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First Amendment

Politicians Celebrate “World Press Freedom Day” As Julian Assange Languishes In Prison

May 4, 2019 By David Walsh, WSWS.org , , ,
May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, sponsored annually by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO holds the event, it avows, to celebrate “the fundamental principles of press freedom, to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.” Those claims are hollow and duplicitous, as the nge remains locked up in a high-security prison in London and faces the threat of rendition to the US. Why?

Women’s March On The Pentagon: We Refuse To Pay To Protest

December 1, 2018 Cindy Sheehan, Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox , ,
The day before Thanksgiving, Cindy Sheehan, co-coordinator of the recent Women’s March on the Pentagon* (WMOP) was presented with a $540 bill for “police escort” by the Arlington County (Virginia) Police Department (ACPD). eginning in July, leadership of WMOP began taking steps to secure permits from the two jurisdictions that the WMOP would take on October 21st (51st anniversary of the March on the Pentagon during the Vietnam War): Arlington County (brief march) and the Pentagon.

Why Freedom of Assembly Still Matters

November 25, 2018 By Jan-Werner Mueller, Project Syndicate , ,
For all of the talk nowadays about the decline and fall of democracy, not nearly enough attention has been given to attacks on the right to assemble and protest in streets and public squares. In fact, protests are essential to the democratic experience and can never be replaced by online activism, much less voting.

In These Times, Popular Resistance Is Essential

November 4, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , ,
These are times of great challenges and opportunities for those who believe in economic, racial and environmental justice as well as peace. The next decade has the potential for achieving positive transformational change. We are working to educate, organize and mobilize ourselves to take advantage of that opportunity. Popular Resistance made progress this year and has plans for next year and beyond. Doing this work requires resources. We refuse to commercialize the website with ads or to create paywalls. Everyone should have access to this information.

National Park Service Rule Change Threatens First Amendment Rights In Capital

October 16, 2018 By John Zangas, Dcmediagroup.us , ,
Washington, DC– The National Park Service (NPS) has proposed rule changes that, if enacted, would limit the duration of protests at parks in the National Capitol Region. The rule changes include time limits which could abolish protests such as the ongoing White House Peace Vigil and severely restrict the duration of protests resembling the two Washington, DC Occupy encampments in 2011-2012. The NPS, part of the Department of Interior, proposes “to revise special regulations related to demonstrations and special events at certain national park units in the National Capital Region. The proposed changes would modify regulations explaining how the NPS processes permit applications for demonstrations and special events.

Act Now To Protect Our Right To Protest

October 13, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , , ,
The radical attack on our constitutional right to protest in Washington, DC needs to be stopped. The National Park Service (NPS) has published proposed rules that would curtail First Amendment rights to assemble, petition the government and exercise free speech in the nation's capital. Efforts to curtail protest are a sign that the movement is having an impact. We are building our power and are getting more organized. We have the power to stop these unconstitutional restrictions on our right to protest. We urge you to join us in taking action today.

Shutting Down Free Speech In America: Government And Lobbyists Work Together To Destroy The First Amendment

September 25, 2018 Philip Giraldi, Ahtribune.com , ,
During the past several years, there has been increased pressure coming from some in the federal government aided and abetted powerful advocacy groups in the private sector to police social and alternative media. It is a multi-pronged attack on the First Amendment which has already limited the types of information that Americans have access to, thereby narrowing policy options to suit those in power The process has been ostensibly driven by concerns over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, but it is really about who controls and limits the public’s right to know what is going on out of sight in Washington and New York City, where politics and money come together. If one is interested in the free flow of information and viewpoints that comes with the alternative media, it certainly does not look that way.

Advocacy Groups Vow To ‘Protect The Protest’ As Government And Corporations Challenge First Amendment Rights

September 24, 2018 Julia Conley, Intrepidreport.com , ,
With wealthy corporations, state legislatures, and the federal government finding new ways to challenge Americans’ right to protest, several nonprofit groups have banded together to fight back on behalf of those facing legal jeopardy for peacefully blocking pipelines or using civil disobedience to resist other fossil projects and destructive policies. The “Protect the Protest” initiative was established this month by 20 non-profit groups—including the ACLU, the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), and Amnesty International—in response to lawsuits commonly filed by large companies against protesters with the goal of taking advantage of the power imbalance and exhausting activists’ resources, forcing them to end their actions against the corporations.

Court Backs Activists Who Feed Homeless

August 26, 2018 David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel. , , ,
Florida - A group whose symbol is a clenched fist holding a carrot won a legal victory over the city of Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, when a federal appeals court found that its weekly events to feed homeless people were protected under the Constitution. Food Not Bombs, which grew out of an anti-nuclear protest in New England, now has chapters around the United States, which promote the shift of funding away from the military to address hunger, poverty and other problems. The Fort Lauderdale chapter’s weekly feeding events at Stranahan Park generated opposition downtown, where a growing homeless population had led to tensions with businesses owners and visitors.

