What the Fight Against #ClassroomCensorship is Really About

The #ACLU is leading the fight to end #classroom #censorship and protect our right to learn.
#rights #education #school

https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/what-the-fight-against-classroom-censorship-is-really-about

Today in Labor History September 5, 1964: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn died in Moscow. Flynn was an anarchist, labor militant and highly successful organizer with the IWW. before joining the American Communist Party. She was also a founding member of the ACLU. She is portrayed in Jess Walter’s historical novel, “The Cold Millions,” about the Spokane Free Speech Fight.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #IWW #anarchism #communism #union #strike #aclu #HistoricalFiction #fiction #novel #writer #author #JessWalter @bookstadon

I've seen a few things complaining about 'liberals', particularly @eff and #ACLU. The general drift was liberals are too keen to defend Nazis and the far right because it doesn't effect them personally. I think that is more complicated.

It is true that your liberal will typically align with conservative forces to prevent the working class (or peasantry) taking power. They will however align with the radicals to force concessions from the conservatives. The US and UK civil wars and their aftermath are good anglophone examples.

I think that this understanding gives you good reason to be suspicious of liberals defending a Nazi's right to march through Charlottesville, as I believe the ACLU did.

The criticism forgets two things. The first is that liberals are opposed to reactionaries. They can make alliances with revolutionaries because some of the goals align.

Liberty is a revolutionary goal. For me, liberation for all is the goal of the revolution. My disagreement with the liberals is that they believe that liberation comes through legislative change because they don't want to overthrow the mechanisms of power which, coincidentally, work for them.

I believe that liberation comes through the collective action of the oppressed overthrowing the existing mechanisms of power and regaining control over the space of our lives. That control requires such 'liberal' goods as freedom of conscience, assembly and conversation. They won't be encoded as rights created by a top down legal system, but they will be norms that characterise our liberated communities.

The second, bigger, mistake is thinking that the law will protect you. Here the liberal, unsurprisingly, understands the reality of the law better than the anarchist. We know that the law not only exists to protect property and the rich. As Anatole France says, in its great concern for equality it forbids rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges and begging in the street. We forget that it is also consistently corrupted to undermine its concern with equality. The espionage act in the US was found to be constitutional and thousands of people were jailed for speaking or writing against the first world war, ditto internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans, and Black people's constitutional rights...

If you let the establishments 'concern' with Nazis marching or right wing propaganda or fascist troll farms undermine what limited protection the constitution, written or unwritten, gives you the revolutionary, for sure the reactionaries, abetted by their liberal mates, will come for you. On this the ACLU and EFF are right.

ACLU: Know your rights before going back to school: LGBTQ+ students should be protected, and their rights respected.
https://www.aclu-md.org/en/news/know-your-rights-going-back-school
#ACLU #Maryland #PublicSchools #LGBTQ

Meet Mary Wood, a Teacher Resisting #Censorship

She is being targeted by activists who want to #censor what books are in #libraries and what discussions happen in classrooms.
#books #classroom #aclu

https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/meet-mary-wood-a-teacher-resisting-censorship

#GabeSterling bragged about hiring #ACLU operatives to process #absenteeballots – Paul Sperry reveals HUNDREDS were hired in Fulton county (VIDEO)

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-08-27-gabe-sterling-bragged-about-hiring-aclu-operatives.html

A per the #ACLU

#Breaking:
A #Texas district court blocked the state's unconstitutional medical care ban targeting #transgender youth, finding the law likely violates the rights of parents under the Texas state #Constitution.

#TransgenderRights #HumanRights

A #Pennsylvania #court says #statepolice can't hide how it monitors #socialmedia
Andrew Christy, a lawyer with the #ACLU of Pennsylvania, said the ruling "sort of puts #lawenforcement on the same playing field as all government agencies. If they have a legal justification to keep something secret, then they have to put forth sufficient evidence to justify that."
https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-police-aclu-social-media-monitoring-1508189aba86cc776e19892b4a2b358a #police #surveillance #privacy

My employer just posted our new students rights hub.

