Join anti-spying activists in Annapolis on February 7 at noon

Friends,

 

There are carpools from Baltimore and the D.C. area heading for Annapolis.  Email me if you want to join us.  

 

Also note that there will be a hearing on the Senate Bill on Tuesday, March 3 at 1 PM.  The hearing will be before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.  Presumably this will be an opportunity to urge the senators to add remedies for the victims to the legislation.  All the best.

 

Kagiso,

 

Max

 

Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, 325 East 25^th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski at verizon.net

 

PRESS RELEASE-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   February 6, 2009

 

Contact: Max Obuszewski [410] 366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net

 

VICTIMS OF STATE POLICE SPYING SCANDAL TO DELIVER LETTER TO GOVERNOR DEMANDING UNREDACTED FILES

WHO: The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore was formed for individuals willing to engage in nonviolent civil resistance to first prevent and later to protest the war in Iraq. It is affiliated with several national peace groups, including the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance and United For Peace & Justice. The Baltimore Coalition Against the Death Penalty is affiliated with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, a grassroots organization focused on abolishing the death penalty in the U.S.

The Pledge, the Coalition and the Campaign were listed in Maryland State Police [MSP] documents released by the Attorney General’s office after the Maryland American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit. The documents revealed and detailed many instances of state police officers engaged in illegal surveillance of environmental, justice and peace activists and opponents to the death penalty and the destruction of the environment.

Later revelations informed the public that many other organizations, including the MD Coalition for BGE Reregulation and the International Socialist Organization, were victimized by the Maryland State Police.  Unfortunately, the MSP has only agreed to release heavily-redacted files.

 

WHAT:  The Maryland State Police claimed that the surveillance was initiated because of the scheduled executions of two men on death row.  This seems to be spurious as individuals and groups working on other issues were targeted.  Because the MSP has not been forthcoming, a letter, signed by 35 concerned citizens, was sent to Gov. Martin O’Malley on January 26 asking him to instruct the MSP to release all relevant unredacted documents immediately to the ACLU as required by the Maryland Public Information Act. 

 

Sadly, the governor has not responded.  So a group of activists with a blown-up copy of a redacted First Amendment, as well as blown-up copies of heavily-redacted files, will travel to Annapolis.  Representatives of the following organizations,  Baltimore Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter Veterans for Peace, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Defending Dissent Foundation and The DC Bill of Rights Coalition, International Socialist Organization, Maryland Green Party, MD Coalition for BGE Reregulation and Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, intend to hand-deliver the letter to the governor. 

 

WHEN:  Saturday, February 6, 2009 at 12:30 PM

 

WHERE:  The activists will gather in Church Circle in Annapolis, before heading over to the governor’s mansion

 

WHY:  The governor is in charge of the Maryland State Police.  Those activists who received communications from the State Police have seen the governor listed on the letterhead.  As an elected official, the governor swore to uphold the Constitution.  Surveillance of activists engaged in nonviolent protected speech is unconstitutional.  So the victims of the surveillance will continue to agitate to gain access to the unredacted files which should have never been compiled. 

 

Many of these same activists will return to Annapolis on Monday, February 9 to lobby legislators to pass a comprehensive law which would prohibit such surveillance in the future. Two bills were introduced in response to the MSP spying scandal.  The Freedom of Assembly and Association Protection Act of 2009 (SB256/HB182) was introduced by Senators Raskin and Frosh, and Delegates Hixson, Rosenberg, Hucker and Mizeur.  The governor also introduced a bill, Public Safety—Department of State Police – Investigations Affecting First Amendment Rights (SB266). O’Malley’s bill is lacking for a number of reasons.  For example, it only applies to the state police. 

 

The activists will support the Freedom of Assembly and Association Protection Act of 2009 and will inform legislators not to endorse the governor’s bill.  However, both bills fail to provide remedies for the victims of the surveillance.  So the activists will encourage legislators to add such language to SB256 and HB182.

 

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"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs