Howard Dean at UC Berkeley

To commemorate 40 years of the Free Speech movement, Gov. Howard Dean gave a noon rally speech Friday on the steps of Sproul Plaza at the University of California, Berkeley.

I was there, watching from a nearby balcony, and took some pictures and a short video clip.

These were taken on October 8, 2004, the week of the 40 year anniversary of the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley.Forty years ago, in October 1964, five thousand Berkeley students participated in a sit-in around a police car that had come to arrest a leader of the free speech movement on campus. This act of defiance was the spiritual birth of the free speech movement.

On October 8 2004, Berkeley alumns returned to the steps of Sproul Plaza to deliver speeches, sing songs, and read poems about the struggle for free speech. They introduced the Governor of Vermont, who had awakened the Democratic Party in 2003 and now again in 2004 to take opposition to values that are antithetical to our own as progressives.

Dean emerged from Sproul Hall and strode onto the platform above a mock police car to the cheers of several thousand Berkeley residents and students. He then delivered a fantastic speech about the right to choose, the rights of gay citizens, the importance of funding education and health care, and the need for a sensible foreign policy. He spoke with conviction and urged everyone to help get out the vote for Kerry.

Here is a local newspaper reporting on the event.

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~2456840,00.html

Pictures and video online as soon as I'm able. Watch this space!