#59- 18 Words for Freedom, Liberty & Fighting for Justice

Welcome to episode #59 of the Real Life English with Gabby Podcast! In this episode, you'll learn 18 commonly used phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms that you’ll hear in real American conversations about freedom, liberty and fighting for justice. The U.S.A. is currently celebrating it's Independence Day, and the year 2025 has been full of conversations about freedom and fighting for justice

You’ll learn expressions like:
 👉 grassroots

👉 a burning issue

👉 stick to your guns

👉 raise your voice

...and more!

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• All vocabulary from the episode
• Definitions + new examples
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Transcript

[00:00:00] It is our Independence Day, so on today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast, I'll be teaching you 18 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms for freedom, liberty, and fighting for justice. You'll be learning vocabulary like grassroots, a burning issue, stick to your guns, raise your voice, and more.
Let's get to it.

Hey there. Welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.
Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to episode number 59.

[00:01:00] Greetings from a very red, white, and blue New York City. It's our Independence Day, July 4th, here in the USA this year. Honestly, it feels very different. As you can imagine, let's talk about that for a bit. Normally, I'm proud of my country; I love my country and have always been a patriot despite understanding my country's dark history as well.
 I'm not proud of many things that we have done throughout history and that we continue to do now, but despite everything, I still love my country, even though I want many things to change. Since January, though, with this new fascist regime in office,

[00:02:00] I have been feeling ashamed. This country that I love is not the country that I recognize anymore.
 It's not the country that I grew up with. It's honestly been so crazy to see the way our new government has been treating people. I've been watching my country unravel slowly since January, and most of us here don't know quite what to do. I thought this Independence Day I would be sad, but then something happened.
 A few weeks ago, we had something called the No Kings protest. Maybe you saw some of it on social media. It was a protest in all 50 states, and it was amazing. Millions of Americans went out to protest against Trump

[00:03:00] and our government to show that Trump is not a king and that he can't do whatever he wants with our government and our Constitution. I felt so empowered. It made me so proud to realize that yes, Americans are fighting back. The American spirit is to fight and never back down. And so now I feel encouraged. I feel encouraged that we aren't going to lose this country and that we will keep fighting. It's going to honestly be a very long road, and I don't know exactly what's going to happen in the next four years, but I do know that we aren't going to take things sitting down. So this 4th of July, I'm encouraged and not

[00:04:00] as discouraged or sad as I was earlier in the year about the state of the USA. We're gonna fight all the craziness and all the chaos, and we are going to fight it hard. Let's see what happens.

I know that some of you come from countries like France, where protesting and fighting back is normal and encouraged. You guys are the professionals when it comes to fighting back against government policies, and I wish Americans could be a little bit better at protesting like all of you are. However, I also know that some of you listening

are from countries where protesting is not common or even not allowed. For some of you, going to a protest could mean going to jail or even getting killed. It's very interesting to see the range of freedom that people

[00:05:00] have all around the world. In my classroom, we often talk about censorship and how much control the government has on what you post on the internet, what you say about the government, and so I'm aware

that some of you have the freedom to speak out against your governments and some of you don't. Americans have always had freedom to do this; however, now things are changing a lot.

Today's episode is focusing on vocabulary that's used to fight for justice, gain freedom, and liberty. These have always been American values, and it's what most Americans will tell you that they love about the United States. So this vocabulary you can use on a grand scale, meaning you can use it to talk about your government, or you can use it to talk about small-scale things like trying to negotiate with your boss about

[00:06:00] unfair practices at your job or maybe at your university, or maybe even within your own family or friend group.

So let me tell you the vocabulary that you'll be learning in today's episode: speak out against, stand up for, break free from, fight for, push back against, call for change, the system, grassroots, woke, the man, cancel culture, take a stand, a burning issue, to draw a line in the sand, to stick to your guns, power to the people, the voice of the people, and raise your voice.

Do you wanna practice what you learned in today's episode so that you can remember

[00:07:00] everything you learn, so that you can remember everything you hear, and start using it right away? So that you can remember all of the vocabulary you hear and start using it right away, then I have something special for you. There's a free study guide PDF that has everything you need to practice and remember these words. We have all of the words, definitions, and example sentences, along with the transcript, the story, and practice activities. Click the link in the episode description, and then you'll get the link to the folder that has all of the study guides from every episode.

All right. Now I'm going to read a story that has all of today's vocabulary in real-life context. Listen along as I read and see if you can figure out

[00:08:00] any of the meanings of the vocabulary by listening for the context. After the story, we'll go over all of the vocabulary and definitions together.

