The State of Dissent in America: Flex Your Rights

[marmar]

The State of Dissent in America: Flex Your Rights

Wednesday, 03 July 2013 10:33
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers , Truthout | News Analysis


When we occupied Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, during the Autumn of 2011, we often marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill to express our many grievances. We were always accompanied by a large contingent of police officers and other members of the national security state, some obvious and others not so much. Along the way, we would pass the Newseum, which has the First Amendment engraved in large letters on the front of the building. We made it a habit to pause at the Newseum and read aloud in unison the words of the First Amendment. The reason for doing so was to let everyone know, including the security state, that we have the right to protest peacefully and that we were exercising that right.

We live in a time when there is much to protest. The government is dysfunctional, ruled by plutocrats who pass laws for their corporate friends that cause real harm and suffering for the people and ecological collapse of the planet. Many activists with whom we work recognize that the traditional tools used to effect change within the system - petitions, lobbying, electing supportive legislators or running for office - largely fail in the current political environment.

Our most effective option is strategic and militant, nonviolent protest in all of its many forms, from boycotts to rallies to hunger strikes. And it is our First Amendment right to use these tools. But rather than respecting and supporting our right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of our grievances, the national security state and legislators are chipping away at our rights in more extreme ways than ever before.

Even our right to know what is being done in our name is disappearing. The White House and Congress are doing more in secret and are cracking down on those who reveal their actions. Whistleblowers are being charged under the Espionage Act and journalists are being spied upon. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/17354-the-state-of-dissent-in-america-flex-your-rights

[YeahSureRight]

1. Good Read and spot on however too many are unwilling to do what is needed

We make great pets!

Hopefully more people wake up soon.

[marmar]

2. Hopefully.

[nineteen50]

4. and mostly cheap labor.

[Left_Is_Right]

3. Let Us Not Forget

[link:http://landwheremyfatherdied.blogspot.com/2011/03/americais-it-time-to-stop-madness-is-it.html|

[nineteen50]

5. "to do the will of the people"

and that is why the extreme court made corporations people.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. Great article.

It's apparent to me that the government is expecting a mass uprising soon, judging by all the restrictive laws that are being passed. Most of the new laws and regulations spoken of in this article pertain to increasing police and military powers and giving harsher penalties to dissenters.

Some highly placed people are expecting an event that will anger the public so much that we'll take to streets. It must be something serious, because Americans are lazy as hell when it comes to getting involved and organizing protests. The one thing that I think would get people off their couches is a devastating economic crash. Another possibility is an internet shutdown.

About the media, I watched the nightly news on ABC and CBS last night. I continually switched back and forth between both stations, and there was no mention of the incident with the Bolivian president's plane. There was no mention of Snowden, either.

[zeemike]

8. I don't watch TV so I don't know

But I would guess that people like Rachel Madow and Big Ed have not covered it ether...
This is how things work....the have nice jobs that pay well...if they want to keep them they had better tow the line when it comes to the important things...like the NSA security state or they will find themselves on the street where there are no jobs that pay much more than minimum wage...

That is the greatest tool in their box of control tools.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. Yes, they have the power to decide what the news is.

They did have that power, anyway, until the internet came along. The greatest enemy of the government and the MSM is the internet, and I don't see how they could make a serious grab for total power without shutting down or heavily censoring the internet. I see it coming.

I think the 1% would love to see a Chinese-style system here in the U.S. They have a totalitarian oligarchy and a huge class of people working for subsistence wages. To maintain that system, they have a huge military police state that keeps everyone in line, along with censorship to keep people uninformed and unable to organize. It's obvious to me, just by looking at the laws that are being passed and the state our economy with wages that have been stagnant or declining for decades, that something like a Chinese system is in the works for this country.

The most important thing we have is information, and we must protect our right to it at all costs. When we lose access to information, the game is over.

[zeemike]

10. And I think you are right...it's coming.

But they will bring it on slow just as always so we will be conditioned to it...it is how they work....carrot and stick.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

7. Reading this article...

Should be required "homework" for each and every DU Member.

Great read spot on!

Thanks.

[marmar]

11. Agreed.

[woo me with science]

12. K&R

[felix_numinous]

13. Should be required reading

What an excellent article backed up with research.