The Guns Won

August 22, 2017 Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, www.slate.com , , ,
By Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern for Slate - When U.S. District Judge Glen E. Conrad rejected Charlottesville, Virginia’s attempt to relocate Saturday’s white nationalist rally, he wrote that “merely moving [the] demonstration to another park will not avoid a clash of ideologies” between demonstrators and counter-protesters. He also acknowledged that “a change in the location of the demonstration would not eliminate the need for members of the City’s law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services personnel to appear at Emancipation Park. Instead, it would necessitate having personnel present at two locations in the City.” As it turned out, the nightmare that unfolded on Saturday in this small college town involved a great deal more than an ideological clash and demanded far more police protection than was available. Dozens of white nationalists showed up toting semi-automatic weapons, as did some counter-protesters, making it all but impossible for police to intervene when violence erupted. In short order, peaceful protesters were forced to hide as armed rioters attacked one another with clubs, smoke bombs, and pepper spray.

Former FCC Commissioner: Net Neutrality Is A First Amendment Issue

June 22, 2017 Michael Winship, www.billmoyers.com , ,
By Michael Winship for Moyers & Company - In just a few short months, the Trump wrecking ball has pounded away at rules and regulations in virtually every government agency. The men and women the president has appointed to the Cabinet and to head those agencies are so far in sycophantic lockstep, engaged in dismantling years of protections in order to make real what White House strategist Steve Bannon infamously described as "the deconstruction of the administrative state." The Federal Communications Commission is not immune. Its new chair, Republican Ajit Pai, embraces the Trump doctrine of regulatory devastation. "It's basic economics," he declared in an April 26 speech at Washington's Newseum. "The more heavily you regulate something, the less of it you're likely to get." His goal is to stem the tide of media reform that in recent years has made significant progress for American citizens. Even as we rely more than ever on digital media for information, education and entertainment, Pai and his GOP colleagues at the FCC seek to turn back the clock and increase even more the corporate control of cyberspace.

Naked Protest Against TSA Not Protected By First Amendment

May 23, 2017 David Kravet, www.arstechnica.com , ,
By David Kravet for ARS Technica - An Oregon man who stripped naked at an airport security screening checkpoint must pay a $500 fine after a federal appeals court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect this method of protest. The nude protest at Portland International Airport (PDX) by a traveler named John Brennan prompted legal action by both the federal government and the state of Oregon. Portland prosecutors charged him with indecent exposure. A local judge acquitted him, saying that Oregon cannot "punish" him for his nudity, which amounted to protest speech protected by the First Amendment. Federal authorities also imposed a civil fine for violating a US law that prohibits "interference with screening personnel." The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, siding with the government, ruled last week that the First Amendment is no defense to getting naked in a TSA security line. As you might recall, Brennan made national headlines in 2012. A security screener's gloves used in his pat down tested positive for nitrates, a substance that can be used to build bombs.

Dissent Is Patriotic, And Powerful Antidote To Propaganda

January 15, 2017 Bethany Woolman, www.aclu.org , , ,
By Bethany Woolman, ACLU of Northern California. Fifty-five years ago this January, the ACLU of Northern California was busy filling orders from across the country for copies of its recently produced film, “Operation Correction.” The film was a response to a piece of Red Scare propaganda, “Operation Abolition,” which was produced by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and depicted civil liberties activists in San Francisco as violent “communist agents” bent on destroying the fabric of America. In those days, the federal government was deeply concerned with the political affiliations of ordinary Americans — if those affiliations were left-leaning. My own grandfather, who was a World War II veteran and affiliated with the Communist Party in San Francisco, was under FBI surveillance.

Conviction Of Local Grape Grower Reveals Inconsistent Standards

November 22, 2016 We Are Seneca Lake, www.popularresistance.org , , ,
By Stephanie Redmond of We Are Seneca Lake. Reading, NY - Phil Davis received a guilty verdict on Friday, Nov. 18, and was sentenced to ten hours of community service and a $125 NYS surcharge. Davis was arrested during a peaceful protest outside the gates of the Crestwood gas storage facility in Reading with nine other individuals on December 21, 2014. They were part of the We Are Seneca Lake movement, which has been utilizing non-violent direct action since October 2014 to block the expansion of gas storage in the crumbling salt mines on the western shore of Seneca Lake. Defense counsel Sujata Gibson, an attorney with Schlather, Stumbar, Parks and Salk, stated after the trial that she planned to make an expedited appeal of Davis’ case, and that she believes the verdict was fundamentally wrong.

St. Louis To Train Police Officers On How First Amendment Works

November 2, 2016 Mariah Stewart, www.huffingtonpost.com , ,
By Mariah Stewart for The Huffington Post - ST. LOUIS ― Officers in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department will undergo training on First Amendment rights under a mid-October settlement with four journalists who were arrested during the Ferguson, Missouri, protests two years ago. The settlement, which HuffPost obtained through a public records request, requires those officers on the SWAT team and in the Civil Disobedience Unit to be trained in particular on how to deal with individuals who are recording police activity.
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