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Words of freedom: video made from Mario Savio's 1964 'Machine Speech'

By Public Public Affairs

On December 2, 1964, during the early months of the Free Speech Movement on campus, Mario Savio addressed a mass rally from the steps of Sproul Hall. This kinetic typography video shares some of the most memorable words from that speech, dubbed The Machine Speech.

Excerpt from Mario Savios 1964 machine speech

Here is the text of this excerpt ofMario Savios speech as it appears in the video:

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you cant take part; you cant even passively take part, and youve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and youve got to make it stop. And youve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless youre free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!

Read more about the Free Speech Movement and the anniversary

Media coverage of the anniversary

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