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Dissent NewsWire
Giving a Voice to the 32,000: Why Immigrant Detainees Must Have First Amendment Rights
Protesting is an appropriate and essential way for noncitizens to confront the harsh treatment they are experiencing in detention centers, bring awareness to the issue, and seek to change it.
Defending Rights & Dissent Statement on Police Responses to Protests in St. Louis
As organization dedicated both to police accountability and to defending political dissent, we are deeply disturbed by both the acquittal of the former police officer who killed Anthony Lamar Smith and police use of force against the protests in response to this acquittal.
We Don’t Like When Our Own Government Spies On Us, Why Would We Be Okay With Other Governments Doing It?
The Department of Justice has proposed draft legislation that would grant foreign governments easy access to electronic communications data, like emails, held in the United States.
Defending Rights & Dissent Statement on Judge’s Refusal to Dismiss #J20 Felony Charges
Defending Rights & Dissent expresses its deep sense of dismay that a DC Superior Court Judge has refused to dismiss charges against participants in a counter-inauguration protest. The currently nearly 200 defendants face multiple felony charges carrying up to decades in prison for participating in a First Amendment protected assembly.
Groups to Congress: Put Police Militarization On Hold and Do Some OVERSIGHT!
The letter states, “We are dismayed that, after years of advocacy and dialogue, we are once again returning to an era in which federal agencies will operate these programs virtually unchecked.”
Sound and Fury
Providing law enforcement with military-grade equipment produces a dangerous, warrior mentality that could encourage more aggressive policing. Military equipment is designed to be used against an enemy, so if local police are given access to weapons being used by soldiers fighting ISIS in Afghanistan, it’s not that far a of logical jump to see an environment where unarmed public demonstrators are perceived as a threat.
CVE Is Not Our Friend
CVE programs combine profiling, surveillance, censorship, and even thought control. They aren’t the right tool to help us fight white supremacy, because they have been, and will continue to be, used to enforce institutional white supremacy.
DRAD to Congress: Don’t Single Out Charities Based on Religious Affiliation
Amendment No. 115 to HR 3354, if passed, this amendment would cut off all federal government funding to Islamic Relief Worldwide. Approving this amendment would be taking the unprecedented step of singling out an individual non-profit organization for legislative exclusion from participation in programming with US foreign assistance funds when there is no legal basis for the exclusion.
Defending Rights & Dissent, Center for Constitutional Rights Release First Comprehensive Report on Ag-Gag Laws
This landmark report discusses ag-gag laws in historical and political context, catalogues an earlier wave of ag-gag legislation, examines each recent law in detail, explores constitutional concerns and current lawsuits, and documents several successful campaigns to defeat ag-gag legislation.
Resistance Cities Coalition Grows
What do communities of color, environmentalists, animal rights activists, civil rights activists, immigrant communities, Muslims, the labor movement, and a host of others all have in common?