Freedom of Speech and Assembly

Egypt: “We Don’t Need Permission To Protest”

December 1, 2013 Comrades from Cairo, www.roarmag.org Resist! Egypt, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights

The protest law, draconian and kafkaesque in its very essence, is not the first time that laws effectively criminalizing protest have been passed since 2011. The army and the Muslim Brotherhood both attempted and failed to pass and enforce such laws. This new one comes under the trappings of the rule of law, supposedly free of political weight, but its intention is clear: to crush dissent and further empower the police to use violence and lethal force. Egyptian lawmakers even have the gall to use oppression abroad to justify a crackdown at home. This is not a call to reform the protest law. This is a rejection of all such laws and the system behind the law — a system that is merely a new face to the one we confronted on January 25, 2011. Following the military’s coup on July 3, the army’s head of command appointed a government that is made up of liberals, retired police and military generals as well as a few individuals considered participants in the January 25 revolution. In their attempt to outlaw any opposition on the street, the role of the liberals and deemed “revolutionaries” is to whitewash the violence of the security regime. These figures are the handmaidens of the attempt to re-create a pre-January 25 Egypt where the regime’s murder and torture becomes the norm. It is their role to prevent outrage on the street.

Protest Arts: Puppets To The People!

November 30, 2013 Puppeteers, www.localflux.net Resist! Arts, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Occupy, Video

We are the People’s Puppets of Occupy Wall Street, a collective of artists, musicians, and performers who have come together to use the potent and exhilarating vehicle of radical puppetry, by the People and for the People, to raise social and political awareness, build community, and offer a means of engagement in a more participatory democracy! So, we’re asking YOU to participate! By making sure we continue to have access to the space and resources we need, to do the work we do (and hell, you can even join us in it!). We build large-scale puppetry, toy theater, cantastorias, and perform throughout New York City’s public spaces, streets, subways, and parks. And we amplify the voices that need amplifying. We collaborate everywhere possible, wherever a group’s mission stems from a shared thirst for social justice. We’ve created visuals and performances with and for organizations such as the Black Institute, the Robin Hood Tax, the Coalition of Immakolee Workers, the Lakota Grandmothers, 350.org, Move to Amend, among others… We aim to carry on the extraordinary lineage set by radical puppeteers throughout history, from Bread & Puppet Theater, to Great Small Works, to the Puppetistas of the Anti-Globalization movement.

Tear Gas, Stones, Clashes In Cairo Amid New Anti-Protest Law

November 30, 2013 Staff, rt.com Resist! Egypt, Freedom of Speech and Assembly

Police fired tear gas and used batons to beat back stone throwing protesters in Cairo on Saturday, as Egypt's constitutional panel began voting on a new constitution's final draft, amid fears that one of its laws may curb the right to peaceful protest. The clashes erupted between riot police and protesters a few kilometers away from Egypt's constitutional committee headquarters where the 50 member panel had begun debating the final recommendations for changes to the 2012 Islamist constitution. The demonstration was to condemn the detention of 24 activists who were arrested on Tuesday after taking part in an unauthorized protest. Among the protesters arrested was Ahmed Maher, who was one of the leaders in the 2011 uprising that ousted long serving president Hosni Murbarak. One of the changes to the constitution includes a law enacted last Sunday which allows security agencies to ban protests, which have not been previously reported to the Interior Ministry. It also sets high fines and prison terms for protesters who break the law.

All In For the Worldwide Wave of Action #www

November 29, 2013 David DeGraw, www,evolvesociety.org Resist! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Occupy, Revolution

They delivered a call for a Worldwide Wave of Action (#www). If you’re reading this right now, you most likely already read it. It has been spreading around the internet like a infectious antidote to the virus that is the modern corrupted paradigm. The call blew me away. It struck me as the perfect message, the right plan at the right time. It calls on the critical mass of awake and aware people to rally together worldwide over a sustained three-month cycle, in a crowdsourced nonviolent fashion, beginning on the anniversary of MLK’s death, April 4th, and culminating on July 4th, which appears to be perfect timing for a massive demonstration in Washington DC that is already being organized. The call hit all the sweet spots. Addressing the battle-tested lessons from the Anonymous and Occupy / 99% Movement, and offering a clear path forward, which is not just built around “swarming corrupt targets” but also on “rallying around solutions.” Every part of the call hit the nail on the head in a very concise and meaningful way. It further empowers the hardcore activists, while offering the average citizen viable ways for them to also plug in and make an impact on creating much needed transformation.

