[P2P-F] Fwd: Controversy over the National Defense Authorization Act : American equivalent of a gulag

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 5:44 AM
Subject: Controversy over the National Defense Authorization Act : American
equivalent of a gulag
To:


http://www.truth-out.org/congress-vs-constitution/1323799353

excerpt :

The Court held that, under the PATRIOT Act's material support provisions, *a
defendant may be held guilty of material support for terror without ever
intending to support violence*.

Months later, the FBI conducted raids of property of dozens of peace and
justice activists. Today, it continues an investigation that has stretched
beyond a year. It's one thing for activists to be monitored, infiltrated
and then harassed by government authorities for their speech and political
views.

The NDAA would vastly enhance those government powers, creating the
authority to detain indefinitely without trial. Mere accusation would be
enough to deny freedom to law-abiding people. Rather than face FBI
harassment, those activists - and any others raising awareness about issues
like foreign policy or corporate environmental policies - could face the
American equivalent of a gulag<http://www.constitutioncampaign.org/blog/?p=4978>
.

The PATRIOT Act's material support provisions allow our government to
criminalize speech and repress political dissent, a frontal assault on the
First Amendment. And with material support cases grounded in associational
guilt, the First Amendment is also eroding from its figurative sides.




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