ABFFE Book of the Month: You Have No Rights by Matthew Rothschild

Interview with the Author

ABFFE: Your book spotlights 82 violations of the First Amendment and other civil liberties abuses since the September 11 attacks.  Why did you choose to concentrate on local events?

MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD: I want readers to understand that flesh-and-blood Americans, just like themselves or their neighbors, are having their rights violated.  It's all well and good to criticize policy, but until you see the effects of those policies up close, you don't feel the impact, you don't sense the anguish that these infringements cause.

ABFFE: What government agencies are most frequently involved in these cases?

MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD: The FBI, the Secret Service, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force of several states are the ones that I ran into the most. Also the TSA, as well as the White House Office of Advance. In addition, local sheriff's departments and police departments, even down to the campus police, were involved in some of these stories.

ABFFE: What kinds of people have been targeted?

MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD: A man standing in line at Caribou Coffee who was reading an article his father had downloaded, which was called "Weapons of Mass Stupidity"; a couple that was trying get training in disaster relief; a retired history professor; a music group pulled over during the Olympics in Utah; grandmothers protesting for peace; student activists; teachers who lost their jobs because they opposed the war; a father of a soldier (the dad had an "Impeach Bush" sign); a nurse accused of "sedition" because of a letter to the editor critical of Bush; a group of Arab Americans denied service at a Denny's ("We don't serve Bin Ladens here!"); a corporate executive forced to apologize for signing a peace petition.

ABFFE: How have they responded to government threats?

MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD: Many have fought back successfully by going to the ACLU and filing (or threatening to file) lawsuits. I want readers to come away believing that all is not lost, that they can fight back and win.

Some have failed, however.  For instance, Brett Bursey, who headed the South Carolina Progressive Network, protested Bush's appearance at the Columbia airport on October 24, 2002, with a sign that said, "No More War for Oil."  Though there were people there supporting Bush and Lindsey Graham, Bursey was the only one who was told he had to go to a "Free Speech Zone" a half mile away. Bursey said, "I'm already in a free speech zone: the United States of America."  He was eventually convicted for violating a federal statute having to do with presidential assassinations, kidnappings, and threats.

Or take the case of Tom Frazier, who works for a public anti- pollution agency in the Orange County area. On October 16,2003, he went to San Bernardino to protest Bush, who was speaking at the Radisson Hotel. Frazier had a sign that said "Shock & Awe = Maim and Murder" and another that said, "Indict Bush--Crimes Against Humanity."  But as soon as he got out of the parking lot, a police officer told him to stop, and when he asked why, he was arrested for obstructing a police officer.  Frazier ultimately took a plea bargain for a disturbing the peace charge because he couldn't gamble on being convicted on the more serious charge, which could have cost him six months in the klink.

ABFFE: Do you think that these violations of civil liberties are having a chilling effect on political debate?

MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD: For many of the individuals who have had their rights trampled on, yes, they are now thinking twice about engaging in their constitutionally protected right to speak and to assemble and to dissent. And that is the greatest crime of all.

ABFFE: What can an individual do to help support free speech?

MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD: I urge citizens to "flaunt their freedoms." If we don't exercise our rights because we're afraid, then we've essentially surrendered our rights already. So go out and protest, sign petitions, march in demonstrations, use your voice. And help out other organizations that are fighting for our rights. Here are a few: the ACLU; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; Amnesty International, USA; the Bill of Rights Defense Committee; the Center for Constitutional Rights; the Council on American-Islamic Relations; Human Rights Watch; the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

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