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    Folk Singers & The Bureau (Bonus Episode)
    Feat. Aaron J. Leonard | Still Spying Podcast

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    Our Story: Frank Wilkinson, the FBI, and the Origins of Defending Rights & Dissent
    Feat. Kit Gage | Still Spying Podcast

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    The Bureaucratic Heart of McCarthyism
    feat. Ellen Schrecker | Still Spying Podcast

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    Spying on Muslim & Arab Americans
    Feat. Abdeen Jabara | Still Spying Podcast

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    The FBI vs. The Young Lords
    Feat. Johanna Fernández | Still Spying Podcast

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    The FBI's Man Inside the Klan
    Feat. Mary Stanton | Still Spying Podcast

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    Exposing FBI Spying Today
    Feat. Alice Speri | Still Spying Podcast

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    The War on Black Dissent Part III: The FBI vs. The Movement for Black Lives
    Feat. Malkia Devich-Cyril | Still Spying Podcast

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    The War on Black Dissent, Part II: COINTELPRO & The Assassination of Fred Hampton
    Feat. Jeffrey Hass | Still Spying Podcast

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    The War on Black Dissent, Part I: Black Lives, Red Scares
    Feat. Prof. Gerald Horne | Still Spying Podcast

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    Is All Policing Political?
    Feat. Alex Vitale | Still Spying Podcast

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    What Powers Does the FBI Have & How Do We Rein Them In
    Feat. Prof. Emily Berman | Still Spying Podcast

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    Legacy of Abuse From The Palmer Raids to Black Identity Extremism
    Feat. Mike German | Still Spying Podcast

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ABOUT Defending Rights & Dissent

Defending Rights & Dissent fights to fulfill the promise of the Bill of Rights for everyone. We place a special emphasis on defending the right to political expression. We do this by:

  • Translating grassroots civil liberties concerns into national policy debate and action;
  • Alerting local activists to civil liberties threats; and
  • Educating the public, the press and policymakers as to how dissent is crucial to democracy.

DRAD works with our grassroots activist network to support and strengthen local coalitions by providing resources and coaching, organizing support, networking and mobilizing opportunities, and expert policy and advocacy advice and consultation. These grassroots coalitions are defending protest rights and challenging institutional Islamophobia, racial profiling, surveillance, torture, and police militarization locally, and are engaged in national advocacy on many of the same issues.

Defending Rights and Dissent (DRAD) was created in 2015 out of the merger of two envelope-pushing organizations: the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) and the Defending Dissent Foundation (DDF). BORDC was founded in 2001, following the introduction of the PATRIOT Act, and coordinated the successful passage of resolutions opposing government spying in over 400 cities and towns across the country, as well as eight states, reflecting a transpartisan populist consensus in favor of liberty and privacy. DDF was founded in 1960 to fight the McCarthy-era witch hunt that targeted law-abiding Americans on the basis of their political beliefs.

For fifty years, our special talent has been bringing together broad and diverse coalitions and constituencies to challenge government overreach and harassment of activists and communities of color. Our work bridges the gap between civil liberties advocates and social movements that have a vested interest in robust protections for political expression and civil society.