The Occupy movement has largely moved out of the public eye. It was only a few months ago that nationwide protests dominated headlines. YouTube videos of students being pepper-sprayed were going viral. Sadly, the media has sidelined the movement, portraying it as a desperate attempt by anarchists and hippies to disrupt everyday life for the rest of us.
It is difficult to assess where the Occupy movement stands today. The numerous factions that exist in cities across the country pose a problem when trying to tally up the arrests, allegations of police brutality and efforts of local forces to break up the encampments.
One thing is clear, though, when observing the trend of events — the section of the First Amendment that guarantees the “right to peaceful assembly” means close to nothing.
Over the past few months, police across the country, armed in riot gear, have come in the middle of the night to trash Occupy encampments and arrest sometimes hundreds of people under the guise of needing to “guarantee public health and safety.” This was one of the reasons New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave in November 2011 after the initial raid on the Occupy stronghold in Zuccotti Park.
From Occupy Portland to Occupy Phoenix, dozens of people are arrested and their belongings trashed by police for causing “sanitation issues” or remaining in an area after hours.
Here in Phoenix, a group of 100 police officers armed with riot gear arrested 45 protestors in October. Their offense was sitting in Margaret T. Hance Park at 11 p.m. — 30 minutes after the park’s posted closing time.
The message city governments are sending to us is that our right to peaceful assembly, as defined by the U.S. Constitution, is overshadowed by such trivial local ordinances enforcing sanitation and a park’s posted closing time.
Congress recently took actions aimed at thwarting the Occupy movement by passing House Resolution 347, “The Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011.”
The bill makes entering or remaining in any “building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance” or area where a person protected by the Secret Service may be visiting a crime punishable by 10 years in federal prison.
This means it is a crime to protest at meetings of global leaders, trade organizations and international bankers like as the “G20” summit, who enjoy protection from the Secret Service
The section that prohibits occupying spaces or events designated to be of national significance, which can be arbitrarily declared without Congressional approval, makes it a crime to challenge dominant narratives or views perpetuated by the government.
Making it illegal to “impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions,” as the bill explicitly states, is so incredibly vague, it removes our right to organize against actions taken by governments at any level that we see as unjust or wrong.
Reactions to the Occupy movement by state governments and the passing of HR 347 prove that our “right to peaceful assembly” means absolutely nothing.
This bill, as it stands, is frightening.
Reach the columnist at damills3@asu.edu
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