The right to protest in peril

Protesters in NYC demonstrating for jobs

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THE U.S. Constitution forbids laws "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

But that did not stop the city government in Chicago.

At a January 18 City Council meeting, local ordinances were twisted into tools of repression, ready to be used against any organization or group of individuals that wants to express dissent.

It won't take much for a protester to be labeled a criminal in Chicago--using a sound system or carrying a banner that wasn't registered in advance, not providing an official marshal for every 100 people attending a rally, letting a demonstration last more than two hours.

The city council's new ordinances are supposedly in preparation for demonstrations expected at a joint summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations and the NATO military alliance that will take place in May. But the shredding of civil liberties isn't temporary. It will be permanent.

LEFT: Leaders of the eight richest nations in the world (the G-8) at a lavish dinner in Paris; RIGHT: Leaders of NATO at a recent meeting. Both groups are scheduled to meet in Chicago this May.

In a society that truly represented the will of the people, such proposals would be laughed off as a relic of the past, when countries were ruled by emperors or dictators. But we now live in a country where political and business leaders love to preach about freedom and liberty publicly, but behind closed doors do just about anything to undermine them--especially when their power and privilege is being questioned.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) allows for the indefinite jailing of U.S. citizens.

Moreover, the assault on civil liberties underway in Chicago isn't the exception. There are plenty more examples, and they run straight to the top of the political system in the "world's greatest democracy."

On the last day of 2011, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - one provision of which grants the military, at the discretion of the president, the power to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens - was signed into law.

Of course, the administration insists that the government's policies are intended to be used against the "bad guys" - extremists and terrorists - an effort to contain "outside agitators" who are "bent on violence."

But it's amazing how easily peaceful protesters can be painted as dangerous extremists.

Consider the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), a law quietly passed in 2006 at the behest of the agriculture and biotech industries. AETA labels as "terrorist" anything done "for the purpose of damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise," as well as "economic damage" to such an enterprise. Activists say the law is so broad that they could be targeted just for secretly videotaping abuses against animals at factory farms, since this could affect companies' bottom lines.

That's how peaceful protest gets conflated with terrorism.

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We witnessed a similar dynamic throughout the fall, as the Occupy Wall Street protest movement spread around the country. When it became clear that Occupy couldn't be dismissed, local officials, aided by the media, stirred up a slander campaign, accusing activists of everything from tolerating violence to causing a public health hazard. The slanders were prelude to a crackdown--in city after city mayors ordered police to raid the Occupy encampments and arrest anyone who got in the way. [Please see our article, "Wall Street Attacks the Occupy Movement with the Help of the Religious Right."]

Democracy--the bottom-up kind, based on the idea that people have a right to stand up for jobs and better schools, for health care and Social Security, for programs to aid the most vulnerable in society--isn't the kind that politicians respect. To them, "democracy" is limited to pulling a lever in a voting booth every few years or making a financial contribution to their reelection fund.

When dissent becomes tangible and concrete--as it has with the upsurge of the Occupy movement in the U.S., not to mention the example of millions of people in Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria and elsewhere taking to the streets to demand justice--that our free speech rights get put on the chopping block.

The Occupy movement was the most invigorating example of grassroots democracy in years, if not decades. But when it became a threat because it was growing and challenging the status quo, political leaders were ready to shut it down.

Evelyn Dehais confronting police in Chicago

As Occupy Chicago activist Evelyn Dehais stated at a press conference:

"Whether these measures are temporary or permanent is beside the point. The fundamental freedoms upon which this country was founded cannot be dismissed or negotiated at any time, for any reason, and certainly not in the name of convenience.

"This is an effort by the mayor's office to manage dissent in a city where the mayor has given his constituents ample cause to dissent. He has stripped the people and the communities which he was elected to represent in the name of austerity, while championing the 1 percent and a $65 million dollar price tag for the NATO-G8 summit. And now, with a duplicitous excuse of 'public safety,' he seeks to strip Chicagoans of their voice as well."

Many people will think these latest assaults on civil liberties are an aberration from the real traditions of democracy in the U.S.

That's not true. The elites in the U.S. have always been willing to use violence and repression.

Just how violent and repressive becomes obvious in times of war, when violations of the Bill of Rights go nearly unquestioned. During the First World War, the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 forbade the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language" about the U.S. government.

But similar attacks on our rights are familiar in peacetime, too. The Palmer Raids, in which thousands were rounded up and deported in 1919 and 1920, came after the end of the First World War. During the 1950s and '60s, the federal government carried out a witch-hunt against socialists and civil rights activists. The FBI's COINTELPRO was squarely aimed at citizen protesters in the US.

The Sedition Act, the Palmer Raids and COINTELPRO

In his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Martin King responded to critics who questioned whether he was wrong to defy the law:

"Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest."

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God bless you all!

S.R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries

PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WANT US TO VISIT WITH YOU AS WE "PASS THROUGH" YOUR AREA. EMAIL US AT STAFF@ANTIPASMINISTRIES.COM - AND GIVE US YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, LOCATION AND TELEPHONE NUMBER AND WE WILL CONTACT YOU WHEN WE GET NEAR. We plan to visit every place where so-called Christians gather together to promote the alliance of the church with the American New World Order System - for example, in Wisconsin where the church has allied herself with the Koch Brothers to rob the poor of what little they have left; in Washington DC where a "poor people's march" is being planned; at political demonstrations; at churches such as John Hagee's mega church in San Antonio, TX, etc. In each and everyone of these venues we will pass out our DVDs, Antipas flyers, etc. showing the poor of the earth that God has NOTHING to do with the alliance that the church has made with the American New World Order System. We also plan to carry a banner that will read: "THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT + THE FINANCIAL RIGHT + THE POLITICAL RIGHT = AN ALLIANCE MADE IN HELL." We will be wearing white T-shirts emblazoned in red with the same message. We will keep you updated on a special area of the website; we will be filming what we are doing and posting it there. WE WILL CONTINUE TO NEED YOUR HELP AS WE GET OUT ON THE ROAD We urge you to send whatever you can to: Antipas Ministries 1112 Long Rd., #40 Centralia, WA 98531 Or support us through Paypal:

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• The Good News of the Coming Kingdom.

• The Kingdom of God Is at Hand.

• The Principles of the Kingdom.

• The American New World Order System Must Give Way to the Kingdom of Heaven.

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