| NORTHAMPTON, MA - August 19 - On Monday evening, the City Council of Astoria, Oregon, became the 150th local government body in the U.S. and the eighth in Oregon to declare their city a ‘civil liberties safe zone.’ In addition to local resolutions, the state legislatures of Hawaii, Alaska, and Vermont have passed resolutions protecting the freedoms of state residents. These local and statewide resolutions protect the liberties of more than 17 million people.
Astoria’s City Council approved the resolution on the eve of Attorney General John Ashcroft’s four-week tour to defend the Patriot Act. Local opposition to and waning congressional support for the Act appear to have motivated the tour, which will visit Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, and Des Moines this Wednesday and Thursday.
In July 2003 the Justice Department’s Inspector General released a report documenting abuses of civil liberties and civil rights by Justice Department personnel under the Patriot Act. Before Congress recessed in July, legislators in the Senate and House introduced ten bills and amendments rolling back the Patriot Act, including the Otter-Kucinich-Paul amendment to the Commerce, Justice and State Appropriations Bill, eliminating funding for “sneak and peak” searches, which passed the House 309-118. Senator Ted Stevens' amendment to cut off funding for the Defense Department’s Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program passed the Senate unanimously.
Astoria’s resolution directs Oregon's congressional delegation to work to repeal all laws that threaten civil liberties, requests the City Manager to instruct city employees to continue favoring practices and policies protecting rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, and declares December 15, the federally designated "Bill of Rights Day," as a day of formal city celebration of the liberties and protections afforded by the Bill of Rights.
The grassroots movement to protect the freedoms of Americans is a broad based, diverse one that includes organizations from all over the political spectrum. While the movement started in progressive communities, it has spread to include mainstream communities including Baltimore, Maryland, Hartford, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Greensboro, North Carolina, and Duluth, Minnesota. Nancy Talanian, Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, says the “growth of the movement is a healthy sign that Americans overwhelmingly believe that we can be safe from terrorism without giving up essential rights to due process and privacy. In times of war throughout our history, there have been times that the government has relaxed the standard of probable cause and substituted racial or ethnic profiling to identify suspects. Each time, we have returned to the former, higher standard set in the Bill of Rights. Local governments across America are saying that we should return to that standard now, and I think that Congress is listening.”
NOTE: For the current list of communities that have passed resolutions or are working on them by state, go to www.bordc.org/OtherLocalEfforts.htm. For a chronological list, go to www.bordc.org/Chronology.pdf.
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