Letter Printed in the Montclair Times
Civil liberties and the Patriot Act
Wednesday, January 21, 2004Civil liberties are under attack everywhere.
- In one country, citizens have been arrested on the ground of terrorism, held incommunicado for months without any formal charges, and denied access to family or attorneys.
- In one country, an unknown number of individuals with no links to terrorism or records of violence, and charged with only minor immigration violations, have been held for many months in solitary confinement and subjected to abuse.
- In one country, the government has given itself the power to spy on citizens without any probable cause that a crime has been or may be committed.
- And in one country, those who have done nothing more than verbally dissent from government policies have been paid visits by the nation’s security agency.
This grim record no doubt occurs in many countries around the world, but all these incidents have taken place not just in distant dictatorships, but right here in the United States since 9/11, under the authority of the USA Patriot Act and related executive orders.
But we don’t have to allow our liberties to be eroded. We believe we can be safe and free at the same time. Across the country, more than 200 municipalities and counties have passed resolutions expressing their opposition to the Patriot Act. We hope to introduce a similar resolution before the Montclair Township Council in the near future. We invite all those interested to attend an informational forum on the current threat to civil liberties on Feb. 1, in the Montclair Public Library, 2 to 4 p.m. For more information, call (973) 746-6291.
When even conservative former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) can testify that he’s “deeply concerned about the erosions of basic constitutional liberties” since 9/11, it is clear this is an issue that ought to worry us all.
STEPHEN R. SHALOM
Montclair
The writer is from the Montclair Campaign to Defend Civil Liberties.
Montclair Campaign to Defend Civil Liberties