A Century of Repression with Ralph Engelman and Carey Shenkman
Channel: Ed Mays
Date: 2022-11-17

Journalism professor Ralph Engelman joins civil rights and constitutional law litigator Carey Shenkman to talk about their new book A Century of Repression at this book launch event. This book offers an unprecedented and panoramic history of the use of the Espionage Act of 1917, pointing to it as the most important yet least understood law in modern American history that threatens freedom of the press. From the two World Wars, to the Cold War, to the War on Terror, the Act serves to control information about U.S. military and foreign policy, providing cover for the settling of political scores, illegal break-ins, and prosecutorial misconduct. The cases of Eugene Debs, John S. Service, Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange, among others, reveal the threat posed to whistleblowers, government critics, and journalists alike. As the authors meticulously illustrate, the Espionage Act was always about quashing political dissent, and persecuting whistleblowers and journalists and never about catching spies. The treatment of the Act’s trajectory also offers new perspectives on American liberalism as well as the evolution of the FBI and the civil liberties movement in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

This is an edited for TV version of an event recorded at The People’s Forum in NY on Oct 26, 2022.
Thanks to The People’s Forum [peoplesforum.org]
Support independent bookstores [1804books.com]

************************** 

Pirate TV is a 58 minute weekly TV show that provides the book talk and lecture content for Free Speech TV.  Pirate TV challenges the Media Blockade, bringing you independent voices, information and programming unavailable on the Corporate Sponsor-Ship. These posts are for YouTube and are could be longer than the broadcast versions.  You will notice that I don't monetize my videos.  I'm irritated by constant interruptions as I'm sure are you, and I would like to have a say over sponsorship.  Up until this year Pirate TV was partially funded by a very small grant by a local activist trust fund.  We have lost this funding.  If you would like to pitch in to support this work, consider a donation:  http://www.edmaysproductions.net/piratetvsubdirectories/support.html or PayPal: piratetvseattle@gmail.com