Freedom of Speech and Assembly

San Diego Jury Acquits on All Counts Occupy Chalk Protestor Targeted by Bank of America

A jury Monday acquitted a 40-year-old man of all charges connected with writing protest messages in chalk on the sidewalk outside branches of the Bank of America. Deliberating for only a few hours, the jury apparently agreed with Filner -- declaring Jeff Olson not guilty on all 13 misdemeanor counts. Olson never denied writing the slogans. One slogan said, "No thanks, big banks." Another, "Shame on Bank of America." And in yet another, the bank was portrayed as an octopus grabbing at cash with its tentacles. "It's chalk," Filner told reporters last week in an exasperated tone. "It's water-soluble chalk. They were political slogans."

Pennsylvania Activist Arrested For Writing Pro-Health Care Message In Chalk

June 29, 2013 Sean Kitchen, www.ragingchickenpress.org Resist! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Health Care

A dozen uninsured health care activists staged a sit-in inside the state capitol for medicaid expansion. If Governor Tom Corbett does not expand medicaid, his actions will leave over 700,000 Pennsylvania citizens uninsured and will cause the state economy to lose billions in economic windfalls. Late last night, the demonstrators were escorted out of the capitol, and afterwards some of the demonstrators went back to governor’s mansion to continue their demonstration. However, while at the Governor’s mansion, a health care activist – AJ Marin – was arrested for “chalking” on a public sidewalk. According to his citation, he was arrested for writing a “derogatory remark about the governor on the sidewalk.” The “derogatory” comment that AJ was arrested for stated: “Governor Corbett has health insurance, we should too.”

Pepper Spray, Rubber Bullets and IRS Questionnaires

June 28, 2013 Chip Gibbons, www.truth-out.org Educate! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, Police abuse

Pepper spray, rubber bullets or an IRS questionnaire - which of these poses the greatest threat to your political speech? If the recent brouhaha over the IRS's singling out of Tea Party groups and the lack of a similar uproar over the systematic use of state violence against the Occupy movement is any indication, only the IRS questionnaire poses any threat to our democracy. It may seem rather bizarre, but in our current political and media climate, Karl Rove and his well-monied friends are potential victims of a nefarious political police and Occupiers are just a public nuisance.

Portland’s Austerity Resistance Movement Sparks Changes to City Budget

June 28, 2013 Solidarity Against Austerity, www.occupy.com http://www.occupy.com/article/portlands-austerity-resistance-movement-sparks-changes-city-budget Organize! Austerity, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government

Mayor Hales and the City Council's pursuit of austerity was met with a public outpouring of opposition at public budget hearings. The resistance culminated on April 11 when over 400 protesting participants surprised the City Council and overwhelmed their staff. Attending were members of the Metropolitan Youth Commission, Laborers International Local 483, Portland Community College, Friends of Trees, Portland Safety Net, SUN Schools, Eastside Action Plan, Elders in Action, AFSCME Local 189, and numerous others. They stunned the City Council with emotional and at times confrontational testimony. Many dressed in red to show solidarity and carried an array of signs in defense of threatened social programs. Council members were visibly displeased to see people in the audience respond in large numbers to requests from the activists to stand or raise their hands and signs in opposition to the cuts. There was vocal support from the audience, with loud objections when City Council tried to cut off anti-austerity testimony. About an hour before the start of a follow-up budget hearing, the mayor announced they had devised new ways to lessen cuts by working with the Multnomah County Government. Many programs had their funding at least partially restored from the cuts they were expecting.

An American with Brazilian Envy

June 27, 2013 Marty Kaplan, www.alternet.org Organize! Brazil, Energy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Worker Rights and Jobs

Why aren’t Americans at the barricades? Our spirits have been sickened by the toxins baked into our political system, which legalizes graft and is held hostage by special interests and a gerrymandered minority. As a result, we are legislatively incapable of dealing with big problems like joblessness, climate change, gun safety, infrastructure, hunger or – based on recent House Republican chaos – immigration. The public investments we’re not making – in schools, teachers, roads, bridges, clean energy – are killing us. Our tax code is the least progressive in the industrial world. The most massive transfer of wealth in history, plus a cult of fiscal austerity, is destroying our middle class. Tuition is increasingly unaffordable, and retirement is increasingly unavailable. The banks that stole trillions of dollars of Americans’ worth have not only gone unpunished; they’re still at it.

Restore the Fourth

June 26, 2013 Organize! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, NSA

Restore the Fourth began as a group of people united by one core set of beliefs: (1) That the U.S. government should not be permitted or able to spy on innocent people domestically or abroad; (2) That legislation allowing such spying, including the USA PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, should be reviewed and reformed by an impartial third party; (3) That programs like PRISM, which is a surveillance program of the National Security Agency used to unconstitutionally mine data from unsuspicious civilians, should be truly limited by the Constitution.

Protest the NSA on July 4th — the NSA MixTape Bike Ride

June 26, 2013 Staff, www.PopularResistance Organize! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, NSA

NSA Mixtape Bike Ride is part flash mob, part street theatre, and part march in the form of a massive bike ride in opposition to "Big Brother" and in support of whistleblowers who rock! On July 4th @ 5pm riders will gather at DC's only independent radio station, 1918 MLK Ave SE WDC 20020, We Act Radio in Anacostia to prepare to launch the mobile rally on a highly visible route through the streets of the city. Blasting a W.A.R. produced NSA Mixtape featuring relevant songs and speeches against surveillance to provide the soundtrack to a movement.

