Thousands of people are expected to rally in cities across the U.S. on Sunday in protest of the National Security Agency's recently exposed dragnet surveillance programs, in what organizers from the group Restore the Fourth are calling 1984 Day.
Protesters in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis, Raleigh, Austin, and other cities have scheduled marches, rallies, and other events to "draw attention to the NSA’s unconstitutional surveillance programs," in the name of protecting the principles of the U.S. constitution's fourth amendment.
"The tide has turned against the National Security Agency’s unconstitutional phone and Internet monitoring," said Ben Doernberg from Restore the Fourth NYC. "The front page of Monday’s New York Times stated that opposition to the NSA’s activities has 'momentum that even critics say may be unstoppable,' and on Sunday, We the People will build on that momentum."
One such rally will take place in San Francisco where speakers such as Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg will target House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over her opposition to the recent Amash Amendment, which attempted to defund NSA programs that infringe on privacy rights but failed to pass in the House.
"1984 is a warning, not an instruction manual," says Andrea O'Neill from Restore the Fourth DC of the dystopian novel written by George Orwell—the inspiration for the day of action's title. “As we find out about more unconstitutional programs every week, it is clear that the NSA’s domestic spying has gone too far and must be stopped before it’s too late.”
On Sunday morning, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has extensively reported on the NSA leaks in question, provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, reported on the most recent of those NSA revelations— that members of Congress have been repeatedly refused access to basic information about the NSA, despite continual proclamations by the White House that congressional overseers are given "robust supervision" over the NSA's activities.
Sunday's actions follow last month's Restore the Fourth in which protesters took to the streets in over 100 cities while several internet companies including WordPress, Reddit, and Mozilla and digital rights groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation displayed anti-NSA spying messages on their home pages.
Follow live tweets below for the actions throughout the day:
Tweets about "#restorethe4th OR #1984day"
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