Freedom of Speech and Assembly

Launching an Online Exhibit: Nonviolent Action 101

June 14, 2013 Elizabeth Tinker, www.envisionpeacemuseum.org Create! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Solidarity

One of the most important goals of the Envision Peace Museum is to get people actively involved in building peace. One way we can do this is by using Nonviolent Action (NVA) to fight injustices we see around us. With that in mind we are nearing completion of our first online exhibit, NVA 101. The exhibit will open in early August 2013. We have a great team helping us create the exhibit including Swarthmore College’s Global Nonviolence Action Database (GNAD) . The students and staff working on the project have been an invaluable resource and the database itself provides real examples of Nonviolent Action from around the world and throughout history.

Pentagon Bracing for Public Dissent Over Climate and Energy Shocks

June 14, 2013 Nafeez Ahmed, www.guardian.co.uk Organize! Corporatism, Energy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Wars and Militarism

Why have Western security agencies developed such an unprecedented capacity to spy on their own domestic populations? Since the 2008 economic crash, security agencies have increasingly spied on political activists, especially environmental groups, on behalf of corporate interests. This activity is linked to the last decade of US defence planning, which has been increasingly concerned by the risk of civil unrest at home triggered by catastrophic events linked to climate change, energy shocks or economic crisis - or all three. . . The Pentagon knows that environmental, economic and other crises could provoke widespread public anger toward government and corporations in coming years.

NATO3: Cop Cell Phones Lost or Destroyed, New Motions to Dismiss Charges

June 14, 2013 jackiews, www.interoccupy.net Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights, Wars and Militarism

The prosecution’s answer to discovery revealed that officers involved in field intelligence team in charge of all pre-NATO surveillance and infiltration destroyed or disappeared personal cell phones used during the investigation. Multiple officers in the unit used their personal cell phones to exchange information between themselves and different officers as well as their supervisors in the course of the operation. According to the material offered up to the court today by prosecutors, the private cell phone service providers used by the officers did not store their text message data and the officers mysteriously (and conveniently for them) no longer have those phones in their possession. Thus, these crucial pieces of evidence will not be available to the defense.

Court: Occupy Nashville First Amendment Rights Violated

June 14, 2013 BobAllyn, www.tennessean.com Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights

The state unlawfully arrested members of the Occupy Nashville group two years ago during a protest encampment on War Memorial Plaza, which violated their First Amendment rights to free speech, according to a ruling by a federal judge. In the ruling, federal judge Aleta Trauger declared that state and local agencies did have not “carte blanche to respond in any manner they see fit.” In other words, “they cannot make law by fiat,” Trauger wrote. In late October, state officials adopted a “use policy” that effectively prohibited overnight use of the plaza for assembling. Protesters vowed to spend the night on the plaza despite the new 10 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew. After protesters refused to leave, the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested 55 people over the course of two nights on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29. The arrests ended after a federal court issued a restraining order, barring the state from enforcing the new curfew.

Supreme Court Bans Protests On Its Grounds

June 13, 2013 Frederic J. Frommer, ap.org Educate! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Human Rights

The Supreme Court has come up with a new regulation banning demonstrations on its grounds. The regulation bans activities on the court's grounds or building such as picketing, speech-making, marching, vigils or religious services "that involve the communication or expression of views or grievances, engaged in by one or more persons, the conduct of which is reasonably likely to draw a crowd or onlookers." John Whitehead, the president of the Rutherford Institute, which successfully challenged a previous regulation, called the new regulation "repugnant" to the Constitution, said "If you believe in free speech, the First Amendment's really clear: You have a right to petition your government peacefully to redress grievances."

Two Mountain Justice Actions in One Day

May 26, 2013 Staff, www.tarsandsblockade.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Freedom of Speech and Assembly

As part of this year’s Mountain Justice Summer, five blockaders have shut down the only road leading to the headquarters of Alpha Natural Resources, which engages in terribly destructive mountaintop removal coal mining. Three residents of Central Appalachia and supporters with Mountain Justice chained themselves to an industrial tank of black water in front of Alpha Natural Resources’ Bristol, Va., headquarters to protest Alpha’s mountaintop removal strip mining and coal slurry operations across the region. “I’m risking arrest today because mountaintop removal has to end now for the future viability of Appalachia,” says Emily Gillespie of Roanoke, Va., whose work with the Mountain Justice movement is inspired by Appalachian women’s history of non-violent resistance. The tank of water represents coal contamination from affected communities across the Appalachian region.

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