Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[childers.paula AT epamail.epa.gov]

OK, this group has always seemed to at least be willing to stand up for
free speech issues, even if we can't agree on much else, including
scotch, beer, or alcoholic kool-aid ;-)  So, I thought some of you might
care to at least see this message. I think it is pretty frightening,
especially given the stuff about cameras.  If you consider this post to
be "kook" material, then I am sad for you and all of us.

>>>>

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!

This THURSDAY, SEPT. 25, the Miami City Commission will most likely pass
an ordinance banning  the use and  possession of a variety of items
related to peaceful protests, demonstrations and protest marches. This
includes puppets and other props; street theater masks; signs on sticks;
cameras (still and video; used to record the actions of overzealous
police); padded clothing (for protection against police truncheons and
dogs); bullhorns; gas masks of any kind, including bandannas (used for
protection against tear-gas and other dangerous chemical agents often
used indiscriminately and recklessly by police), and much more.

The ordinance, which will take effect when passed and expire on
Thursday, Nov. 27, is clearly aimed at stifling the voices of the tens
of thousands of people - students, union members, activists, peasant
farmers and many other types of individuals - from around the Americas
and the world who will be coming to South Florida to protest at the FTAA
(Free Trade Area of the Americas) meeting to be held from Nov. 17-21 in
Miami.

This ordinance is an outrageous abridgment of democratic rights and
civil liberties, including the right of free speech, the right to
protest and the right to assemble. The ACLU and protest leaders have
pointed out that the "proposed ordinance ... is so broadly written that
it may allow police to clamp down on constitutionally protected,
peaceful protest activities." (The Miami Daily Business Review, "As
Miami plans to prevent disruptions during trade talks, protest groups
warn of First Amendment breaches," Sept. 19, 2003)

It's important that concerned citizens immediately contact Miami city
officials to voice their opposition to this draconian, unconstitutional
measure. Although the ordinance seems destined for approval, these
officials need to know that the eyes of the world are upon them and that
their action will be protested rather than allowed to happen quietly.
Please take a moment to e-mail them, or if you can afford to, call them.
Tell them you're contacting them to express your opposition to this
ordinance which strips away free speech rights - refer to it as the
parades and demonstrations ordinance; if they ask what you mean, tell
them it's item J-O3-772 on the Sept. 25 City Commission agenda, which
would add section 6.1 to Chapter 54 of the City of Miami municipal code.
Be succint and polite, but make sure they understand how you feel.

MIAMI CITY OFFICIALS CONTACT INFORMATION
(below this is an article on this issue and the FTAA)

Mayor Manuel A. Diaz:
mannydiaz AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305) 250-5300

District 1 Commissioner Angel Gonzalez:
agonzalez AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5430

District 2 Commissioner Johnny L. Winton:
jwinton AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5333

District 3 Commissioner Joe M. Sanchez:
jsanchez AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5380

District 4 Commissioner Tomas P. Regalado:
tr AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5420

District 5 Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr.:
artteele AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5390

City Manager Joe Arriola:
 jarriola AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5400

City Attorney Alejandro Vilarello:
law AT ci.miami.fl.us
(305) 416-1800

***

Civil Rights Law and order  :   As Miami plans to prevent disruptions
during trade talks, protest groups
warn of First Amendment breaches
September 19, 2003 By: Steve Ellman,  Miami Daily Business Review

Miami hopes to be more successful than Washington, D.C., was in 1998 at
preventing violence

Two months before thousands of demonstrators are expected to descend on
Miami to protest high-level international trade talks, civil liberties
activists and anti-globalization groups say police are interfering with
free speech rights.  Protesters and their attorneys claim police
officials are stalling the issuing of permits that would allow rallies
and parades in the downtown area to oppose a planning conference for the
Free Trade Area of the Americas.

"Permit requests have languished with the Police Department for two
months," said Miami ACLU leader Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, who has been
counseling a coalition of environmental and peace groups that plan to
protest. "We're getting the runaround."

The ACLU and protest leaders say that a proposed ordinance aimed at
preventing violent protests is so broadly written that it may allow
police to clamp down on constitutionally protected, peaceful protest
activities. City leaders say the ordinance, which was approved on first
reading last week, is aimed at preventing violent protests such as those
at the World Trade Organization's 1999 meeting in Seattle and other,
more recent international conferences.

The pressure is on city leaders and police to provide a peaceful venue
for the November talks aimed at creating the Free Trade Area of the
Americas. The city wants to impress attendees, because it is in the
running to be the headquarters of the 34-nation free-trade zone that
would stretch from Argentina to Canada.

Protest leaders say a slide show presented by Miami police for business
leaders last week suggested that police may even consider it threatening
for protesters to snap photos of crowd control activities.

"We're just trying to make a statement," said South Florida AFL-CIO
president Fred Frost. "The police are overzealous about the 2 percent of
demonstrators they say are violent."

But Miami Police Maj. Thomas Roell, who will be tactical commander for
law enforcement during the FTAA summit, said, "Law enforcement is just
trying to strike a balance between the protesters' rights and the trade
meeting's rights." He said police "can work with any group that wants to
protest in a lawful way."

State and local leaders want to bolster efforts to have Miami selected
as the site of the FTAA's headquarters. They claim that would bring as
many as 90,000 jobs and an additional $14 billion annually to the
state's economy. And protest groups see the event as a platform to build
on growing discontent among U.S. and Latin American workers coping with
an extended recession.