"Every student has the right to learn in an environment where they feel valued and can think for themselves. This fundamental promise of our democracy is under attack in #Indiana...

So sharpen your pencils and get ready to take some notes! Knowing your rights is essential to protecting them. "

#HoosierMast #K12 #School #KnowYourRights #ACLU

https://www.aclu-in.org/en/know-your-rights/students-rights-hub

Where’s the #ACLU when a person in a wheelchair or a blind person is trying to walk down the sidewalk? #ADA

Something new from me:

For @TexasObserver, I wrote about the #ACLU of #Texas lawsuit against Senate Bill 12, the #drag ban which is scheduled to go into effect in September, but is already having a chilling effect on performers in the state ... I spoke with drag queen Brigitte Bandit, Ash Hall of the TXACLU, and Ricardo Martinez of Equality Texas. https://www.texasobserver.org/drag-ban-sb-12-aclu-lawsuit/

#news #LGBTQIA+ #USpol #politics #FreeSpeech

It's been a while since I've been able to share something new here. I wrote about the #ACLU of #Texas lawsuit against the state's #drag ban bill, and how we'll have to protect each other in the streets no matter what happens in the courts: https://www.texasobserver.org/drag-ban-sb-12-aclu-lawsuit/

#LGBTQIA #news #politics #USpol #HumanRights

As of 11am EST, Trump’s legal defense fund site is defaced and has been since yesterday with links to fund #ACLU and Rock the Vote instead.

#hack #infosec #cybersecurity

Kelly Koike is dead because we as a society refuse to accept that there are some people who are so mentally ill that they are not able to take care of themselves. #homelessness #mentalillness #sanfrancisco #aclu

https://sfstandard.com/2023/08/14/san-francisco-medical-examiner-identifies-body-in-duffle-bag-in-golden-gate-park/

A #federal #judge permanently banned Arizona from enforcing a new law restricting how closely people may #film #police, finding that the law violates a core First Amendment right to record law enforcement #officers.

.. "supporters of the law could find no one to defend it on its merits in court—neither the Arizona Attorney General's Office, #MaricopaCounty law enforcement, nor the state Legislature that passed the law."

The #ACLU of #Arizona announced earlier this month that it had reached a settlement agreement with Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to ban enforcement of the law and end the lawsuit.

https://reason.com/2023/07/24/federal-judge-strikes-down-arizona-law-limiting-ability-to-record-police/

Federal Judge Upholds #Arizona’s Right to Record the #Police
The court’s order includes strong language in favor of the right to record the police. The order declares that the law violates the #FirstAmendment because “there is a clearly established right to record #lawenforcement officers engaged in the exercise of their official duties in public places.” Throwing out the class 3 #misdemeanor (which would allow for up to 30 days in jail)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/08/federal-judge-upholds-arizonans-right-record-police #EFF #ACLU #LEO

A #Religious Public #CharterSchool in #Oklahoma? Not on Our Watch.
#rights #religion #aclu

https://www.aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/a-religious-public-charter-school-in-oklahoma-not-on-our-watch

#ACLU sues to block #Texas restrictions on #drag

#LGBTQIA
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4137888-aclu-sues-to-block-texas-restrictions-on-drag/

#ACLU joins local #LGBTQ groups in #Texas in suit to overturn #Drag show restrictions. https://abcnews.go.com/US/aclu-files-lawsuit-drag-show-restrictions-texas/story?id=101953365

Was the FBI spying on activists as part of attempts to suppress protests about the murder of #GeorgeFloyd by #Minneapolis #police in 2020? #ACLU sues #ColoradoSprings police and #FBI on behalf of #ChinookCenter activists in Colorado Springs. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/8/2/headlines/aclu_sues_fbi_colorado_springs_police_for_surveillance_of_activists_during_2020_uprising