The
Defending Dissent Foundation is...
activists standing up for activists. Our mission is to protect and
advance the right of dissent. We alert local activists to civil liberties
threats, and make sure the concerns of activists are heard in Washington.
We take action
when our right to dissent is threatened.
Word of the Month
Extremist Violence: The term civil libertarians encourage enlightened members of Congress, the media and law enforcement to use, instead of violent extremism or domestic radicalization, because it puts the emphasis where it belongs - on the violent act, rather than ideology.
News
January
26, 2012: DDF Condemns Profiling by NYPD
The Defending Dissent
Foundation joined the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition
in calling for the resignation of NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly
after he appeared in an anti-Muslim propaganda film called The Third
Jihad. The film was shown to over 1400 cadets during police training.
Read the press release
here. Read
more about racial and religious profiling by the NYPD
here.
December
31, 2011: President Obama signs the NDAA
The dangerous bill allows
the President to merely claim a person is a terrorist in order to
lock them up and throw away the key -- without charge and without
trial.
December
15, 2011: Senate's Appalling Bill of Rights Day Vote
Apparently 220 years of
the Bill of Rights is long enough for 83 members of the Senate.
In a crushing blow to basic rights, the NDAA passed the Senate in
spite of a draconian provision to allow for the indefinite detention
without trail of people accused of being connected to terrorism.
The roll call vote is here.
December
14, 2011: House passes NDAA
The massive National Defense Authorization Act passed the House
by a vote of 283-138. This bill contains $554 billion for the Pentagon
base budget and another $115.5 billion for the wars, and includes
dangerous provisions for the "indefinite detention" of terrorism
suspects and includes restrictions on the transfer of prisoners
out of Guantanamo -- even those who have been cleared for release.
Roll call vote is here.
December
1, 2011: Indefinite Detention without charge or trial
The Senate voted
93-7 today to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, in
spite of the fact that the bill contains provisions allowing the
president to order the military to pick up people and detain them
indefinitely without charge or trial. That includes U.S. citizens,
on U.S. soil.
That's right, the president need only accuse a person of being linked to al Qaeda or any other terrorist group hostile to the U.S. or to any of our "coalition partners" to command the military to haul them in. Without charging them of a crime, or bothering with a trial.
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