Tag: grassroots organizing

Digital Fourth’s Fall Meetings

By this sign shall ye know us.
By this sign shall ye know us.

Coming fresh this fall off our shoestring operation’s success in nixing MA attorney-general Martha Coakley‘s top legislative priority – a massive proposed expansion of electronic wiretapping – we’re holding weekly lunchtime meetings and monthly evening meetings in Cambridge, MA to plan our work for the 2015-6 legislative session.

Come join us on Thursdays at 11:30am-12:30pm at the Voltage Cafe at Kendall Square, as we drink coffee and plot the subversion of the surveillance state. Or, if you prefer, this Sunday at 6:30pm is the first monthly evening meeting, at the Summer Shack by Alewife station (for easy parking).

Thursday 9/25: Transpartisan Grassroots Organizing Against Surveillance, featuring speakers from StopWatchingUs, TechFreedom and Occupy Boston.

Sunday 9/27: Police Surveillance, Militarization and the Freedom of Information Act, featuring proposals from the new MA Law Enforcement Coalition on police oversight and fusion center transparency.

See you there!

Cities around the country say: fusion centers are wasteful, fraudulent, and ineffective

[Guest post from Adwoa Masozi of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.]

Screen Shot 2014-04-10 at 10.48.20 PMThursday, April 10, 2014 was a National Day of Action against Fusion Centers. Diverse, multiracial grassroots coalitions from around the country held rallies, press conferences, and creative actions to challenges civil liberties by fusion centers, which coordinate the surveillance activities of local police alongside federal agencies like the NSA and FBI. Fusion centers have operated at unknown cost, failed to meaningfully serve a public benefit, and drawn critics including Senators across the partisan spectrum, the ACLU, environmentalists, Muslim Americans, peace activists, and Ron Paul supporters.

Participating cities in yesterday’s action included: Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Below the jump are quotes from organizers, as well as photos and videos from several of the sites.

Continue reading Cities around the country say: fusion centers are wasteful, fraudulent, and ineffective