National Lawyers Guild Release Report On Government Threats to First Amendment

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0801-03.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 1, 2007
12:21 PM


CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild
Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, NLG 212-679-5100, ext.11

Amnesty International Urges National Lawyers Guild Release Report On Government Threats to First Amendment


NEW YORK - AUGUST 1 - The National Lawyers Guild has released its second comprehensive report on government violations of First Amendment rights. “Punishing Protest: Government Tactics that Suppress Free Speech” documents how negative portrayals of protest and protesters in the mass media pave the way for a broad hierarchy of governmental threats to the First Amendment. The report includes testimonials from protesters who have experienced firsthand unlawful police conduct; it also documents case histories and chronicles steps the National Lawyers Guild is taking to address escalating threats to civil liberties. Chapter titles include: Protest: A Maligned Tradition; Applying the “Terrorist” Label to Activists; A Catalogue of Unlawful Government Tactics; Police Lies, Tampering, and Videotape; Court Settlements and Decrees to Protest Free Speech and Political Activity; Case Study: Bicyclists Under Fire.

The hierarchy of threats to free speech ranges from street-level police tactics to local and state governments enacting legislation that punishes actions more severely if motivated by a particular ideology. At the highest level of government it involves spying on politically-active individuals, using grand juries and FBI intimidation to collect data on activists, and labeling them “terrorists” in order to secure harsh prison sentences and deter dissent.

“Constitutional protections are especially imperiled when the government categorizes legitimate political activity—from bicycle rides to animal rights protests—as a threat to national security. The Bush administration has exploited the events of September 11 as a license to implement a conservative agenda to intimidate anyone who criticizes the government,” said Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild and author of the report.

In 2004 the Guild released “The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent” (foreword by Lewis Lapham) cataloguing the increasingly sophisticated law enforcement tactics that infringe on First Amendment protected activity around the nation. Some of the police activities that are defined and documented include rush tactics, pre-event searches and raids, denial of permits, screening checkpoints, free-speech zones, snatch squads, use of less-lethal weapons against passive protesters, and intimidations by media.

Both reports are available in hard copy, or for download at www.nlg.org