Critics of the FTAA argue that creating a hemispheric free trade zone
would fuel an international race to the bottom on wages and
environmental rules, as nations compete for business investment.

The centerpiece of the meeting is a conference of 34 trade ministers at
the Hotel Inter-Continental on Nov. 20-21. The protesters' plans include
two days of rallies and marches. A national coalition of organized labor
spearheaded by the South Florida AFL-CIO is scheduled to rally on
Thursday, Nov. 20; an environmental/peace coalition, organized as the
Welcoming Committee of the FTAA, is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 21.

'Out in the boonies'

The labor coalition wants to secure a permit for as many as 30,000 union
members to march down Biscayne Boulevard toward the Inter-Continental.
But the AFL-CIO's Frost said Miami police officials have proposed an
alternate route several blocks away, along Northwest Second Avenue -"out
in the boonies," he calls it.

Frost said the police proposal would block a major goal of the protest
march - getting close enough to the trade ministers' meeting "so that
they can see 30,000 working men and women voicing our concerns."  He
also said the police route was impractical because of its distance from
a planned rally and teach-in at the Bayfront Amphitheater, which the
union has rented. He said that would make it difficult for the expected
large contingent of seniors and families.   Frost said his group applied
for its permit in early August, but was unable to get a substantive
meeting with police representatives until late last week.

Rodriguez-Taseff said her clients - who call themselves the Welcoming
Committee of the FTAA - were given bogus reasons for their permit delay
when they met with police last week. "They told us they were unable to
clear our application because they still hadn't decided on street
closings and traffic routes for the trade officials," she said.  But
Rodriguez-Taseff said that claim was belied by a slide presentation
police officials made to downtown business leaders last week that
included traffic routes.

"We were lied to," Rodriguez-Taseff said. But city officials insist the
plans are still tentative.

City Community Relations Board chair Brenda Shapiro, who is facilitating
the march permit discussions, acknowledged that the discussions between
the police and the protest groups were uncomfortable. But she blamed the
protesters for "sandbagging" the police by bringing ACLU lawyers with
them. "It was tense because the city was misled about who would come,"
Shapiro said. "No one's been given a permit because this is still the
information-gathering stage."

Miami Police Maj. Roell said traffic planning would continue to evolve
as new march permit applications arrived. Four permits are currently "in
process," he said. "There is no cut-off date for accepting more."  The
various protest groups were scheduled to meet with police again this
week.

Police plan

The police presentations to business leaders last week provide a glimpse
into attitudes and planning regarding the FTAA protests.   It describes
three purported types of demonstrators - one "union-based" and
"nonviolent," a second "anti-government" and "anti-establishment," and a
third composed of "fringe elements" that are "mostly nonviolent."

The slide show describes the protests during the World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999 - at which some of the
demonstrators were involved in riots and looting - as "the 'model' for
future protests."

Police fears are not without any foundation. Miami New Times has
reported that some anti-globalization advocates like the Pittsburgh
Organizing Group have openly vowed to "materially disrupt" the FTAA. And
violence has been a predictable feature at international trade
gatherings for years.

But the slide show offers an extremely broad definition of "protest
tactics" to watch out for. It includes protesters pointing out
plainclothes police officers, providing first aid supplies to injured
demonstrators, and taking photographs. "Protesters create and take
advantage of negative photo opportunities" is the caption under a photo
of a young man focusing a camera.

Carolina Delgado, a spokeswoman for South Floridians for Fair Trade and
Justice, worries that police will see photo-taking by demonstrators as a
hostile activity and seek to stop protesters from doing so or even
restrain or arrest them.

"Cameras and video are mainly a way to document our movement," she said.
"But they also safeguard our interest in preventing police brutality and
protecting our rights." Roell responded that police "have no intention
of confiscating cameras from anyone with a legitimate reason to have
one. That's not going to happen."

But Rodriguez-Taseff was unappeased. "This is the kind of wishy-washy
language that gets us all in trouble," she said. "It opens us up to the
unfettered discretion of the police."

Restrictive ordinance

The proposed revision of the city's public demonstrations ordinance
raises other free speech concerns, according to critics. Calling the
proposal "overly broad and restrictive," Rodriguez-Taseff  said the
law's expiration date, set just after the FTAA meetings, shows that it
is targeted solely at that event's protesters, a violation of their
equal protection and due process rights. If passed into law on second
reading, she said a court challenge from ACLU was "99 percent certain."

The proposed ordinance would prohibit demonstrators from carrying a wide
range of objects, including golf balls, batteries and "materials or
devices that can be thrown or projected that can or may cause or have
the potential of causing" personal or property damage. The attitude of
police toward the protesters could work against the FTAA,
Rodriguez-Taseff cautioned. "If the FTAA leaders want a successful
meeting, they could do better than to throw down the gauntlet," she
said.

Delgado expressed concern that a battle over civil liberties issues
could obscure the protesters' larger political and economic message
about the dangers of the free trade agreement.  "We know how important
free speech is," Delgado said. "But we are here to talk about the threat
to labor and the environment and democracy."

Steve Ellman can be reached at sellman AT floridabiz.com or at (561)
820-2071.