IRS Also Screened for “Occupy” and “Progressive” in Tax Filings

June 26, 2013 Alan Fram, www.ap.org Educate! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government

The Internal Revenue Service's screening of groups seeking tax-exempt status was broader and lasted longer than has been previously disclosed, the new head of the agency acknowledged Monday. Terms including "Israel," ''Progressive" and "Occupy" were used by agency workers to help pick groups for closer examination, according to an internal IRS document obtained by The Associated Press. While investigators have said that agency screening for Tea Party groups had stopped in May 2012, Monday's revelations made it clear that screening for other kinds of organizations continued until earlier this month, when the agency's new chief, Danny Werfel, says he discovered it and ordered it halted.

National Days of Action, June 28- July 17, 2013 to Stop Syrian Intervention

June 25, 2013 Staff, https://unacpeace.org/ Organize! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Wars and Militarism

The White House’s June 13th announcement that it would begin directly supplying arms to the opposition in Syria is a dramatic escalation of the U.S./NATO war against that country. Thousands of U.S. troops and intelligence personnel are training opposition forces and coordinating operations in Turkey and Jordan. Israel, the recipient of more than $3 billion annually in U.S. military aid has carried out heavy bombing raids against Syria. The Pentagon has developed plans for a “no-fly” zone over Syria, threatening a new U.S. air war. The U.S. government cuts basic services and has eliminated hundreds of thousands of public sector workers jobs in the last three years in the name of a discredited austerity which has destroyed the economy, but has unlimited billions available for wars of aggression and NSA surveillance of almost every American. We join together to call for National Days of Action, June 28- July 15, 2013 to stop US military intervention in Syria.

Fearless Summer: Injunction Served, Entire Camp Resisting

June 25, 2013 Staff, www.tarsandsblockade.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Fearless Summer, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Solidarity

Today’s country-wide day of solidarity has been declared as the first official action of the Sovereignty Summer called for by Idle No More and Defenders of the Land; Enbridge’s Westover Terminal is on the territory of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and there have been individuals from 6 Nations on site all week. We demand that Enbridge acknowledge this land as Haudenosaunee territory, and that no construction can take place until they have received free, prior, and informed consent from the Confederacy.

Join Campaign to Close Guantanamo Tomorrow June 26 at the White House

June 25, 2013 Staff, www.witnesstorture.org Organize! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Guantanamo Bay, Wars and Militarism

Weeks past President Obama’s speech announcing his renewed intention to close Guantanamo, human rights activists — including three US military veterans on open-ended fasts in solidarity with hunger striking Guantanamo detainees — will stage dramatic protests on Wednesday, June 26th at the White House calling on the President to turn his promise into action. In response to the hunger strike of Guantanamo detainees, several US citizens have for weeks been on open-ended fasts, suffering the health effects of sustained hunger. They hope with their immense sacrifice to draw attention to the plight of the Guantanamo detainees and force the President to act.

Anti-War Activists Targeted as ‘Domestic Terrorists’

June 25, 2013 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Educate! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, Human Rights, Infiltration, Wars and Militarism

Anti-war activists who were infiltrated and spied on by the military for years have now been placed on the domestic terrorist list, they announced Monday. The shocking revelation comes as the activists prepare to sue the U.S. military for unlawful spying. The discovery is the latest development in a stunning saga that exposes vast post-9/11 spying networks in which military, police, and federal agencies appear to be in cahoots. Documents declassified in 2009 reveal that military informant John Towery, going by the name 'John Jacob,' spent over two years infiltrating and spying on Olympia, Washington anti-war and social justice groups, including Port Militarization Resistance, Students for a Democratic Society, the Industrial Workers of the World, and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Senators: NSA Still Lying to Us, but Senators Can’t Tell Us How

June 25, 2013 Spencer Ackerman, www.guardian.co.uk Educate! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, NSA

Senators Ron Wyden (Democrat, Oregon) and Mark Udall (Democrat, Colorado) wrote to General Keith Alexander, the director of the NSA, to correct "inaccurate" portrayals about restrictions on surveillance published in a factsheet available on the NSA's homepage. "In our judgment, this inaccuracy is significant, as it portrays protections for Americans' privacy as being significantly stronger than they actually are," the senators write. Yet they specified the "inaccurate" statement only in "the classified attachment to this letter."

Demonizing Edward Snowden: Which Side Are You On?

June 25, 2013 John Cassidy, www.newyorker.com Educate! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Glenn Greenwald, Government, Human Rights, NSA

I suspect that many Washington journalists, especially the types who go on Sunday talk shows, feel the way Marshall does, but perhaps don’t have his level of self-awareness. It’s not just a matter of defending the Obama Administration, although there’s probably a bit of that. It’s something deeper, which has to do with attitudes toward authority. Proud of their craft and good at what they do, successful journalists like to think of themselves as fiercely independent. But, at the same time, they are part of the media and political establishment that stands accused of ignoring, or failing to pick up on, an intelligence outrage that’s been going on for years. It’s not surprising that some of them share Marshall’s view of Snowden as “some young guy I’ve never heard of before who espouses a political philosophy I don’t agree with and is now seeking refuge abroad for breaking the law.”

Protests Around the World are Keeping the Spirit of Occupy Alive

June 23, 2013 John Harris, www.guardian.co.uk Educate! Corporatism, Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government

It is in the nature of protests that people are impatient for change. But all this is so huge that it will take decades to work itself out. Across the world, parties of both left and right will either be transformed or disappear; in more and more countries, protests will flare into life, and then go quiet. Ugly populism and the hard right could very well prosper; social democracy may spend a long time in retreat. For good or ill, it's going to be a very interesting century.

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