Freedom of Speech

Lawsuit Aims To Stop NYPD From Targeting Free Speech

September 15, 2015 Christopher Robbins, www.gothamist.com Resist! Freedom of Speech, New York City (NYC), NYPD, Occupy Wall Street

By Christopher Robbins in Gothamist - A new lawsuit filed in federal court last week aims to challenge a reality evident to anyone who has attended a large political gathering in Lower Manhattan over the past decade: lawful behavior is no safeguard against being arrested. The lawsuit centers on more than 200 arrests made around the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street in September 2012, when the NYPD "should have known that members of its police force would encounter individuals engaged in expressive speech activity." Instead, the NYPD continued to arrest and harass protesters for seemingly no reason other than that they were protesting. The lawsuit asserts that this is part of a "pattern, policy, and practice of the NYPD misapplying the disorderly conduct statute to peaceful protesters in New York City."

Newsletter – No Justice, No Peace

June 20, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Arctic drilling, Asian Pivot, BXE, Climate Justice, Criminal Justice and Prisons, fast track, Freedom of Speech, Gas, Housing, Inequality, Net Neutrality, New York City (NYC), Pipelines, Police violence, Pope Francis, Privacy, Racial Discrimination, Racism, Rikers, Shell Oil, sHellNo!, South Carolina, Terrorism, TPP, Wars and Militarism

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report writes that “No justice, no peace” is “a vow by the movement to transform the crisis that is inflicted on Black people into a generalized crisis for the larger society, and for those who currently rule.” In reality, given the violence being inflicted upon people, particularly people of color, whether directly or indirectly through rising poverty, unemployment, homelessness, lack of access to health care and more, and the government’s failures to address these crises and listen to the people, disruption is a necessary element of political change. In 1968 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke outside a prison in California where people were being held for protesting the Vietnam War. In the speech he drew the connections between the Civil Rights movement and the peace movement against the Vietnam War. Today we see the links between racism, inequality, imperialism, militarism and ecocide and his comment on that day continues to ring true: "There can be no justice without peace. And there can be no peace without justice."

Should A Secret Security Court Make Freedom Of Speech Decisions?

June 16, 2015 Hannah Bloch-Wehba and Bruce Brown, www.theguardian.com Educate! Freedom of Speech, Law, Surveillance, Twitter

By Hannah Bloch-Wehba and Bruce Brown in The Guardian - Can a case about the freedom of speech be resolved in a secret court? In a widely publicized case, Twitter sued the Obama administration in a federal district court in California. The company wished to release a transparency report relating to the user information it is forced to turn over to the government under various surveillance collection programs, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) and the National Security Letter statutes. The government’s preferred venue for resolving Twitter’s First Amendment claim, though, resembles a black box more than an American court. According to the government, the Fisa court in Washington, DC should adjudicate Twitter’s constitutional claim about its right to speak.

Congress Concerned By Capitol Police Conduct With Protesters

May 20, 2015 Hannah Hess, www.rollcall.com Resist! Congress, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech

Congress has been critical of the Capitol Police this year when it comes to the department’s handling of protesters. Now, one member is demanding to see the department’s policies on removing demonstrators from House and Senate hearings. It started in January, when Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain called one of the protesters who disrupted a panel hearing “low-life scum,” and later vowed he would be “raising hell” over their behavior toward 91-year-old former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. “I don’t know if they are being more aggressive,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., the latest to scrutinize Capitol Police. “I do know that I have been in hearings where people got up, had a sign, sat down [and] weren’t even asked to leave as long as they didn’t repeat the infraction.” Concerned Capitol Police might have tossed one of her constituents from a House hearing without just cause, Norton wants clarification on the department’s policy on protesters. In a Monday letter to Chief Kim C. Dine, Norton asks Capitol Police to specify the regulations or laws “that indicate whether officers must personally observe the conduct to remove a demonstrator or may rely solely on witness reports.” Local activist Adam Eidinger is fighting “unlawful entry” charges stemming from his arrest during an April 21 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee markup, which he says he was carried out of despite not causing a disturbance. Eidinger heads back to court on May 27. He has said he intends to sue if he is successful in fighting the charges.

Will Charges Against 6 Baltimore Police Bring Justice?

