Sunday, October 27, 2002

Some prices of protest:
> Exorbitant bails -- some as high as $1 million -- keeping peaceful protesters in prison.
> Felony charges used to threaten or punish protesters with loss of voting rights and jobs.
> Federal RICO and domestic terrorist legislation employed to stigmatize peaceful protesters.
> Permits to protest denied for legitimate protests by activist groups.
> Trespass and other false charges fabricated by police.
> Police granted immunity from lawsuits, leaving them free to abuse protesters' rights.
> "Zero tolerance" rules which expel students who participate in nonviolent protests.
> Long sentences in overcrowded and inhuman conditions meted out to protesters
> Seizure of organizations' bank accounts so that members who protest can be fined.
> Protesters arrested and held without charge, preventing them from further protest.
> Legal distinctions blurred between violent and nonviolent protest, so that all protesters are demonized as "anarchists," "hoodlums" and "domestic terrorists."
> Pre-protest surveillance, infiltration and investigations to identify, arrest and detain nonviolent protesters prior to protest.
> Police entrapment used to fabricate grounds for arrest and charges.
> Permits denied to activist groups to keep them from gathering on public lands.
> And nonviolent protesters barred from talking about their causes or motives during trial.