Ward Churchill Solidarity Network

Senate Moves Forward on Orwellian “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act”

by Tom Burghardt / May 15th, 2008

In the wake of Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins’ (R-ME) alarmist report, “Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorism Threat,” the Senate may be moving towards passage of the Orwellian “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007″ (S. 1959).

A companion piece of legislative flotsam to the House bill, “The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007″ (H.R. 1955), the Democrat-controlled Congress seems ready to jettison Constitutional guarantees of free speech and assembly. The bill passed the House by a 404-6 vote in October. Twenty-three congress members abstained, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers.Under cover of studying “violent radicalization,” both bills would broaden the already-fluid definition of “terrorism” to encompass political activity and protest by dissident groups, effectively criminalizing civil disobedience and non-violent direct action by developing policies for “prevention, disruption and mitigation.” . . . .    click here to read the rest of the story.

Naomi Wolf Provides Context for Some Familiar Events

After a sampling of 2006 news headlines about war, torture, and the repression of political dissent, Naomi Wolf reflects:

“I began to think of these examples as ‘historical echoes’ – not proof that someone influential in the administration had studied the details of mid-twentieth-century fascism and totalitarianism, but certainly suggestive.

What was it about the image of a mob of young men dressed in identical shirts, shouting at poll workers outside of a voting center in Florida during the 2000 recount, that looked familiar? What resonated about the reports that Bush supporters in the South were holding organized public events to burn CDs by the Dixie Chicks? (CDs are actually quite hard to burn and produce toxic fumes.) What seemed so familiar about an organized ideological group shaming an academic for saying something unpopular—and then pressuring the state government to get the university president to fire that professor? . . .

These events may seem to have historical echoes because they actually are mirrored in history.

No one can deny the skill of fascists at forming public opinion.”

Naomi Wolf, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (2007).