Workshop to address civil liberties and civil rights after Sept. 11

Workshop to address civil liberties and civil rights after Sept. 11
March 2002

Gainesville's Community Coalition Against War and Terrorism (CCAWT) is presenting a community workshop and discussion about the consequences of the changes in civil liberties and civil rights that have taken place since September 11th.

Topics will include the impact of the USA Patriot Act and similar "anti-terrorism" provisions on our constitutional rights, the implications on people's right to protest, and how we can defend our civil rights.

The workshop will be held Saturday, March 23, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The title of the workshop and discussion is "Civil Liberties & Civil Rights After September 11th-What Has Changed?" and will include short presentations by civil rights attorneys and organizers.

The Bush administration's "war on terrorism" is having hard hitting consequences on our constitutional rights in the U.S. The USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) grants the executive branch unprecedented, and largely unchecked, surveillance powers into the lives of Americans, including the enhanced ability to track email and internet usage, monitor financial transactions, conduct nationwide roving wiretaps and do "sneak and peak" searches of a person's home or office without notifying them of the execution of a search warrant until after the search is completed. The political freedoms that define our nation, like freedom of speech and association, are also at risk through the creation of a new crime, "domestic terrorism," that could be interpreted as encompassing political protest activities such as civil disobedience. Since September 11, there have also been thousands of people subject to interrogation, detention and ethnic profiling - most of them on the basis of their immigration status. Workshop presenters include:

Andrea Costello, National Lawyers Guild & Gainesville Women's Liberation
Scott Camil, Gainesville Citizens for Police Review
Cathleen Caron, Migrant Farmworker Justice Project
Caroline Kravath, Florida Institutional Legal Services
David Pred, American Civil Liberties Union (invited)
Lisa White Shirley, Florida Institutional Legal Services

The event will be held in the fellowship Hall of Emmanuel Mennonites in the University United Methodist Church, 1320 W. University Avenue, Gainesville, FL, near NE corner of Univ. Ave & 13th St. The facility is wheelchair accessible.

The event is open to the public. Organizers request a $5-10 donation to pay for literature handouts, but they note that no one will turned away for inability to pay.

For more information about the event, call Pierce Butler at 377-4601.