Court: Activist Bird-Dogging & Confronting Politician Not Stalking, Protected Speech

November 27, 2013 ByStaff, www.angelarepresentsbanks.wordpress.com Resist! Democracy, Foreclosures, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Housing

Rep. Williams began labeling Mr. O’Connor and fellow activists from Move On, Colorado Progressive Coalition, and Occupy Denver as bullies when, to try and gain an audience with her, they held a sit in at the capitol prior to the vote on HB1249. Shortly thereafter, O’Connor responded to an email list that Williams included him on to share that he would work hard in Williams’ district in the coming year to share her unwillingness to meet with those who believed HB1249 would have protected them and the Colorado economy going forward. O’Connor has followed through by showing up at every one of her public Town Hall meetings and several of the District 7 Democrats meetings. When one such Town Hall was cancelled without notice, members of CFRC flyered William’s neighborhood, including her home, with literature that shared how they believed she had failed them and all Coloradans when she led her committee in killing HB1249. During this activity, Williams claimed that Mr. O’Connor had left a business card at only her home with the intent to send the message: you are not safe here. In her temporary restraining order (TRO), Williams claimed that O’Connor was escorted by an officer from her May Town Hall, and that at her October Town Hall, Commander Calo of District 2 had to tell him to back away from her.

Noam Chomsky: America Is a Terrified Country

November 27, 2013 Catherine Komp, www.alternet.org Strategize! Democracy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Occupy, Worker Rights and Jobs

The Occupy tactic was a remarkably successful tactic. If I’d been asked a month before Zuccotti Park whether to do this, I would have said, you’re crazy. But it worked extremely well. It just lighted a fire all over the place. People were just waiting for something to light the spark. And it was extremely successful, but it’s a tactic, and tactics are not strategies. A tactic has a half-life; it has diminishing returns. And in particular, a tactic like this is going to arouse antagonism, because people don’t want their lives disrupted and so on. It will be easy to fan it the way you do with public workers. So it’s a tactic that had to be revised. Frankly, when the police broke the occupations up, it was harsh and brutal and didn’t have to be done like that. But in some ways, it wasn’t a bad thing, because it turned people to what they have to do next. And what they have to do next is bring it to the general population. Take up the topics that really bother people. Be there when you’re needed like Sandy. Be there for the foreclosures. Focus on debt. Focus on a financial transaction tax, which ought to be instituted. Nobody else is bringing it up. That’s what the Occupy movement ought to be doing, and not just as a national movement, but as an international movement. It’s actually striking that there are Occupy offshoots all over the world.

Thousands Converge On US School of Americas In Annual Anti-War Protest

November 25, 2013 Staff, www.soaw.org Resist! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights, Latin America, School of Americas, Wars and Militarism

"The 2013 November Vigil energized the movement. The weekend gathering was vibrant and featured creativity in many different facets. Many participated for the first time in the annual vigil. On Sunday, November 24, thousands walked in a solemn funeral procession and commemorated those who have been killed by SOA/ WHINSEC graduates and U.S. militarization. The procession transitioned into an upbeat celebration of life and resistance, after Oscar Romero's last sermon was blasted through the stage speaker system, and a banner with our message, and thousands of soap bubbles crossed over the barb-wired fence."