May 10, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.mintpressnews.com Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, killed by police, Police abuse, Police violence

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s announcement that the six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray were being charged brought cheers and celebratory honking of horns. On closer inspection, however, there are important questions as to whether the arresting officers who began the process that led to Gray’s death were charged with an adequately serious offense. Indeed, if it had not been for the illegal arrest and the damage they did to Gray before the van ride, Gray would not have died. Further, comparing how the police were treated with how protesters were treated shows further injustice and prompts questions about amnesty for all those arrested during the protests. If a country truly believed in freedom of speech and the right to assembly, there would be amnesty for all the protesters who were arrested. They should have their records cleansed, the arrests should never have occurred and there should be no record of them. There is a human right to resist injustice that should be respected. As for the case of Freddie Gray, State’s Attorney Mosby still has a chance to amend the charges against the officers involved in his arrest or bring the case before a grand jury and seek an additional charge of second degree murder against the three arresting officers.

Holograms For Freedom Campaign Highlights Spanish Repression

April 19, 2015 Jesus, www.nosomosdelito.net Resist! Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights

With the holograms campaign for freedom we want to highlight the situation of repression of our rights as free people, as citizens living in a supposed democracy. The rules penalizing freedoms and human rights recently approved in the Congress of Deputies make us a ghostly, hologrammatic citizenship, which only counts in politics to abide by the wishes of those who have climbed up there, of which dictate above all laws, including the judiciary ... Laws that violate our human rights and prevent us from participating in public affairs. A series of totalitarian laws are being used to subject the will of the people, the people who, lest we forget, have delegated their power of representation in political leaders. #HologramasLibres (FreeHolograms) describe a surreal future in which we have to shed our flesh and become three-dimensional light forms (holograms) in order to protest. The aim of esta dystopia is to denounce the situation we are currently facing. The manifestation of holograms reveals that people cannot express in the street contrary to the political class messages, we can not think freely -for free thought depends on the possibility of meeting to speak freely, to express themselves in the streets, in the markets, in the streets.

US Deports Professor For Criticsizing Israel

February 8, 2015 Hillary Mann Leverett and Flynt Leverett, www.truth-out.org Educate! Freedom of Speech, Israel, Palestinians

Earlier this week, the U.S. government deported our friend and colleague, Dr. Sami Al-Arian, from the United States. Turkey has granted him sanctuary. Since we first met Dr. Al-Arian a few years ago, he and his family have set standards for faithfulness, moral steadfastness, and commitment to truth to which we can only aspire. More broadly, the U.S. government’s treatment of Dr. al Arian underscores an urgent reality: how the West treats Muslims - in the Middle East, where they are the overwhelming majority, and in diaspora communities in the West itself - is the defining moral and political challenge of our time. The U.S. government’s actions against Sami Al-Arian and his family should remind all of us how badly the United States is failing that challenge.

Law Silencing Prisoners Violates Freedom Of Speech

February 5, 2015 Carey Shenkman, www.philly.com Educate! Freedom of Speech, Philadelphia, Political Prisoner

Any state legislature would have a hard time dreaming up a more unconstitutional measure than the one outgoing Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett recently signed into law. The so-called Revictimization Relief Act allows victims of personal-injury crimes to sue convicts to silence any speech that allegedly "perpetuates the continuing effect of the crime" or causes "mental anguish." This vaguely defined gag order is a textbook violation of the First Amendment. Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, and is now, from prison, a prolific journalist and author. The legislature passed the "Muzzle Mumia Law" to censor academic and political speech.

The Cost Of Advocating Freedom Of Speech In Saudi Arabia

January 18, 2015 Ian Black, www.theguardian.com Resist! Free Press, Freedom of Speech, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Secularism

Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website that championed free speech in the autocratic kingdom. His blog, the Saudi Free Liberals Forum, was shut down after his arrest in 2012. This article writings that show a man who risked his freedom to question some of the basic tenets of life in Saudi Arabia - especially the central role of religion. Raif writes: "Secularism respects everyone and does not offend anyone ... Secularism ... is the practical solution to lift countries (including ours) out of the third world and into the first world." And, "Finally, we should not hide that fact that Muslims in Saudi Arabia not only disrespect the beliefs of others, but also charge them with infidelity to the extent that they consider anyone who is not Muslim an infidel, and, within their own narrow definitions, they consider non-Hanbali [the Saudi school of Islam] Muslims as apostates. How can we be such people and build ... normal relations with six billion humans, four and a half billion of whom do not believe in Islam."

