Privacy Advocates Marching On Washington This Weekend
Posted October 25, 2013 08:40 am
WASHINGTON -
Revelations by leakers Julian Assange and Edward Snowden
have shown U.S. government agencies such as the National
Security Agency may have violated Americans' right to
privacy, according to advocates who will march and rally
in the nation's capital this weekend to protest.
As far back as the 1920s, said Adwoa Masozi, a Bill of
Rights Defense League communications specialist, the
government was spying on the black nationalist movement
of Marcus Garvey.
"This is nothing new," she said. "This is just something
that's affecting everyone, as opposed to certain sects
of the political spectrum and different cultural groups,
ethnic groups in this country."
More information about the rally can be found here.
The action, timed to the 12th anniversary of the signing
of the Patriot Act, will be preceded by a panel
discussion - "Enemies of the State: Government
Surveillance in Communities of Color" - organized by the
Center for Media Justice and Free Press.
Seema Sadanandan, director of the American Civil
Liberties Union's District of Columbia affiliate,
predicted a large turnout for the march, adding that
concern over privacy is reaching a turning point.
"What makes Edward Snowden and Julian Assange and their
revelations so powerful is that they have propelled our
society to engage in a conversation about what privacy
means in this context, and in today's age of
technology," she said.
Supporters of the Patriot Act say it has allowed
investigators to foil terrorist plots, but Masozi said
she isn't buying that.
"There's no evidence to suggest that any of us has been
made any safer, that it is necessary to sacrifice our
liberty for security - none of that," she said.
The march is to step off at noon Saturday and travel
from Union Station to the Capitol reflecting pool. It's
sponsored by dozens of groups that say they are
concerned about civil liberties being pushed aside in
the drive to defend the country from domestic and
international terrorists.
Photos/graphics and links added by the Observer