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We, the People, considering the state of affairs where civil liberties are concerned, pledge to be on the lookout for each other. We pledge to be a civilian watchdog group, where civil liberties are concerned. And we pledge to immediately act on anybody's behalf, whether personally known to us or not, whether personally liked by us or not, where government crimes are concerned.Joining hands with watchful eyes, educated minds and caring hearts, we link together as a powerful group strong in numbers, promising that immediately and without delay, when any concern-raising violation of civil liberties occurs, we will contact the local Chapter or National Headquarters of the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, all of whom provide free legal represenatation to those whose liberties and rights have been abused.
We keep in mind that the Electronic Frontier Foundation represents individuals whose liberties and privacy have been invaded where technology is the cause. And we take note of the fact that they post articles to their website, http://www.eff.org with instructions how we might protect ourselves and our technological privacy, pledging to pass those articles on to others.
We know that the ACLU represents technologically-related AND legislatively-related civil liberties cases, and will use their resources accordingly, spreading word with the public and immediately notifying them if anybody we know is affected.
We also pledge to pass on the ACLU's instructions about how we can protect ourselves if queried by the FBI, as posted to their website under the Patriot Act Fact Sheets. "http://www.aclu.org/
We know that the Center for Constitutional Rights works in a similar way to the ACLU, and promise to spread word. http://www.centerforconstitutionalrights.com
Taking note of Al Gore's words in his book "The Assault on Reason", and of the ACLU's exact echo on their website, that surveillance is a concern because the FBI trailed Martin Luther King, alledgedly coerced him to commit suicide, and finally he was murdered....all based on surveillance....and that based on that historical fact, laws were passed to protect the People from such abuses.....
If any one of us activists stops posting to this forum, or if anybody we personally know or know of is arrested for merely exercising their free speech, we promise immediately and without delay first to contact that activist via the message center on OpedNews, to invite their response. If we still do not hear back, we pledge as a civilian watchdog group to immediately contact the organizations above, reporting in and asking for legal help on behalf of the activist(s) who dropped off the radar.
And we pledge to do the same for our neighbors, friends and associates. And to people known and unknown to us, regardless of personal likes or dislikes. Anybody whose civil liberties are violated, anybody who is arrested without warrant or probable cause or access to legal counsel, for any reason, we pledge to step forward and to ask for legal help on their behalf.
Last but not least, we pledge to educate ourselves continually to legislation passed, reading on the websites of the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Constitutional Rights and other websites to keep ourselves aware not only of the general gyst of legislation passed, but of the details thereof. Educated by that information, we increase our ability to look out for each other, knowing how unconstitutional matters are enabled to proceed, and for what exact "reasons".
We also pledge to keep an eye on the voting record of our own respective Congresspersons, to stay in touch wiht them, and to do a non-violent housecleaning operation should they prove to be undermining the Constitution.
We will spread the word of hope and share with others our knowledge that Qwest and Credo (formerly named Working Assets Long Distance and Wireless) have pledged in writing not to wiretap without court warrant. We will publicly disclose the malpractice of any telecom entity "cooperating with laws" which undermine the first and fourth amendments. And we will publicly rebut their untrue claims that they are "cooperating with laws", reminding them of the Martin Luther King story not only in private, but openly on blogs and in letters to the editor.
And by posting to blogs and writing letters to the editor, we urgently will entreat other concerned citizens to join us in our pledge.
Thank you for joining in this nation-wide human chain and for your concerned, ethical and caring citizenship.
