FEAR, REASON AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

—by Lois Chazen

“Fear, not reason, has guided the Bush Administration’s actions. Individual rights are being trampled, Invasion of privacy has never been as pervasive,” Representative Jerrold Nadler, from the Eighth Congressional District, warned. He spoke at a Civil Liberties Forum on July 21 in Reidy-Friendship Hall. Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Donna Lieberman, related her organization’s recent clashes with the New York City Police Department and the Mayor’s Office concerning the right of free speech and peaceable protest. The other speakers were Moushumi Khan, a lawyer representing immigrants wishing to enter the country for political asylum, and Pamela Lieber, a New York City librarian and member of All Souls. The Rev. Jan Carlsson-Bull, a minister at All Souls and a member of the UUA Commission on Social Witness, explained the process employed by the UUA to select civil liberties as a study issue as well as her concerns on the subject. Members of the audience of more than 170 people had excellent questions and comments after each of the talks.

Ms. Lieberman sharply criticized the City’s policies concerning organized demonstrations, citing numerous roadblocks and other diversionary tactics. She gave examples of unwarranted surveillance and arrests of citizens on racial, political and religious grounds. She discussed mistreatment of detainees and suspension of their basic rights. Reminding the gathering of the often-quoted verity, “Democracy dies behind closed doors,” Ms. Lieberman said that we are experiencing the greatest attack on our civil liberties since the country’s founding. “A government acting in secrecy undermines our basic rights,” she declared. Ms. Lieberman called for repeal of the recently passed federal Patriot Act, stating that the Bush administration uses fear of terrorism as a means of achieving questionable goals.

The horror of 9/11 occurred within Jerrold Nadler’s district. The ranking Democrat on the Constitution Subcommittee and a member of the Judiciary Committee, he expressed concern that the federal government’s expenditures have increased greatly, and yet, such national problems as unemployment, school improvement and medical provision for the uninsured, have not been addressed. He charged the Bush administration with an alarming and unprecedented expansion of Executive Branch power, justifying it as necessary to fight the war on terrorism. The recently approved Patriot Act provides for this. Under the guise of national security, we are surrendering our core values. Nadler went on to say that the Patriot Act as voted on was totally revised the weekend prior to the Monday vote. The 200-page document was distributed the morning the vote was taken, leaving little time for legislators to read it. Effectively, he added, the bill severely compromises our civil rights. Private data collecting firms are used by the government to obtain medical and financial files, even Internet and library usage. He also said that US custody and treatment of suspected enemy combatants at US military bases violates international law. “We rebelled against George III for a lot less than this.” He holds the press culpable for not reporting fully and for becoming more right wing. Representative Nadler is currently working on revisions to the Patriot Act.

Moushumi Khan is the attorney for many Bangladeshi nationals, mostly Muslims, attempting to enter the United States for political refuge. She said that many immigrants who were arrested on suspicion of terrorist activities are detained indefinitely and denied all due process, even though the investigation proves no terrorist connections or other infractions besides immigration statute violation. The registration of immigrants is selectively enforced and therefore, unconstitutional, Ms. Khan contended. Arabs and Muslims are prime targets, particularly Iraqis. Iranians, and Lybians.

“The librarian’s task is to facilitate the flow of information without censorship or restrictions. The reader’s right to privacy in a democratic society is essential. This right is challenged by the Patriot Act,” Pam Lieber, asserted in her presentation. “The Act, as written, enables federal investigative agencies to find out the books loaned to you and what web sites were contacted.”

The Rev. Jan Carlsson-Bull said that “Civil Liberties” was the topic selected for study and discussion by the UUA in 2002. The two-year process leads to action at the grass roots. “Thinking globally and acting locally, in a draft Statement of Conscience, eventually becomes Social Witness policy, scheduled to be adopted in 2004,” she said. “Our goal is to change the world to be more fair.” Referring to one of her civil liberties concerns, Jan noted that, “Under the guise of fighting terrorism, anything goes and that undermines all we stand for as a democracy.”

The forum was sponsored by three New York City churches: All Souls, the Community Church of New York and the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn. Its pastor, The Rev. Gordon Bailey, was the moderator. All three churches cooperated in the planning and in supplying volunteers. Paul Bennett, chairperson of the All Souls Peace Task Force, led the twenty All Souls volunteers. Hanan Watson and Lawrence Groobert assisted him. Paul said that the Peace Task Force is planning additional events for All Souls members to inform and gather ideas in the coming year.