The Freedom Archives is a San Francisco-based repository of print, audio, and visual materials documenting the history of left-progressive movements in the United States and internationally. It operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Freedom Archives is led by Claude Marks, a former far-left extremist associated with the Weather Underground¹ who was at one time one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives² for plotting to break convicted Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican nationalist terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera out of federal prison in 1985. ³

Background

The Freedom Archives preserves historical video and printed materials about left-leaning movements from the 1960s through the 1990s. The group produces leftwing documentaries and houses 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings. ⁴

The group began in 1999 when a group of radio producers and community activists came together to catalog their historical tapes. ⁵ The group boasts that it takes no money from government or business interests. ⁶

The organization has been active in San Francisco politics, opposing a special taxing district in 2019 it claimed would lead to targeting people without a home and increase police harassment of youth. ⁷

Leadership

Freedom Archives director Claude Marks is a co-founder of the group. He is involved in audio and video production and has been a far-left activist for people he deems “political prisoners” of the United States, including radical-left extremists. ⁸ He produced documentaries and reported for KPFA-FM in Berkeley during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He also worked for Pacifica Radio Archives. ⁹

Marks spent time in prison after pleading guilty along with others to conspiring to break from prison Oscar Lopez Rivera, a member of the Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican nationalist extremist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional Puertorriquena (FALN) who was convicted of offenses related to a lethal FALN bombing campaign. While in prison, Marks said he re-connected with people that shared his radical thoughts and determined there was a need to preserve radical media. ¹⁰

Walter Turner is the president of the five-member board of directors of the Freedom Archives. Turner is a professor at the College of Marin. He is also the host and producer of “Africa Today” on Pacifica Radio. ¹¹

Other co-founders included Andres Alegria, vice president of operations at Hoff Productions; Nancy Barrett, former co-producer and narrator of the weekly series, “Nothing Is More Precious Than…” from 1973 to 1976 along with Marks and Lincoln Bergman; Bergman, a former news director at KPFA-FM in Berkeley in the late 1960s and early 1970s; Heber Dreher, an anti-war activist also active in Black liberation and anti-apartheid movements; Emiliano Echeverria, a music scholar, radio DJ, and author; Barbara Lubinski, a radio personality first at Georgetown University and later in San Francisco; Kiilu Nyasha, a former member of the Black Panther Party and a radical-left journalist; and Nina Serrano, a poet, radio personality, novelist, and activist. ¹²

1. T., William, and Samuel Poole. “Terrorism in America: The Developing Internal Security Crisis.” The Heritage Foundation, June 2, 1978. https://www.heritage.org/node/22951/print-display.
2. Fordahl, Matthew. “Two Members of ‘Most Wanted’ List Surrender After Years on the Lam.” AP NEWS. Associated Press, December 6, 1994. https://apnews.com/36635a303d9e83daa3e2cfd0c7845957.
3. Altman, Breno. “Former Prisoners Organize Solidarity towards Current Political Detainees.” Opera Mundi, August 9, 2016. https://operamundi.uol.com.br/politica-e-economia/42652/former-prisoners-organize-solidarity-towards-current-political-detainees.
4. About. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://freedomarchives.org/about/
5. Founders. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://freedomarchives.org/about/our-founders/
6. About. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://freedomarchives.org/about/
7. Waxmann, Laura. “Community Groups, Homeowners Not Sold on ‘Green’ Tax District Proposed for Mission Dolores.” San Francisco Examiner. October 13, 2019. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/community-groups-homeowners-not-sold-on-green-tax-district-proposed-for-mission-dolores/
8. Staff. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://freedomarchives.org/about/our-staff/
9. Founders. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://freedomarchives.org/about/our-founders/
10. Bennett, Hans. “The Freedom Archives: An Interview With Claude Marks.” Dissident Voice. July 19, 2008. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://dissidentvoice.org/2008/07/the-freedom-archives-an-interview-with-claude-marks/
11. Our Board. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://freedomarchives.org/about/our-board/
12. [1] Founders. Accessed December 21, 2019. https://freedomarchives.org/about/our-founders/