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NLG & ACLU Appeal Judge's Decision That the DNC Week "Free Speech Zone" is Legal |
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by National Lawyer's Guild, |
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The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (“NLG”) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (“ACLUM”) filed an appeal of the judge’s decision in the federal district court lawsuit brought on behalf of the public and members of the Bl(A)ck Tea Society, United for Peace With Justice and the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights against the City of Boston opposing the City’s unconstitutional attempts to confine and restrict demonstrators at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (“DNC”) to a claustrophobic and unsafe so-called “demonstration zone.” Despite the fact that Judge Woodlock stated that “[o]ne cannot conceive of what other elements you would put in place to make a space more of an affront to the ideal of free expression than the designated demonstration zone,” he ruled that this shocking infringement on plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights was lawful. |
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24 Jul 2004
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Filed under: News / DNC : Human Rights |
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NLG Files Lawsuit against MBTA search policy |
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by NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, |
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The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) will be filing suit on Monday, July 26, 2004, together with the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and members of the American Friends Service Committee to enjoin the MBTA bag search policy. The challenge will be based on the fact that the policy violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution by permitting searches of private possessions without any particular information that the person searched is suspected of criminal activity. |
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23 Jul 2004
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Filed under: News / DNC : Human Rights |
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The Road to Boston: Communiqué from my sister.-Day One |
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by Z -repost from pdx imc, |
 Tonight my sister will leave San Francisco and head for Boston. She will travel with friends to stand and be heard at the National Democratic Convention and the Boston Social Form. Thousands are heading to Boston. It is the right thing to do. My sister will send me communique's here to Portland …to keep me informed. Friends will send pics and video footage. I will post them here for the next few days. If you can go. You should go. |
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23 Jul 2004
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Filed under: News / DNC : Politics |
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Hey, Massachusetts, It’s 2004: Do You Know Where Your Twelve Electoral Votes Are and How They Got There? |
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by Mark Drolette, drolette (nospam) comcast.net |
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If America can put men on the moon, surely it can devise a presidential election system easier to understand than the theory of relativity or even Dubya’s “answers” at his last press conference. It’s time to close the old Electoral College and start a new institution: winner by direct majority vote. |
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Your Civil Rights May Be Briefly Delayed: MBTA Security Inspections & the 4th Amendment |
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by Committee of Safety, send2russ (nospam) hotmail.com |
A permanent policy of random searches of baggage on the T not based on probable cause or any suspicion at all is inconsistent with the general spirit of liberty, violate the Fourth Amendment privileges of T passengers, and serves only the selfish interest of expanding police power at the expense of Bostonians. |
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Stealing From The Poor, The Section 8 Scandal |
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by Lynda Carson, tenantsrule (nospam) yahoo.com |
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The sanctomonius pimps for the Bush administration have been making the rounds lately trying to counter the recent news stories showing up from here to hell that have exposed the plight of the nearly 2 million Section 8 renters that are now being threatened with homelessness because of the recent actions of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials. More than $22 billion dollars in federal money is being diverted to “homeland security” with $2 billion of that amount coming from HUD's much needed budget that in part provides funding for the nation's homeless shelters and the poorest of renters in America. Being a barometer of what is likely to happen across the nation, as an example, Massachusetts would have been forced to rescind vouchers from 3,700 families because HUD's new policy created a $3.1 million gap in Section 8 funding. |
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11 Jul 2004
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Filed under: News / Social Welfare |
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Support the DNC Resolution to Uphold Constitutional Rights of Protesters |
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by Gan Golan, gangolan (nospam) mit.edu |
 A resolution to Uphold the Constitutional Rights of Protesters goes before the Boston City Council in a matter of days. Aimed at stopping the increasing trend of police repression seen during the FTAA in Miami and the G8 in Georgia The resolution will need your help in order to pass.
If this resolution passes it will be one of the most strongly worded resolutions in the country against the repression of protesters, setting a precedent for other cities to follow. As a city council resolution, it may not be able to reign in the FBI/JTTF & Secret Service, but the reality is that the feds need local agencies to carry out many of their repressive tactics. In the final section, the resolution draws clear lines against police brutality, harrassment of protesters, false arrests, use of force, etc.
Save Our Civil Liberties Petition
Full Text of Resolution (PDF)
[Update, 7/15/04: The resolution did not receive the unanimous vote it needed to pass and has been referred to the Boston City Council's Committee on Human Rights for a hearing on Wednesday, July 21 at 1:00 PM in the Iannella Chamber on the fifth
floor of Boston City Hall.] |
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10 Jul 2004
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Filed under: Announcement / DNC : Human Rights |
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MIT charges dropped against Aimee Smith |
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by Bill Cunningham, etwee (nospam) earthlink.net |
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A month after being arrested while distributing flyers at MIT, former Green-Rainbow city council candidate Aimee Smith has learned that charges against her have been dropped. She says she was “not surprised” that her case was dropped, but not satisfied, either: “We are looking into ways to seek redress to insure that MIT will never again use false arrest to silence people.” |
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10 Jul 2004
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Filed under: News / Human Rights |
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