[MAPC-discuss] [Fwd: foreign intelligence surveillance act]

[MAPC-discuss] [Fwd: foreign intelligence surveillance act]

born-digital

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2001-12-02

BOOKSELLERS THREATENED BY FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT

For Immediate Release: November 15, 2001

Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative recently received a letter from the
American Booksellers Foundation for Free
Expression (ABFFE) concerning the chilling effects on booksellers of the
new antiterrorism bill that President
Bush just signed into law.

If the bookstore were served with a court order under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to
search our business records, including the titles of books purchased by
our customers, we would have no right
to object in court or the court of public opinion. The new law includes
a gag order that prevents us from
disclosing "to any other person" the fact that we received such an
order. The ABFFE says that depending on
the specifics of the subpoena, the gag order could extend to contact
with an attorney! No right to legal counsel
is outrageous but is suddenly a very real and terrifying possibility.

This terrifying encroachment on the privacy rights of citizens is itself
a form of terrorism. "Terrorism",
according to the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as
"…the systematic employment of
violence and intimidation to coerce a government or community,
especially, into acceding to specific political
demands". President Bushs declaration of a war on terrorism and
subsequent military actions, combined with
the presumption that U.S. citizens should willingly surrender our civil
liberties for the good of the country
certainly constitutes such a political demand. The FBI shows up at your
home or workplace, demands
information and refuses to let you contact legal counsel would sound
like coercion and intimidation to most
people. With the passage of the new antiterrorism legislation, if you
dont cooperate, if you resist, your
freedom and livelihood will be in jeopardy. Ironically, the first
definition of the word "terrorist" in my dictionary
refers to the Jacobins, the radicals during the French Revolution who
"advocated and practiced methods of
partisan repression and bloodshed in the propagation of the principles
of democracy and equality". The
prospect of increasing "partisan repression" at home and "bloodshed"
abroad, in the name of democracy, a
founding principle of this country as well as in France, is our new
terrifying reality. We must collectively take a
stand to defend our democratic rights, which includes the right to
protest our government, oppose the war, and
the right to read whatever we want .

The new reactionary political climate, highlighted by the passage of
FISA, dangerously expands the decade
long government assault on our civil liberties and democratic freedoms.
The danger to booksellers is just one
small part of this new landscape. What are the repercussions for
anti-war groups, people of color, immigrants,
WTO/World Bank/IMF protesters, anarchists and radical activists of all
stripes, progressive media outlets-any
person or group who challenges the status quo-under these new laws? Do
we even know? The right to
political dissent is at stake. Generations have struggled to expand our
democratic rights at home and a new
generation hopes to extend them globally. This new global justice
movement is threatened by our
governments "employment of violence and intimidation" at home and
abroad.

We are sending this urgent appeal to our friends and allies in the
media. We urge you to contact Chris Finian,
President of ABFFE, at 212/587-4025, for more information. Research the
implications of this law. Make public
the threats to our democracy in the name of "Homeland Security". We need
more information, not less, during
these dangerous times.

In Solidarity

X

Sunday, December 02, 2001 4:32 PM

[MAPC-discuss] [Fwd: foreign intelligence surveillance act]