Whistle-blower Officer Files Lawsuit Against Batts, BPD

January 7, 2015 Justin Fenton, www.baltimoresun.com Educate! Freedom of Speech, Law, Police

A former Baltimore police officer who blew the whistle on misconduct is suing the agency and its commissioner, alleging that they failed to protect him from retaliation. Detective Joseph Crystal, who resigned in August, came forward in 2012 and told prosecutors he had observed fellow officers assaulting a man. Crystal said word spread within the department that he was cooperating, and one morning he found a rat on the windshield of his car outside his home. When the incident became public, Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts vowed to protect Crystal and investigate.

Do Corporate Rights Trump Free Speech #BlackLivesMatter

December 29, 2014 Brendan Fischer, www.prwatch.org Educate! Freedom of Speech, Law, police brutality

Minnesotans protesting police violence and institutional racism could face "staggering" fees and criminal charges for a protest at Mall of America, with the City of Bloomington announcing plans to force organizers to pay for the mall's lost revenue during the exercise of their free speech rights, highlighting important questions about free speech in an era of privatized public spaces. "Youth leaders of color [are] under attack," Black Lives Matter-Minnesota said in a statement. "It’s clear that the Bloomington City government, at the behest of one of the largest centers of commerce in the country, hopes to set a precedent that will stifle dissent and instill fear into young people of color and allies who refuse to watch their brothers and sisters get gunned down in the streets with no consequences."

Official Probe Calls On Illinois To Reconsider Salaita Firing

December 25, 2014 Ali Abunimah, www.electronicintifada.net Educate! Freedom of Speech, Illinois, Israel, Palestine

An official investigative committee at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is calling for the decision to fire Steven Salaita to be reconsidered. The report by the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) states that: “In light of the irregular circumstances leading up to the Board of Trustees’ disapproval of an appointment for Dr. Salaita, the Committee recommends that Dr. Salaita’s candidacy be remanded to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for reconsideration by a committee of qualified academic experts.” Salaita was fired from a tenured position last August after pro-Israel donors, faculty and students mounted a campaign against him because of tweets he made excoriating Israel’s attack on Gaza.

Newsletter: Respect Our Human Rights Or We’ll ‘Shut It Down’

December 13, 2014 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Bankers, Climate Justice, Corruption, Education, FCC, Finance and Economy, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, GMOs, Healthcare, Human Rights, Internet Freedom, Monsanto, Net Neutrality, Police abuse, Racism, Torture, TPP, Undercover police, Worker Rights and Jobs

This week we marked the 66th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was signed by the United States at its inception but has never been ratified. Perhaps because we live in a country that does not protect our human rights, many people in the United States lack an understanding that they exist. In the work for justice, important tasks are to learn about our rights, recognize that they are being violated and to stand up with the demand that these rights are honored. Throughout history it has been organized people-power that has won rights. We cannot expect to gain them any other way. We’ll highlight many areas where people are fighting for rights.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners: Halt Legal Action Against Journalist

September 16, 2014 Institute for Public Accuracy, www.accuracy.org Resist! Freedom of Speech

n a statement addressed to Obama, the Nobel Peace Laureates — Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland and Jody Williams of the United States — said that they “urge a swift end to the U.S. government’s legal threat of imprisonment and harsh fines for New York Times reporter James Risen, who has covered issues of war and peace.” Maguire and Williams added: “Without confidential sources, journalism would be reduced largely to official stories and propaganda — a situation antithetical to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution that has served as a beacon of press freedom for more than two centuries, inspiring people all over the world.” The Nobel Peace Prize winners addressed what a front-page New York Times article this summer called “the most serious confrontation between the government and the press in recent history.”

‘Stop$30Billion’ Coalition Unveils New Billboard

September 16, 2014 Annie Robbins, www.mondoweiss.net Resist! Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, Solidarity

It’s been a busy time for Palestine solidarity folks in Albuquerque. Five and half years ago after Israel’s 08-09 massacre in Gaza, the Coalition to Stop$30Billion to Israel, a grassroots group of ordinary citizens, launched a campaign erecting 10 billboards in their city that inspired campaigns in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Portland, Washington DC, Boston, Arizona, and Seattle, just to name just a few. They’re at it again. Last Monday September 8th the coalition put up their first digital billboard in response to the recent carnage in Gaza. The same day an Op-Ed, Judaism, nationalism or an insurance plan? by Iris Keltz, a founding member of Jewish Voice for Peace-ABQ, appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. Keltz’s op-ed made quite a splash by challenging what being pro-Israel really means.

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