At 87, Jane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment—a Cold War–era body originally backed by her father, Henry Fonda—to confront what she and hundreds of others see as renewed threats to free expression.
First formed in 1947 as a defense against McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklist, the Committee now emerges in a political climate rife with pressures on media, academia, and the arts. Over 550 artists—from emerging voices to film legends—have signed on, joining Fonda’s call to oppose censorship, intimidation, or suppression of dissent.
Fonda frames today’s moment as ominously akin to the past: “forces of repression have returned,” she warns, arguing that only solidarity and vigilance can avert the silencing of critics. This revival is not a nostalgic gesture, but a forward-looking mobilization: a reminder that constitutional freedoms must be defended anew in every generation.
In appealing to her father’s legacy, Fonda links two eras of resistance. The past informs the present—but she and her collaborators insist that today’s fight for free speech demands its own courage, clarity, and collective voice.
—
Photo Credit: Serge Rocco / Shutterstock.com