Brunswick-Area Peace Works Sponsors Forum on Patriot Act
by Bruce Gagnon
Bush's "endless war" is not just taking place in Afghanistan and Iraq. His
war on our civil liberties is hitting every community in America, and the
public needs to be drawn into the debate.
PeaceWorks' strategy has been to go out onto the streets with leaflets and a
petition in order to engage folks in the debate about the implications of
the Patriot Act. This determined work has led to a steady trickle of letters
to the editor in the local Times Record concerning our civil liberties and a
rising tide of consciousness in the community.
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The protection of our civil liberties is essential to all of our work for peace and social justice.
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On November 14, we held a forum at the Brunswick library entitled The USA
Patriot Act and Your Civil Liberties. The Mid Coast Peace & Justice Group
co-sponsored the event, and Steve Burke was a tremendous help in organizing
it. Much to our delight, the 130 folks who came had to squeeze into the
room, many sitting on the floor. We had high school students, two state
representatives, and people that we recognized from our leafleting at the
local post office.
Civil rights attorney Phil Worden began the evening with a moving reminder
of the American citizens who now languish in jail with no charges brought
against them, no access to an attorney, and no hope for legal review any
time soon. He told a story about the University of South Florida Palestinian
professor Sami Al-Arian who has been charged by Attorney General Ashcroft
with "aiding terrorism," i.e. raising funds for Palestinian causes well
before 9/11 ever happened. Worden noted that Al-Arian has no connection to
9/11, Afghanistan, or Iraq, and asked if Al-Arian had done anything
different than the Irish in Boston who have raised funds for years on behalf
of Irish independence struggles. This case points to the dangers inherent in
the expanding powers of the Justice Department.
Panelist Dean Corner, a Bath librarian, brought real world privacy issues to
life. One example was of a librarian who notified the police that a man was
reading something on the computer in a foreign language. The police promptly
arrested the man. Corner noted that just as African-Americans have been
arrested for "driving while black," Arabs will now be arrested for "reading
while Lebanese." Page Herrlinger, a modern history professor at Bowdoin
College noted that although she was raising four young children, the
compelling nature of the times, and the frightening impact of the Patriot
Act inspired her to speak out on this panel.
While few in Congress read the Patriot Act before voting on it, many in the
audience at the forum showed they have come to understand the dangerous
implications of it by the questions and statements they made from the floor.
PeaceWorks activists noted that many of the people at the event are not the
"usual suspects" found at such meetings. This indicates that the Patriot Act
is an issue that resonates with the casual political observer, who often
feels comfortable watching the game from the sidelines while cheering on the
hardworking frontline activists. The fact that people are increasingly
motivated to enter the debate is a good and healthy sign.
Among the state representatives at the meeting was Rep. Deb Hutton
(Bowdoinham) who will introduce a resolution in Augusta calling for
significant changes to the Patriot Act. State Senate President Beverly
Daggett has pledged her support for Hutton's resolution and urges local
activists to contact their state representatives in order to build support
for it.
There is also legislation in the U.S. Congress that would begin to eliminate
some of the worst provisions of the Patriot Act. Called the SAFE ACT, this
bill would fix some of the sneak & peek provisions, some of the library
issues, and some of the wiretap provisions. Please contact Senators Snowe
and Collins immediately seeking their support for the SAFE ACT.
Organizing to make positive changes is never easy, but determined effort
sustained over time does have an impact. The protection of our civil
liberties is essential to all of our work for peace and social justice.
Without real constitutional protections, any of us could be neutralized at
any moment in this new cycle of war and social retrenchment that we see
coming out of Washington today. Three states and 214 local governments
(including Waterville) have now passed resolutions calling for the
restoration of our civil liberties. Please do all you can to help water this
garden of liberty and resistance.
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Winter, 2003 - 2004