rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/chs1a-fight-political-repression?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-chs1a-fight-political-repression' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Charleston DSA https://actionnetwork.org/groups/charleston-dsa https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/groups/default_facebook_images/000/105/898/original/Untitled_design.png?1744135990 Let’s talk about Charleston’s so-called “1st Amendment Demonstration Ordinance.” The US constitution says that the state shall pass no law abridging the freedom of speech or the right of the people to assemble. The City of Charleston says, we’ll only allow you to speak or assemble if we give you permission. The City passed a new ordinance in July 2021 limiting our right to gather in public and exercise our freedom of speech. They passed it in an emergency meeting of the council with no public comment allowed. What was happening in July 2021? Charleston cops had just killed Jamal Sutherland, a Black man, while incarcerated at Al Cannon Detention Center. Following the historic uprisings in summer 2020 against the police murder of George Floyd, the City decided to crack down on public protest.   In other words, the state responded to an unprecedented number of people decrying police violence by increasing the powers of the police to repress speech, assembly, and the right to bear arms. Looking at the political context in which this law was passed, it is clear that it is entirely intended to limit speech, surveil protest movements, and criminalize political speech deemed unacceptable by the City’s power structure. It has rarely, if at all, been used since then – except in response to another historic and communal uprising against state violence, this time against the US financed genocide in Gaza. So as far as we can tell, this ordinance was passed initially to criminalize free speech in defense of Black lives, and is now being used to criminalize speech in defense of Palestinian lives – two of the most historically criminalized communities in the world, and thus two of the most threatening to the state. But this repression of speech threatens all of us, regardless of your political beliefs. Once such fundamental rights have been trampled by the state, it is very hard to get them back – in other words, we’ve watched the slide toward authoritarianism pick up speed over the last few years, whether that’s new restrictions on the right to bodily autonomy or the freedom of speech. Do YOU feel confident that the state will never deem some of your beliefs a threat and use these laws and precedents to criminalize YOU? Let’s remember, this is a state in which not that long ago it was illegal to: marry someone of the same sex, marry someone of a different race, occupy the same public space if you were Black, or exercise the vote if you were a woman.   In the wake of Donald Trump’s second election – this time openly vowing to target his political enemies by launching a full frontal assault on the rights to speech and assembly of any groups deemed threatening by his administration – many people are rightfully worried about political repression, even if he acts as a dictator “only on day one.”   What we all must realize is that political repression has always been a bipartisan project and that laws, such as Charleston’s unconstitutional 1st amendment repression ordinance passed by a Democratic mayoral administration, gives all future administrations the legal infrastructure to deepen this repression. It is always the right time to speak truth to power – and now with the stakes as high as ever, it’s time to overturn this and other laws that further restrict our already limited rights to speech and assembly. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/chs1a-fight-political-repression