Spooky Business: U.S. Corporations Enlist Ex-Intelligence Agents to Spy on Nonprofit Groups

November 25, 2013 Staff, www.democracynow.org Educate! Corporatism, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Surveillance

"A new report details how corporations are increasingly spying on nonprofit groups they regard as potential threats. The corporate watchdog organization Essential Information found a diverse groups of nonprofits have been targeted with espionage, including environmental, antiwar, public interest, consumer safety, pesticide reform, gun control, social justice, animal rights and arms control groups. The corporations carrying out the spying include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Bank of America, Dow Chemical, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Burger King, McDonald’s, Shell, BP, and others. According to the report, these corporations employ former CIA, National Security Agency and FBI agents to engage in private surveillance work, which is often illegal in nature but rarely — if ever — prosecuted. We’re joined by Gary Ruskin, author of the report, "Spooky Business: Corporate Espionage Against Nonprofit Organizations," and director of the Center for Corporate Policy, a project of Essential Information"

Chomsky: Business Elites Are Waging a Brutal Class War

November 24, 2013 Noam Chomsky , www.zuccottiparkpress.com Educate! Environment, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Occupy, Worker Rights and Jobs

There’s always a class war going on. The United States, to an unusual extent, is a business-run society, more so than others. The business classes are very class-conscious—they’re constantly fighting a bitter class war to improve their power and diminish opposition. Occasionally this is recognized. We don’t use the term “working class” here because it’s a taboo term. You’re supposed to say “middle class,” because it helps diminish the understanding that there’s a class war going on. It’s true that there was a one-sided class war, and that’s because the other side hadn’t chosen to participate, so the union leadership had for years pursued a policy of making a compact with the corporations, in which their workers, say the autoworkers—would get certain benefits like fairly decent wages, health benefits and so on. But it wouldn’t engage the general class structure. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why Canada has a national health program and the United States doesn’t. The same unions on the other side of the border were calling for health care for everybody. Here they were calling for health care for themselves and they got it. Of course, it’s a compact with corporations that the corporations can break anytime they want, and by the 1970s they were planning to break it and we’ve seen what has happened since. This is just one part of a long and continuing class war against working people and the poor.

Matt Damon Reads Zinn’s 1970: “The Problem is Civil Obedience”

November 23, 2013 Howard Zinn and Matt Damon, www.vimeo.com Strategize! Freedom of Speech and Assembly

Here's what Howard Zinn writes about this speech in his introduction to the full piece in his book Voices of a People's History of the United States, written with Anthony Arnove and first published in 2004 by Seven Stories Press: "In November 1970, after my arrest along with others who had engaged in a Boston protest at an army base to block soldiers from being sent to Vietnam, I flew to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to take part in a debate with the philosopher Charles Frankel on civil disobedience. I was supposed to appear in court that day in connection with the charges resulting from the army base protest. I had a choice: show up in court and miss this opportunity to explain — and practice — my commitment to civil disobedience, or face the consequences of defying the court order by going to Baltimore. I chose to go. The next day, when I returned to Boston, I went to teach my morning class at Boston University. Two detectives were waiting outside the classroom and hauled me off to court, where I was sentenced to a few days in jail. Here is the text of my speech that night at Johns Hopkins."

Unity Of Movements Is A Critical Step To Transformation

November 23, 2013 Bill Moyers and Company, www.billmoyers.com Educate! Democracy, Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Occupy

Henry Giroux "We know that there are people working in local communities all over the United States around particular kinds of issues, whether it be gay rights, whether it be the environment, whether it be, you know the Occupy movement, helping people with Hurricane Sandy. We have a lot of fragmented movements. And I think we probably have a lot more than we realize, because the press gives them no visibility, as you know. So, we don't really have a sense of the degree to which these-- how pronounced these really are. I think the real issue here is, you know, what would it mean to begin to do at least two things? To say the very least, one is to develop cultural apparatuses that can offer a new vocabulary for people, where questions of freedom and justice and the problems that we're facing can be analyzed in ways that reach mass audiences in accessible language. We have to build a formative culture. We have to do that. Secondly, we've got to overcome the fractured nature of these movements."

Meet Me at the Bill of Rights: America’s Common Ground

November 19, 2013 Rivera Sun, www.risingsundancetheater.com Strategize! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights, Police abuse

United we stand, divided we fall. The old adage appears to be the maxim of the elite: keep the populace divided and they will do the dirty work of subduing themselves. Keep the people fragmented and they will never be able to overthrow the elite. Keep the masses fighting over crumbs tossed from ivory towers and they will never seize the treasure troves that the wealthy horde. Throughout all of history, this is how the masses are controlled by the few. United we stand, divided we fall. Political leaders haul the old phrase out of storage to rally us to their causes, support their wars, and frighten us into obedience. They quickly stuff it out of sight, however, when people start to organize together. For beneath its common understanding as a warning, it also contains the formula for revolution. United we stand . . . many of us find it laughable to contemplate unity among the seemingly deeply polarized American people. Every conceivable bone of contention is tossed at us by the media. We are told that even the smallest political issue leads to shouting matches. Families don’t dare discuss politics at the dinner table. The pundits tell us that Americans could never come together . . . liberals and conservatives are oil and water. They don’t mix. And so, divided we fall, exactly as the powerful intended.

