Defending Rights & Dissent

Defending Rights & Dissent (DRD), previously Defending Dissent Foundation (DDF), National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCARL), and the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee (NCA-HUAC), is a national not-for-profit advocacy organization in the United States, dedicated to defending the right of political dissent.

History

NCA-HUAC

In 1960, the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee formed as a group opposing the House Un-American Activities Committee (known popularly by the acronym "HUAC") of the U.S. House of Representatives. It formed in Southern California as an outgrowth of 1950s efforts against McCarthyism that had been led by the Southern California Civil Liberties Union (a unit of the American Civil Liberties Union) and the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms.[1] Called The National Committee to Abolish HUAC.

The organization's founding director and long-time head, Frank Wilkinson, was cited for contempt by HUAC in 1961 and sent to jail on May 1, 1961.[2]

NCARL

The group changed its name to National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCARL) after HUAC was abolished in 1975.

In 1984 it was discovered that, under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had compiled a 132,000-page file on Wilkinson.[2]

DDF

In 2007, NCARL changed its name again, to the Defending Dissent Foundation.[3]

DDF identifies itself as a member of several coalitions of U.S. advocacy groups: Alliance for Justice, Charity and Security Network, Cybersecurity Working Group, D.C. Bill of Rights Committee, Free Expression Network, Liberty Coalition, OpentheGovernment.org, Rights Working Group, and United for Peace and Justice.[4]

DRD

In 2015, the Defending Dissent Foundation merged with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee to form Defending Rights & Dissent (DRF), based on commons goals of popular constitutionalism and grassroots organizing in a united voice to ward off development of a national security state.[5]

"Foundation partners" include: Craigslist Charitable Fund, CS Fund/Warsh-Mott Legacy, Stewart R. Mott Foundation, Victor & Lorraine Honig Fund (Common Counsel Foundation), and Tikva Grassroots Empowerment Fund.[6]

Leadership

NCA-HUAC

Members of the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee included:

DRD

In 2020, DDF's Board of Directors included:

  • President: Sascha Meinrath
  • President Emeritus: Woody Kaplan
  • Clerk: Suraj K. Sazawal
  • Treasurer: Donald Goldhamer
  • Vice-Presidents" Emily Berman, Mike Rufo, Fadi Saba
  • Members: Shannon Al-Wakeel, Timuel Black, Shahid Buttar, Patrick Eddington, Arun Gupta, Victor S. Navasky, Azadeh Shahshahani[9]

In 2020, DDF's Staff included:

  • Sue Udry, Executive Director
  • Chip Gibbons, Policy Director
  • Quentin Anthony Anderson, Communications Director
  • Mehdi Rahmati, Administrator[10]

Works

The organization publishes a monthly newsletter, archived online.

References
  1. Lori Lyn Bogle (2001). The Cold War: Cold War espionage and spying. Routledge. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8153-3241-1.
  2. Defending Dissent Archived 2010-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Defending Dissent
  4. DDF website, main page. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
  5. "About". Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  6. "Foundation Partners". Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  7. Journal of the Senate, Legislature of the State of California. California State Printing Office. 1970. pp. 93 (members), 114 (petition). Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  8. "National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee". Library of Congress. 1992-10-07. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  9. "Board of Directors". Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  10. "Staff". Retrieved 1 May 2020.

Further reading
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