David Fenton & Judy Gumbo ~ Media as Activism

David Fenton shares lessons learned as one of the world's leading progressive media activists. Working closely with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Jane Fonda, Bruce Springsteen, Al Gore, and Abbie Hoffman, David Fenton was a driving force behind many of the most history-making social movements and progressive media campaigns of the past 50 years. Fenton is joined in conversation with Judy Gumbo, one of the few female members of the original Yippies.

“In the struggles against apartheid, the nuclear arms race, unjust wars, racist drug laws, to stop climate and toxic pollution, David Fenton's work has helped movements advance justice.”

—JANE FONDA

“The service rendered to the African National Congress by Fenton Communications during the difficult years, has been of great value to us... beyond doubt.”

—NELSON MANDELA

“Activists need to be communicators and story-tellers. David Fenton knows this at his core and has helped the environmental and climate movement reach the public for decades.”

—MARK RUFFALO

“Any student of American history in the last half-century will profit from this inside account—and anyone trying to make change now will profit from grappling with these hard-earned lessons.”

—BILL McKIBBEN

David Fenton has been the driving force behind some of the most important and history-making campaigns of the last 50 years. In his extraordinary career as a visionary activist, he has learned first-hand what to do—and not to do—to propel progressive causes into the public eye and create real, impactful, lasting change. In his new book The Activist's Media Handbook, Fenton provides an essential toolkit for today’s activists: how to tell your story, captivate audiences, and inspire them to join the cause.

David Fenton is the former Director of Public Relations at Rolling Stone magazine and was Co-Producer of the No-Nukes concerts in 1979 at Madison Square Garden with Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Jackson Browne and other artists. Some of Fenton’s best-known campaigns include aiding the rise of MoveOn.org, stimulating the rise in organic food sales, a decade representing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, passing sanctions against apartheid, saving swordfish from extinction with a coalition of top chefs, working with Al Gore and the United Nations on climate change and many others.

Judy Gumbo is the author of Yippie Girl: Exploits in Protest and Defeating the FBI. Born in Toronto, Canada, she is one of the few female members of the original Yippies, a satirical protest group founded in the 1960s that levitated the Pentagon to stop the Vietnam War, brought the New York Stock Exchange to a halt to ridicule greed and ran a pig named Pigasus for President at the 1968 Democratic Convention, resulting in police violence, arrests, and the notorious "Chicago 7" conspiracy trial. As part of her activism, Judy founded a national women's rights organization, helped organize the world's first Earth Day, visited North Vietnam during the war, and travelled the globe agitating against the war and for the liberation of women. Her activism led to unwarranted surveillance by the FBI; she later successfully sued to obtain copies of their extensive records on her. Judy has a Ph.D. in Sociology and spent the majority of her professional career as an award-winning fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. She currently lives in Berkeley, California.