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.