Today's story was inspired by the true story of American freedom, which is what Americans celebrate today across the country. Here we go.

Back in the 1700s, the American colonists were experiencing intense oppression from England. Slowly, the colonists started to unite and speak out against England's unfair laws and taxes.
 They were tired of being controlled from so far away and having little to no representation in the government. The colonists decided to

[00:09:00] stand up for their rights and their freedom. They wanted to break free from England's rule. Many leaders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson said it was time to fight for independence.
 They knew it wouldn't be easy, but they believed it was the right thing to do. When England found out about the colonists' desires to fight against them, the king oppressed them even more, but the colonists started to push back against the king's power. They wrote letters, held meetings, and made speeches to call for change. They wanted a new country where people had more control over their own lives. Americans were gonna fight against the system. England tried to stop them, of course,

[00:10:00] but the colonists didn't give up. They started a grassroots movement. Regular farmers, workers, and families all joined together. The colonists believed that they had to stay aware and strong. Today, we might say that they were woke to how unfair the system was. Many people said they had to fight the man. English people, both in the 13 colonies and back in England, tried to shame or stop the American leaders. It was like the old version of cancel culture, where people tried to silence ideas they didn't like, but the colonists decided it was time to take a stand.

They said that independence was a burning issue. It couldn't be ignored. At some point, they had to draw a line in the sand and [00:11:00] say, enough is enough. They stuck to their guns. The leaders decided to use the argument of “power to the people” because they believed the government should listen to the people, not just kings.
 The American Revolution began in April 1775 with the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Less than a year later, the Declaration of Independence was drafted and then adopted on July 4th, 1776. This became the voice of the people telling the world that America wanted to be free. In the end, after years of fighting, thousands of deaths on both sides, and help from a few European allies, the colonies won their freedom from England and became the United States of America. The young American colonies [00:12:00] showed the world that when people work together, raise their voice, and believe in their cause, they can change history. The end — or should I say, the beginning.

Okay, let's talk about what all of this vocabulary means. Let's start with “speak out against.”
 Speak out, or speak out against, is a phrasal verb, and we can either say “speak out” or “speak out against,” depending on the context. This is to say publicly that you disagree with something or think that it’s wrong. For example, many colonists spoke out against unfair British taxes.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb, a three-word phrasal verb: [00:13:00] stand up for. This is to defend or support an idea, person, or right against opposition. So some idea, some human right, a person is being attacked, and you decide to defend or support that thing. And this is stand up for. For example, they wanted to stand up for their freedom and independence.

Next up we have another phrasal verb. So a lot of these today are going to be phrasal verbs, as you'll notice. This is also a phrasal verb that can be a three-word phrasal verb: break free, or break free from. Break free from something is to escape from some kind of control or limitation. Something has you captive, and you escape. [00:14:00] For example, the colonies wanted to break free from British rule.

Next up, we have fight for. Now, this is a phrasal verb. It’s very common; I’m sure you’ve heard it before or even know what it means. But we say fight for something to mean to struggle to get something important or to protect something important. Something is being threatened and you want to fight against it. You want to protect it. For example, they were ready to fight for their independence.

Next up, we have push back or push back against. This is another phrasal verb. This is to resist or oppose something. So something is very much being threatened [00:15:00] and you’re resisting, you’re opposing, they’re pushing you, you’re pushing back against the system. The colonists decided to push back against the king’s power.

Next we have call for — typically, we say call for change. This is a phrasal verb, and this means to demand, ask, or request strongly for something. For example, they called for change in how they were being governed.

Next up, we have the system. This is slang, okay? The system refers to an established way that society or certain institutions work. So oftentimes, fighting against the government, we’re going to say, “We’re going to fight the system.” We’re fighting the established way that society [00:16:00] works, that institutions work.

Next, we have grassroots. This is a great word because it is used very, very often in government. This is a noun. It can also be an adjective. This means that something is coming from ordinary people; it’s not coming from leaders or people being paid. So when a politician starts a movement, that is not grassroots, because they’re being paid to do that. Grassroots is when the people start something. So if I start a social cause, if I organize a protest, it’s going to be called a grassroots movement. For example, the American Revolution started as a grassroots movement supported by everyday people.

