Punishing Protest: Government Tactics that Suppress Free Speech
Source: National Lawyers Guild
From press release:

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.

+ Full Report (PDF; 6.24 MB)

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 8:45 am and is filed under Government and politics, Legal and law enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.