be brave enough to stand up? You know, I'm almost 88 years old. You know, I'll die soon. I don't want to die thinking I could've, but I didn't. I want to be sure I do everything I can so that my children and grandchildren live in a world that we're proud of, in a country that we're proud of.
CHANG: Well, I am eager to see how this documentary plays out.
FONDA: (Laughter).
CHANG: Activist and actress Jane Fonda. She's spearheading the relaunch of the Committee for the First Amendment. Thank you so much for joining us.
FONDA: Thank you.
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