Given my own belief that protests are a profound way of bringing about social change, I was interested in this panel hosted by the Beyond the Bars Conference a week ago, which discussed past government strategies to obstruct and end protests and any form of resistance.
This is what they had to say:
G. Flint Taylor, Human/Civil Rights Attorney and Partner at People's Law Office started the discussion by giving a history of past governmental strategies. During the Edgar Hoover Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was established in the 1920s. Towards the end of the 20th century, the FBI began the Cointel Pro, short for Counter Intelligence Program, to initially disrupt the Communist Party in the US and later expanded to include the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panther Party. Flint stated that during these times there were certain code words used by them such as "Neutralize" which reportedly meant "to kill" when attempting to destroy coalitions such as the Rainbow Coalition and Activist and Chairman of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton, who was "assassinated" in a police raid in Chicago in 1969. Flint believes that the current government could employ similar strategies to dismantle activist groups and coalitions aligned with obstructing government policies.
Erin Beth Harrist, Senior Staff Attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union primarily represents individuals in cases of repressed First Amendment rights, in other words, free speech. She provided possible techniques and instruments that the government, through law enforcement, could deploy when dealing with protesters. This included sting ray (portable machines which can intercept information off of an individual's phone), x-ray vans, also known as Z Backscatter vans (vehicles which can reportedly scan into vehicles and even individuals), sound cannons, also known as Long Range Audio Devices (LRADs), (a device which can fire noise of upto 150 dB - where an eardrum could break at 160 dB), and the use of drones. Erin further warned that there could be police infiltration into communities and coalitions associated with resistance and conduct mass arrests (for obstruction of vehicular roadways).
This is what they had to say:
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| Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party |
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| Sting Ray Machine |
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| As seen from an x-ray van |
Erin added that individuals have a constitutional right to video/record police activity as long as you are in a public space. This goes along way in acquitting individuals who are unlawfully arrested. NYCLU, along with ACLU conduct many 'Know Your Rights' workshops to prepare individuals when encountering law enforcement agencies.
Radhika Sainath, Staff Attorney at Palestine Legal, spoke about the 'Palestine Exception' for free speech. She played a powerful video of students and other activists around the country who have experienced backlash for engaging in Palestine advocacy. The video, provided here, portrays students speaking of how they abandoned their involvement/association with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement (which works to end international support for Israeli's oppression of Palestinians) or the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in fear of being arrested for allegedly being a terrorist, as many of them are reportedly being labeled.
The panelists however concluded that despite the risk that comes with protesting and advocating for justice, social change historically comes about as a result of civil disobedience. As Radhika rightly noted, "I don't think there would have been such an immediate response to the recent 'Travel Ban' had it not been for people unexpectedly mobilizing and protesting at JFK and other areas of the country."
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