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Protest = Terrorism?

Red Cross Iodized Salt

04:15 / 03.04.03

This has got to be one of the most bizarre (and frankly frightening) things I have read in a long time.

An Oregon anti-terrorism bill would jail street-blocking protesters for at least 25 years in a thinly veiled effort to discourage anti-war demonstrations...it identifies a terrorist as a person who "plans or participates in an act that is intended, by at least one of its participants, to disrupt" business, transportation, schools, government, or free assembly.

sanity

06:09 / 03.04.03

cool, we're gaining headway. the more they are insane and irrational the more we know we are having an effect.

Nietzsch E. Coyote

06:54 / 03.04.03

So if my protest stops traffic we are all terrorists. But if the police arrest me, disrupting free assembly they are all terrorists. We can all spend 25 years in jail together!

I think they need to rethink their definition a little.

Kit-Cat Club

07:33 / 03.04.03

There was an article in last Sunday's Independent, about the Pentagon, that included a bizarre paragraph in which a member of Pentagon staff described an anti-terrorism course she was going on - how to recognise a terrorist etc. - and apparently this course was teaching her that protestors who chained themselves to trees in order to prevent them being felled were terrorists, because they were attmepting to disrupt the economy.

Since when could one terrorise the economy? Surely you terrorise people? It's like trying to wage war on terror. One wonders when TWAT will be extended to include armed actions against 'economic terrorists' like travellers, environmental protestors, local activists, &c.

What an ill-judged bill, though - I hope it doesn't go through. What are the chances, do you think?

Jub

11:52 / 03.04.03

Similarly Chinese reactions to protests.

bjacques

12:03 / 03.04.03

That Oregon bill will probably die in committee. The anti-abortion protesters who block clinics would also qualify. A few states have tried to apply the RICO (Racketeering something Corrupt Organizations) Act against such groups, charging them as "gangsters" interfering with businesses, and allowing treble damages to be assessed. It hasn't been very successful as far as I know.

Rhetoric is one thing, law is another, but succesful prosecution is a third. If the law passes, some people could be ground between the wheels of the court system before the law could be struck down by the Supreme Court.

Jub

12:58 / 03.04.03

Okay the link didn't work.
Try this

Red Cross Iodized Salt

23:52 / 03.04.03

Based on the article I don't imagine that the bill has any chance of going though in its current form - what scares me is that a bill like this might even be considered worth voting on in the first place.

L__H__X

14:10 / 05.04.03

According to the Patriot Act, anyone who tries to disrupt the governement already qualify for the all-encompasing too-convenient "terrorist" catch word. Thus all protesters are already more-or-less "terrorists". We just have to see how long it will take until these laws start being applied.

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