First Amendment Under Fire at Party Conventions

From the Bill of Rights Defense Committe:

Freedom of the press and freedom to speak, to assemble and to dissent have never been more critical than in this election year. In the wake of the Bush administration's continued flaunting of basic constitutional rights, it is more important than ever that we review politicians' records and promises with the help of journalists willing to ask them tough questions, so that we can make informed choices about the next president and the composition of the next Congress.

At this year's major-party conventions, however, the First Amendment rights of protesters and journalists were repressed by thousands of unidentified police. The police actions are symptomatic of our times, when we the people are spied on and silenced while our government remains secretive and unaccountable.

Protesters and reporters seeking accountability from conveners of the recent Democratic and Republican national conventions met a range of obstacles including crackdowns on journalistic freedom, preemptive raids on the homes of protest organizers, violent repression in the streets, and brutal treatment of people in the jails.

Just before the Democratic National Convention began in Denver, AT&T threw a lavish party for delegates and Congress members who in June approved legal immunity for telecommunications companies that violated federal law by releasing customers' records to the government without receiving a warrant. Reporter Glenn Greenwald asked attendees about the event as they entered the building, but they remained mum. Eventually, private security guards pushed him so far from the entrance that his questions could no longer be heard, much less answered, by party guests. Greenwald commented, "Those who dictate the nation's laws (the largest corporations and their lobbyists) [were] cavorting in total secrecy with those who are elected to write those laws (members of Congress), while completely prohibiting the public from having any access to and knowledge of - let alone involvement in - what they are doing."

On the opening day of the Democratic Convention, police cordoned off and arrested roughly 100 peaceful protestors. Eyewitnesses reported that police gave protesters no opportunity to disperse and used pepper spray against peaceful protesters. Because the police were mostly unidentified, they acted without individual accountability to the public. Police also impeded protesters' access to public space.

A week later, police repression at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul was even more brutal. Armed with automatic weapons, police raided the homes of many people involved with the protests (See Glenn Greenwald's commentary on August 30 and 31). Between house raids and street sweeps, police arrested more than 800 protesters, bystanders, media, and medics at the RNC. According to the Coldsnap Legal Collective, of those charged with felonies, most were charged with the "notoriously vague charge, 'conspiracy to riot,'" which allows police to enter evidence of political intent, detain people for longer periods of time, and justify their own brutality against protesters. Coldsnap also reported injury and denial of medical attention to protesters while in custody.

President Bruce Nestor of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild reports that eight members of the RNC Welcoming Committee have been charged with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism, which "appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act." The terrorism enhancement charge allows for a 50 percent increase in the maximum penalty, meaning the accused could face up to seven and a half years in prison, but Nestor emphasizes that no physical evidence corroborates the testimony of paid informants. The charges are quite serious in that the defendants are not being accused of their own actions in the streets, but rather for their role prior to the convention in facilitating and organizing protest activities. “By equating plans or stated plans to blockade traffic and to try to disrupt the convention with acts of terrorism," Nestor pointed out, "the conspiracy nature of the charge, where you punish people for what they say or advocate, but not for what they do, really creates a possibility that anybody organizing a large-scale demonstration, at which civil disobedience may be a part of it or where other individuals may then engage in some type of property damage, creates the potential that all those organizers can be charged with these conspiracy charges and face significant penalties.”

Independent media workers have also faced repression and harassment. Videographer group I-Witness Video, which has filmed previous political demonstrations and used that footage to exonerate hundreds of people, was targeted before the protests even began. Heavily armed police detained the group for hours at their temporary office, delaying the group's preparatory work by a day and heightening the climate of fear.

In another case, two Democracy Now! producers with press credentials and convention security clearances were arrested while covering a protest march. Immediately upon hearing the news, host Amy Goodman rushed to the scene. Once there, she questioned an officer about her arrested colleagues, only to be arrested on the spot herself. Although all three were released the same night due to immediate public outcry, two of the producers are still facing pending felony charges.

With such egregious First Amendment violations apparent at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, it is clear that the public must respond if we are to reclaim the promise of liberty and freedom that our nation and our Constitution have always stood for. It is the duty of both Congress and the president to uphold and defend the Bill of Rights, including the rights of the people to dissent and to assemble, and the right - and responsibility - of the press to document and report on all issues important to the public. This election year is a pivotal moment for our nation, and we must use this opportunity to organize in our local communities to hold each and every one of our representatives to their duties and oaths.