RESIST THE "NEW NORMALCY"!
Refuse & Resist! and the National Lawyers Guild Present a Forum on the New
Police State Measures
Saturday, December 1st, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Merifield Hall, Loyola Law School, 919 Albany
(near Olympic and the 110 Freeway in downtown LA)
Speakers:
Stephen Rohde, President of the ACLU of Southern California
Carol Sobel, Civil Rights Attorney
A speaker from Refuse & Resist!
This forum will examine the new draconian USA Patriot Act (the
"anti-terrorism" law), and other repressive measures so rapidly put in place
since the horrendous events on September 11th.
Over 1100 people, mainly Arabs and Muslims, have been rounded up by the FBI
and INS and kept in detention, many on the basis of secret evidence or no
evidence at all and without any contact with a lawyer. The government has
refused to reveal the identities, nationalities and whereabouts of the
detained people. These have become the new "disappeared." Law enforcement
authorities are openly debating the use of torture to extract information
from those they've arrested. The Justice Department has expanded it's
authority to eavesdrop on attorney-client conversations, further eroding the
rights of all federal inmates.
Each day government officials present new ideas for increasing society-wide
control, and many are being quickly adopted: video cameras and facial
recognition ID systems in public areas and police checkpoints at major
thoroughfares, airport militarization and "Smart Cards" for travelers that
would contain their travel history and other personal information, demands
that internet providers reconfigure computer systems so government agencies
can more efficiently spy on e-mail and track computer searches. Numerous
calls have been made for the establishment of a national ID card that would
contain encoded personal information which could be read by police.
Top administration officials have made it clear these are not short-term
measures and that this "war" may not end in our lifetimes. They warn this
police state repression is the "new normalcy" and that we had better get used
to it.
What is the government's real agenda under the cover of the "War on
Terrorism"? Will these new repressive measures make us safer? None of these
measures have much to do with actually stopping terrorist attacks on innocent
civilians, but they do have much to do with what the government is planning
for the future. These sweeping changes are very dangerous to the people, and
must be resisted and fought. The speakers will address these issues and there
will be lots of opportunity for questions and discussion. We will come out
of this forum with a plan of action.
Contact: Refuse & Resist, 323-962-8084,
RandRLA@aol.com Admission free, snacks available
Loyola Law School does not endorse the events for which it provides community
forums.