Latest Articles

Free Press cover with Jackson and Tubbs-Jones

Keeping hope alive

Bob Fitrakis

The Reverend Jesse Jackson arranged a conference call with me, his staff and others in Columbus right after the 2004 presidential election. The Free Press had reported on the suspicious…

// Opinion
Leslie_Wexner_receives_woodrow_wilson_award_(cropped).JPG

Proximity

Joshua C Lesser

For decades, if you moved inside the corridors of American Jewish leadership, one name surfaced again and again.

On fellowship diplomas.
On donor walls.
On the resumes of rabbis,…

// Opinion

Trump cannot stop the mass killing in Gaza because Israel has him compromised

Mahmoud El-Yousseph

President Trump saying his Gaza peace plan will end the war between Israel and Hamas and launch a new era of peace in the Middle East is pure poppycock. Four months into the ceasefire, progress on…

// Opinion
Smoke stacks billowing smoke at plant

MAGA: Make America Gasp Again

Philip Finkelstein

Gasping for air is anything but greatness. It might be called the Gilded Age, but all that gold leaf was covered in soot.

In the early 1900s, America mistook combustion for unadulterated…

// Opinion
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Action Alerts

Protest with three flags - US, Israel, Palestine
Statewide Support Needed to Protect Free Speech in Ohio (SB 87)

SB 87 is legislation currently moving through the Ohio Senate that raises serious concerns for free speech, civil liberties, and constitutional protections.

This bill would incorporate the IHRA definition of antisemitism into Ohio law and attach it to the state’s ethnic intimidation statute. Legal experts and civil rights advocates have warned that doing so risks conflating political speech with discriminatory intent and could create a chilling effect on protest, academic discussion, journalism, and advocacy.

Ohio already has strong laws addressing hate crimes, discrimination,…

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Additional Articles

Clergy posing in a church

United with Springfield

Mark Stansbery

During the February 8, 2025 Columbus Free Press salon, we declared “We are United with Springfield.” (Link to salon video) 

On February 2, 2026, over 1000 people of faith and conscience gathered in solidarity with the Springfield…

// News
Slide from powerpoint about CORE organizing in Columbus

Here's what happened at the Free Press Salon featuring Columbus Black History

The February Free Press Second Saturday Salon held on February 14 by Zoom was hosted by Free Press Board member Mark Stansbery and featured a talk and Powerpoint by local activist Tom Dillard.

Watch salon video here

Tom Dillard…

// News

Power Before Liberty: A Critique of Iranian Monarchism

Nader Rahimi

In recent months, Iranian opposition politics has increasingly been dominated by monarchist currents presenting themselves as democratic alternatives to the Islamic Republic. Their rhetoric emphasizes national unity, historical…

// Opinion

Will Cuba Return to u.s. Colonial Rule?

Eric S. Margolis

As the White House threatens war against Cuba, I am reminded of the charming evenings my parents and I spent at Havana’s venerable ‘Floridita Bar, sipping a newly invented cocktail, the Margarita, with the renowned writer, Ernest Hemingway.

…
// Opinion
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