More on what happened yesterday at Zuccotti Park -
The muzzling of media coverage, which went as far as arresting and literally pushing around reporters, amounts to a violation of the First Amendment (freedom of press) to cover up a violation of the First Amendment (right to peaceably assemble).
It's not surprising that Bloomberg missed this, as he appallingly indicated in his public statement that he thinks for First Amendment protects only freedom of speech. But, as I pointed out yesterday, the First Amendment also quite obviously protects freedoms of press and peaceable assemblage (for which, by the way, no expiration date or limitation of duration of assembly is given).
Further, since Oakland Mayor Quan admitted that the clearings of Occupy sites across the country were coordinated in a conference call with 18 mayors, there may be good evidence of a conspiracy to violate the First Amendment.
I call upon the Federal government to finally do something to stop this coordinated attack on American democracy. How about the Attorney General investigating what those misguided mayors did? How about charging them with conspiracy to undermine our Constitution?
Do we live in a nation of laws, or a nation in which government officials and police can do whatever they choose?
-Paul Levinson, PhD
Professor of Communication and Media Studies
Fordham University
Occupy Wall Street Chronicles, Part 1
The muzzling of media coverage, which went as far as arresting and literally pushing around reporters, amounts to a violation of the First Amendment (freedom of press) to cover up a violation of the First Amendment (right to peaceably assemble).
It's not surprising that Bloomberg missed this, as he appallingly indicated in his public statement that he thinks for First Amendment protects only freedom of speech. But, as I pointed out yesterday, the First Amendment also quite obviously protects freedoms of press and peaceable assemblage (for which, by the way, no expiration date or limitation of duration of assembly is given).
Further, since Oakland Mayor Quan admitted that the clearings of Occupy sites across the country were coordinated in a conference call with 18 mayors, there may be good evidence of a conspiracy to violate the First Amendment.
I call upon the Federal government to finally do something to stop this coordinated attack on American democracy. How about the Attorney General investigating what those misguided mayors did? How about charging them with conspiracy to undermine our Constitution?
Do we live in a nation of laws, or a nation in which government officials and police can do whatever they choose?
-Paul Levinson, PhD
Professor of Communication and Media Studies
Fordham University
Occupy Wall Street Chronicles, Part 1
4 comments:
Great post here and I agree ... we have the right to protest peaceably, to assemble with other without fear of reprisal... Nice post.
Thank you - good to have your comment.
A pity that the federal government won't step in... at least on this side of the argument. If anything, they have actually helped to coordinate this suppression.
http://wonkette.com/456282/surprise-homeland-security-coordinates-ows-crackdowns-nationwide
Great post either way and I wish it were simple as the feds stepping in.
Thanks for the good comment. Yeah, it is indeed complicated, and the Federal government as you indicated has thus far been a regressive force in this. It's disturbing to think that Eisenhower did a better job in his day in similar circumstances - he sent troops into the South to make sure local cops didn't integration - than Obama is doing right now.
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