Sen. Schumer Protested Over Killer Drone Program

November 18, 2013 National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Drones, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Wars and Militarism

As part of the CodePink Global Summit on Drones, citizen activists have come to Washington to raise the issue of killer drone strikes. NCNR organized a planning session, and it was decided to write to Senator Chuck Schumer, a noted proponent of the unconstitutional drone strikes, to demand that he speak out against this assassination program. Now NCNR representatives intend to visit his office to seek a meeting. Sen. Chuck Schumer promoted the drone war: “’On terrorism, the president has been tougher than anybody else,’” ‘the New York Democrat said on CNN’s “New Day.’” “’Remember, George Bush wouldn’t let the drones go into Pakistan, and Al Qaeda flourished. The president did, and terrorism is way down. He’s pursuing the tactic in Yemen, and I think it’s working.’” The NCNR citizen activists disagree. No declaration of war has been declared against Yemen, and civilian casualties are rampant. And it can be argued that drone strikes are just breeding more terrorists. In fact, Malala Yousafzai, when meeting with the Obama family, raised concerns about the administration’s use of drones, saying they are “fueling terrorism.” Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued a recent report speculating that U.S. drone strikes may be war crimes.

A Call For A Crowdsourced Worldwide Wave Of Action ~ #www

November 16, 2013 Resist! Corporatism, Democracy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights, Occupy, Police abuse, Surveillance, Whistleblowers

Let's pick a three-month span, perhaps throughout this coming spring, and unite our collective actions into an unprecedented Worldwide Wave that cannot be ignored by anyone. Let's crowdsource a relentless global wave of action that protests the corrupt, while also rallying around and celebrating effective alternatives and solutions to the vast problems we are confronted by. Imagine thousands of nonviolent guerrilla armies swarming corrupt targets and rallying for viable solutions for a sustained three-month cycle. If we begin preparing now, a massive spring offensive can lead to a summer of transformation. Staying true to the vital nature of the movement, you lead, in your own way. Pick whatever issues concern you most and run with them, knowing that likeminded people throughout the world will also be fighting in solidarity, in whatever way they can, at the same time you are. This time the police state will not be able to crush us. We will not have stationary targets. We will be everywhere, fluid and evasive. The movement will be an unstoppable crowdsourced, decentralized and autonomous revolutionary force. We will engage in a diversity of nonviolent tactics, from large-scale mobilizations to small daily acts. Most of you already know the actions and tactics that are needed. Our ability to take part in civil disobedience is multiplied by our ability to easily record the actions on video and spread them throughout the Internet. By flooding social media with these inspiring videos, we will create a positive feedback loop that translates into more action on the ground. Radical change is urgently needed, so let's make transforming the world the cool thing to do. Let's create a culture of transformation. Let's blaze a contagious nonviolent wave of action through mass consciousness, signaling the end of the old world, ushering in a new paradigm. Now is the time.

Reverand Billy Might Face Jail Time For Climate Change Protest

November 15, 2013 Heather Smith, www.grist.org Resist! Climate Change, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly

A little over a month ago, the Reverend Billy was arrested on a New York subway platform. This was a little unusual, but not very. The Reverend, a performance artist and activist named Bill Talen, had just been singing, dancing, and preaching into a megaphone inside of a Chase branch in midtown Manhattan, about how the bank’s investment practices were contributing to climate change. He was accompanied by a group of performers dressed like the golden frog of Central America, one of the first known species to become extinct as the direct result of climate change. Reverend Billy has been arrested, he estimates, at least 75 times since 1999, when the Reverend first appeared in front of the recently opened Disney Store in Times Square in a white leisure suit and clerical collar.

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