Dissent Is Not Terrorism

[babylonsister]

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/03/22/dissent_is_not_terrorism.php

Dissent Is Not Terrorism
Chris Pifer
March 22, 2007

snip//

In 2004, during the Republican National Convention, the AFSC (American Friends Service Committee) office in Cambridge was under surveillance by multiple black SUVs with tinted windows and, periodically, a helicopter. While the people in the SUVs said they were with the Department of Homeland Security, AFSC was unable to figure out why they were suddenly interested in our work.

In 2002, the AFSC office in Chicago was infiltrated by local police during preparations for an anti-globalization protest while the office was negotiating with police about protest logistics. An internal audit of the police department found “boxes” of surveillance materials created during this period, although, to date, a Freedom of Information Act request has produced only a handful of documents.

The biggest concern today is that we see history not repeat itself. Do we really want to go back to the McCarthy era, or COINTELPRO when nonviolent activists, such as Martin Luther King Jr. were labeled as “radicals,” and were watched and infiltrated?

What can we do about this? What are the lessons we are to draw from these experiences? We expect our elected officials to uphold the rule of law, and we ask Congress to assert its role to create checks and balances on other branches of the government in order to protect our civil liberties. Specifically, Congress should:

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Investigate the Department of Defense use of TALON reports and the Joint Protection Enterprise Network database and evaluate the impact they have had upon constitutionally protected dissent.
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Revisit the US PATRIOT Act. Start with the common-sense bipartisan proposals from the Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act Act of 2005, which would address roving wiretap provisions, sneak and peek powers, and national security letter provisions which the FBI Inspector General has just found have been repeated abused.
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Evaluate the First Amendment implications of the intelligence gathering activities of local police and the Joint Terrorism Task Force to ensure they are not harming constitutionally protected dissent.

Rather than the government spying on the people of this country, the people of this country should hold our government accountable. Spying and dismantling the constitution makes us neither safe nor more secure.

[Demeter]

1. In Sick, Fascist Minds, Dissent Is Worse Than Terrorism

Because it undoes all the evil they caused.