[Dryerase] Asheville activists air civil liberties concerns

[Asheville Global Report]

Asheville activists air civil liberties concerns
By Liz Allen
Asheville, North Carolina, Oct. 8 (AGR)— On Oct. 7, people across the 
United States participated in local events to recognize First Monday, a day 
of action and resistance against the degradation of civil rights in this 
country since Sept. 11 and with the passage of the “Uniting and 
Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools to Intercept and 
Obstruct Terrorism”(USA PATRIOT) Act. Events were sponsored by the Alliance 
for Justice, with cosponsors including the National Education Association, 
the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International.
“While it is important to support the legitimate national security needs of 
the country, these needs are not met through the elimination of the rights 
and liberties that are the foundation of America,” said a statement from 
Alliance for Justice. People across the US collected signatures for a 
subpoena to Attorney General John Ashcroft, demanding information as to why 
he refuses to give out the names of detainees who are held without 
evidence, and how his revisions of the Attorney General guidelines as well 
as increased surveillance of the everyday activities of citizens make the 
country safer. Rob Close, organizer for First Monday events at University 
of North Carolina-Asheville (UNCA), reported that on campus the subpoena 
collected between 40 and 50 signatures in a matter of two hours. Another 
petition, to NC Senator John Edwards asking him to say no to the war in 
Iraq, collected around 160 signatures.
Participants in First Monday at UNCA expressed concern over the loss of 
student privacy, manifested in the use of the 1974 Family Education and 
Privacy Act’s exceptions that allow Universities to turn over specific 
information on students without university liability. They also criticized 
the abridgement of constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of 
association under the Patriot Act and Ashcroft’s policy revisions: civil 
disobedience can now be considered “domestic terrorism;” non-citizen 
“material witnesses” can be detained indefinitely if they are suspected of 
having a link to terrorists; and Ashcroft has powers of surveillance as 
extensive as those of J. Edgar Hoover. At UNCA, students and at least one 
professor wore masking tape over their mouths to bring attention to the issue.
Clark Walker, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Buncombe County, who was 
registering people to vote at the UNCA event, expressed concern that the 
government had too much power. “The government’s business is to protect us, 
not to enlist us as helpers to spy on fellow citizens,” Walker commented.
A film, produced by the Alliance for Justice, was also shown nationwide. 
The film, about 25 minutes in length, profiles people whose lives have been 
directly affected by the changes in governmental policy since Sept. 11 and 
the implications of those changes.