[Street] [FAWG] Urgent Question Regarding Court Appearance
rita sebastian
rita at brandeis.edu
Wed Nov 23 14:20:43 EST 2011
Thanks,
Rita
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 2:15 PM, Occupy Boston Music and Events <
booking99percent at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Rita for writing in.
> If there is anything I can do to help, I will.
> Did you all read this
> City officials have offered Occupy L.A. protesters 10,000 square feet of
> indoor space and other incentives to vacate the City Hall lawn
>
> http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/us-protests-losangeles-idUSTRE7AM0AR20111123
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 1:45 PM, rita sebastian <rita at brandeis.edu> wrote:
>
>> The attorneys work for the GA and are accountable to it, so everyone
>> participates in the high-level direction of the case. The selection about
>> who submits affadavits is part of the legal strategy - which is where the
>> attorneys have expertise. From a legal standpoint, the only way to prevent
>> eviction is to argue that the encampment is protected under the First
>> Amendment. This is a difficult constitutional argument. Everyone agrees
>> that free speech is protected - that we can march, carry signs, etc.
>> However, the City does not agree that the tents and encampment are
>> necessary to exercising speech. Our attorneys are maintaining that the
>> tents can be construed as "symbolic speech", which is protected under some
>> circumstances. They have a difficult challenge to prove this - the Supreme
>> Court has never upheld such an extension of this argument. The attorneys
>> select what goes in the affadavits according to how it bolsters the
>> constitutional argument they are making, not according to how well the
>> people represent the Occupation Movement. Most of the affadavits are coming
>> from people outside the movement, like teachers who brought students to the
>> camp, because the Supreme Court case history on symbolic speech places a
>> high importance on how the speech is perceived.
>>
>> The particular court action in progress is a pre-emptive action - it is
>> designed to prevent what happened to Occupy Wall Street and other places.
>> We would not have gotten a hearing if the attorneys did not outline the
>> constitutional challenge. Otherwise, the only trials would be after
>> -the-fact for the people arrested during the eviction. If that occurs, we
>> may have more legal options - you might use the criminal trials as a way to
>> express the message to the public or even try to turn it into theater as
>> happened with the Chicago 7 trial. However, a pre-emptive court action
>> like this doesn't have as many options: everything has to deal with the
>> constitutional law issue.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> *Rita*
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Theresa <theresa at occupyboston.org>wrote:
>>
>>> I am sending this to all work groups I am part of because I have a
>>> serious concern that Occupy Boston is giving up too much control over our
>>> voice to these attorneys in this legal process we are involved in.
>>>
>>>
>>> IF we are allowed 5 testimonies, who decides which 5 affadavits are
>>> submitted in court???
>>>
>>> The reason I ask is that I fear that our Occupation is going to be
>>> misrepresented in court because there are better "names" that are willing
>>> to write a letter than those who have actually in any way participated in
>>> Occupy Boston. Is anyone looking at this or are we just trusting that
>>> legal wouldn't pick big names to represent Occupy Boston? I suggest there
>>> be some kind of consensus on which affidavits are used in court. It is very
>>> tempting for a lawyer to go with "big names" or "established" people
>>> because it lends credibility or looks good on their end...but we need to
>>> look out for our best interest at Occupy Boston, not what looks good for
>>> the lawyer in court.
>>>
>>> We are the 99% and we have enough intellect and ability to represent
>>> ourselves through voices of those participating.
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Rita Monestersky- Sebastian
>> Brandeis, MA SID' 2009
>>
>> "If you cannot change yourself, how can you change the world?"
>> Gandhi
>>
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>
>
> --
> Kindest regards,
>
> Kelley Pope
> Occupy Boston Music and Events
>
> *Follow us on:*
> http://occupyboston.org/
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>
>
--
Rita Monestersky- Sebastian
Brandeis, MA SID' 2009
"If you cannot change yourself, how can you change the world?"
Gandhi
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