sspadowsky
Sep 23rd, 2003, 02:45 PM
I wanted to share this clever article with all you bitches....
http://www.bordc.org/Mil-protest.htm
10,000 Milwaukeeans to Protest John Ashcroft in Secret
Organizers estimate 10,000 people will participate in a "secret protest" of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's visit to Milwaukee today. In response to the Attorney General's quiet arrival in town for a closed-door address to law enforcement at a virtually unpublicized time and place, opponents will display - or conceal - their anti-Ashcroft sentiments at a variety of undisclosed locations throughout the day. "The Attorney General is an icon of the erosion of civil liberties in this country, an erosion that most people resent, which is why he has to sneak around and hide from the people instead of facing them in public," said John Doe, one of the organizers of the event.
The protesters say it is important for Americans to recognize that the loss of vital civil liberties under the USA PATRIOT Act and other laws has not generated significant gains in making America safer. "Ashcroft's website says that the Act has helped deport over 500 people and led to charges against hundreds of citizens, but what he doesn't say is how many of those are related to terrorism." Says Doe. "We know that number's very small; it may be zero but because of all the new government secrecy, it's impossible to tell."
While it has since been announced that Ashcroft's speech will take place at the War Memorial at 9:30 a.m., Doe says the idea for a secret protest was born of necessity because the time and location of Ashcroft's speech was learned so late. "We have decided to fight fire with fire. If he won't tell us where he is or let us hear what he is saying, then we're not going to make it easy for him. If he wants to hear what we have to say, he's been granted the power to launch an investigation without even reasonable suspicion. He can find out what library books we read, review our internet usage, or get a secret court to let him search our houses without even telling us. Let him spend the time and money if he has nothing better to do."
"What we offer is a silent protest that's almost totally silent, the first counterdemonstration that's counter even to the idea of demonstrating. And because participants are free to participate in any manner they choose, it was easy to get participants. Of course, the estimate of 10,000 participants is necessarily very rough, because the
event is so decentralized."
http://www.bordc.org/Mil-protest.htm
10,000 Milwaukeeans to Protest John Ashcroft in Secret
Organizers estimate 10,000 people will participate in a "secret protest" of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's visit to Milwaukee today. In response to the Attorney General's quiet arrival in town for a closed-door address to law enforcement at a virtually unpublicized time and place, opponents will display - or conceal - their anti-Ashcroft sentiments at a variety of undisclosed locations throughout the day. "The Attorney General is an icon of the erosion of civil liberties in this country, an erosion that most people resent, which is why he has to sneak around and hide from the people instead of facing them in public," said John Doe, one of the organizers of the event.
The protesters say it is important for Americans to recognize that the loss of vital civil liberties under the USA PATRIOT Act and other laws has not generated significant gains in making America safer. "Ashcroft's website says that the Act has helped deport over 500 people and led to charges against hundreds of citizens, but what he doesn't say is how many of those are related to terrorism." Says Doe. "We know that number's very small; it may be zero but because of all the new government secrecy, it's impossible to tell."
While it has since been announced that Ashcroft's speech will take place at the War Memorial at 9:30 a.m., Doe says the idea for a secret protest was born of necessity because the time and location of Ashcroft's speech was learned so late. "We have decided to fight fire with fire. If he won't tell us where he is or let us hear what he is saying, then we're not going to make it easy for him. If he wants to hear what we have to say, he's been granted the power to launch an investigation without even reasonable suspicion. He can find out what library books we read, review our internet usage, or get a secret court to let him search our houses without even telling us. Let him spend the time and money if he has nothing better to do."
"What we offer is a silent protest that's almost totally silent, the first counterdemonstration that's counter even to the idea of demonstrating. And because participants are free to participate in any manner they choose, it was easy to get participants. Of course, the estimate of 10,000 participants is necessarily very rough, because the
event is so decentralized."