Next we have the slang word woke. This is used as an adjective. Woke [00:17:00] you hear all the time now, and most of the time it’s used incorrectly. So the real definition of woke is that you are aware of social or political unfairness. For example, a lot of Americans believe what we learn in history books — that America’s never lost a war, we’re the best country in the world, blah blah blah. But woke Americans, like myself, we are aware of the true history of our country. We understand the political unfairness, the social unfairness, all of the terrible things that our government has done. This is woke. However, you’ll see that Republicans, especially people like Donald Trump, have kind of weaponized this word, making it a weapon to mean that people are accepting of social causes. So it’s used in a derogatory way [00:18:00] by Republicans. An example here would be: the colonists were woke to the unfair treatment by the king. You’ll notice it’s a form of the word wake, like you have woken up — basically, that is what this represents.

Next up, we have the man. This is a noun, but it’s slang, okay? The man has a lot of different uses in English, like, “Oh my gosh, her boyfriend is the man, we love him!” That means like, he’s awesome, cool, everybody likes this person.
 However, in this context — the context of government and politics — this is a way to describe powerful authorities or the government: “We’ve gotta fight against the man.” For example, the man being the government.

Next up, we have cancel culture. This is slang, very modern, [00:19:00] so it was hard to use it in a historical context, but cancel culture is the social practice of rejecting people, boycotting people, avoiding people if they have offensive ideas.
 For example, if someone came out and said something racist, they would officially be “canceled,” meaning that people would stop supporting them, they would cancel them essentially because of what they said, because of their personal views. This is very common — very prevalent, we say — in American society. Although now, with the current political party, people can say anything they want, post anything they want, and there are no consequences if they’re offensive, I mean. For example, some people tried to use cancel culture to silence the independence movement.

Next up, we have the idiom to take a stand. This is to make a clear, strong decision to support something. [00:20:00] “I am officially taking a stand,” so you’re not hiding your support. You are deciding to speak and represent what you support. It’s not a secret — it’s official. For example, the colonists took a stand by declaring independence.

Next up, we have a burning issue. This is an idiom, and it’s something that’s very important and urgent. This is a burning issue — it’s on fire. We have to address it. We cannot ignore it. For example, freedom and independence became burning issues for the colonists.

Next up, we have draw a line in the sand. This is also an idiom. This is to set a clear limit that cannot be crossed. So imagine that you're at the beach; you draw a line in the sand with your [00:21:00] finger, and you say, “No one can cross this line.” This is what it means symbolically. This is a limit. I'm drawing a line in the sand. If you cross it, there will be consequences. For example, they drew a line in the sand when they signed the Declaration of Independence.

Next up, we have another idiom: stick to your guns. This is to keep your opinion or plan even when other people disagree. So everyone thinks you're wrong, but you are not changing your opinion; you're not changing your plans. We say you're sticking to your guns. For example, the leaders stuck to their guns even when things got difficult.

Next up, we have the slang expression power to the people. This is a slogan, and it means that ordinary people [00:22:00] should have the power to dictate how we are ruled, how we are controlled. You'll see this a lot when we have protests or demonstrations.

By the way, we do not call protests manifestations here in the United States. I know in many languages that is what it translates to, but we do not say manifestations. We say protests or demonstrations. Just a side note: the revolution was about power to the people and not kings.

Next up, we have the voice of the people. This is another idiom. This is what the general public thinks or wants. So maybe there's a politician in your country, and he'll say, “I 

am the voice of the people,” meaning he identifies with the common man, the working man; he's speaking on their behalf. For example, the Declaration of [00:23:00] Independence became the voice of the people.

And lastly, we have raise your voice. This is used here as an idiom. This is to speak up or protest. The literal definition — if you're singing, right, and people can't hear you, you say, “Hey, can you raise your voice?” — it's like saying get louder. But in this context, it means to speak up or protest. For example, many colonists decided to raise their voice against unfair taxes.

Well, guess what? You just learned new vocabulary that is popular and hot in the news right now because it's all about fighting for justice. I'm gonna give you some homework. And your homework is: number one, as usual, go download the study guide if [00:24:00] you have not already. It is super valuable and has tons of information that's going to help you.

And number two: I want you to pick seven to ten words or expressions that you learned in today's episode, and I want you to set a goal for the week to use them. So yes, that is your goal. Okay, your goal is to use these. There are a lot of different ways you can do that. You can have a vocabulary journal and create sentences that apply to your own life. You can talk to a friend and say, “Hey, I wanna practice my English on you — can you listen?” You can send a text message, you can send an email, you can even record yourself using a voice notes app. You can record yourself using these in sentences, even if you're the only English speaker in your village, in your town. There are ways to [00:25:00] practice. Just make sure that you're taking action, because improving your English comes with repetition and action, so make sure you're doing something.

Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of The Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.

Thanks so much for tuning in.