Free speech zones.

[Skidmore]

1. They need to be eliminated.
2. How can we do it.

[Atman]

1. Stand in a cage under a highway exit ramp three miles from the White House

And let your voice be heard!

[mattclearing]

6. Try three feet from the White House.

Lafayette Park is way too empty these days.

[br7598]

2. three ways...

Cindy Sheehan
Martin Luther King Jr
Gandhi

They all have it right.

[baldguy]

3. We only need one free speech zone.

[zbdent]

8. That's how it was under Clinton

The entire US was the "free speech zone", with protected pockets where your freedom was limited. Now, it's the other way around . . .

[Toots]

23. Actually it was under Clinton that the concept came about

It had to do with keeping abortion foes away from entrances to family planning centers. The courts ruled that people had a right to enter a family planning center without running a gauntlet. Bush* took that concept and extrapolated the new Free Speech Zones from it. He only plays at being a moron...

[mcscajun]

11. I'd like to see that on a Black T-Shirt.

:)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Civil disobedience. Like Cindy did. She was heard.

[kentuck]

5. They have to be challenged...

Some of us will have to be arrested for not staying in their locked spaces. Then challenge it in court. But it needs to be done in a very public way, on TV and radio. Sit down. Refuse to be marched into their zones. Our defense will be that "free speech" is our constitutional right and nowhere in the Constitution does it say you can only speak behind a fence or wall. It is imperative.

[br7598]

9. Wrong...

No, that would have worked last week. But thanks to our spineless democrats we now have Alito on the court so the whole thing took a really hard right turn.

The only way to change it now is by public opinion, and through public opinion the legislature. Still, the best way to get public opinion is by civil disobedience.

That, and becoming a member of the ACLU, which I am.

[kentuck]

19. And how do you change public opinion??

Are you going to take back the media??

[br7598]

22. Two ways...

Well, where it concerns the media, I do what we all should be doing. Last year when going over my favorite channels list I deleted fox news. It no longer even shows up. I havent watched it in a year. Soon I may do the same thing with CNN. I cannot live without MSNBC though because of my man Keith Olberman.

It seems like sometimes, the liberals watch foxnews more than the conservatives. Everyone always seems to know what Oreilly said last night or whatever.

Stop it. Turn it off. If you have to know what grotesque things Oreilly says regularly, all you have to do is check crooks and liars. They will have the highlights. I don't care how conservative the channel owners are, ratings make the world go around. And if Hannity's show tanks, they will pull the plug.

Then, step two. Talk to people. Its always amazing to me how many people never pay attention to politics. I know here in texas, we will probably have the usual 30% turn out in november. Forget talking to conservatives. They wont listen. Talk to the other people, especially young people about what is going on. Get them involved at least to the point of voting.

[endarkenment]

7. We have to be willing to go to jail over and over again.

Until we start putting our bodies on the line, in a determined rational nonviolent effort to deny their authority over us, there is no hope of real change.

[Ready4Change]

10. Get 1000 cheap, white frisbees. Print "This is NOT America" on them.

Fling them into the NON-Free speech zones.

[Earth_First]

24. I like this tactic!

Although I'm sure you'd be arrested on some trumped up Newspeak charge.

[Ready4Change]

25. Maybe littering?

I was thinking further about this today. There are two things I think someone doing this might get in trouble for.

The first is littering. Likely a fineable offense in most locales.

The second might be some form of charge regarding a breach of some kind of defensive barrier. The alarmist thought would "what if those frisbees were BOMBS!" I'd like to think any jury would get a case of the giggles if any lawyer tried that line. But then again, I hear there are no juries in Gitmo.

I also had more thoughts regarding the littering aspect. This would be a lot of plastic to be thrown away. Maybe do this with a heavier duty paper plate? It would be easier to print/paint on, cheaper, and biodegradable. (And you could eat off it in a pinch, too. Good for an all day event.)

[G_j]

12. the ACLU

http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/11419res20030923.html

Free Speech Under Fire: The ACLU Challenge to "Protest Zones" (9/23/2003)

Fact Sheet

WASHINGTON - In many cities across the country, the Secret Service has discriminated against protesters during Presidential and Vice Presidential appearances. Such incidents have spiked under the Bush Administration, prompting the ACLU to charge government officials with a "pattern and practice" of discrimination against those who disagree with its policies.

Following is just a partial list of incidents from around the nation. In some cases, the ACLU is representing the individuals or groups involved. But because these cases are too numerous to litigate individually, the ACLU has asked a federal court for a nationwide injunction barring the Secret Service from directing local police to restrict protesters' access to appearances by President Bush and other senior Administration officials.

The ACLU has also documented incidents of government crackdowns on dissent in many forms in a report, Freedom Under Fire: Dissent in Post-9/11 America, available online at /safefree/resources/17281pub20031208.html

Phoenix, Arizona
On September 27, 2002, President Bush came to the downtown Civic Center for a fund-raising dinner for two local candidates. A coalition of groups opposed to a variety of the President's policies, consisting of approximately 1,500 people, negotiated with the local police for a demonstration permit. Phoenix police advised the protesters that the President had requested a federal protection zone. These protesters were required to stand across the street from the Civic Center. People carrying signs supporting the President's policies and spectators not visibly expressing any views were allowed to stand closer. Eleanor Eisenberg, director of the local ACLU, was present as a legal observer. When mounted police in riot gear charged into the crowd without warning, Eisenberg, who was across the street taking photos, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. The charges were later dropped.

Stockton, California
On August 23, 2002,...<snip>

[Skidmore]

13. So that is after the fact.

How do we eliminate them from being set up to begin with? They still set them up. Break the law, and drop the charges.

[G_j]

16. good question

I believe FSZs started during Clinton's time in order to put a distance between "pro-life" demonstrators and people entering family planning clinics.

Illegal 'preemptive' arrests are also not new under Bush.
I was in DC when over 600 hundred people were arrested the night before World Bank/IMF protests for parading in front of the DOJ "without a permit". Almost every single charge was dropped, but the people were held until the next day's demonstration was over. There were many lawsuits. An ACLU lawyer told me that money was being budgeted ahead of time for protests specifically to pay off future law suits over illegal arrests.

so, I don't really have a good answer to your question.
Often judges get very upset over these types of things, but our hopes in the courts are diminishing it seems.

[JDPriestly]

14. How about a Free Speech Zone tee shirt campaign.

Why don't we all just wear tee shirts stating "I'm in the Free Speech Zone"

[JDPriestly]

15. I'm wondering how Free Speech Zones can be Constitutional

The time and manner of protests and free speech can be regulated. It would seem to me, however, that the regulations have to be content neutral. If people are allowed to express their support for Bush anywhere, it seems to me that people have the freedom to express their disapproval of him anywhere. Applying different rules to the time and manner in which you can express yourself based on the content of what you are expressing, i.e., applying one rule if you are supporting the president and another if you are protesting the president seems to violate the First Amendment. Where is the ACLU on this?

[kentuck]

20. Until they are challenged in court, they will be "constitutional"...

But we have to find a way to get them into the higher courts...not necessarily the Supreme Court.

[UTUSN]

17. Zones started as protection for pro-Choicers from rabid anti-Choicers

[Skidmore]

21. I know their history, but they are not a good solution and are

misused.

[Solo_in_MD]

18. I would start with college campuses.

As I recall the Free Speech Zone nonsense started there.

[dogday]

26. If they have not already, they should sue

lawsuit is the only way I know to change this (is this even a law?). Those who have been put in these free speech zones should create a class action lawsuit against the government or the city in which it took place....