The people, united
AFSC works to defend civil, constitutional, and human rights
by Rachael Kamel
As the national security state grows more deeply entrenched, AFSC is making grassroots organizing the centerpiece of its efforts to defend rights and liberties.
"When you bring everyday people together to talk about how government policies and regulations affect them in their everyday life, you can really create momentum for change," comments Gabriel Camacho. He's coordinator of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, office of Project Voice, AFSC's national immigrant rights initiative.
In the Boston area, Project Voice and AFSC's Criminal Justice Program teamed up last summer to challenge the local transit authority when it insti-tuted a new policy of random searches of passengers on public transit.
AFSC played a key role in organizing a broad coalition that brought together immigrant communities, legal rights groups, and the "T" Riders Union, a predominantly African American group that originally came together to challenge fare hikes and cuts in public transportation in Boston and surrounding communities.
The random searches were announced just before Boston hosted the national political convention for the Democratic Party. Then local authorities announced the new policy would be in force permanently and could be implemented during any "national security" event—without obtaining warrants or showing probable cause.
AFSC and other concerned groups mobilized community members to testify at a transit authority board meeting. They also used media outreach and street theater to dramatize the harmful effects of the searches. Since then, searches have not been repeated.
Combating a climate of fear
Other local AFSC efforts have spotlighted attempts to intimidate activists and create a climate of fear surrounding antiwar protests, which have targeted AFSC staff and volunteers in Denver, Des Moines, and Boston. AFSC has also played an active role in the movement to pass municipal and state resolutions against the federal Patriot Act.
AFSC's Urban Peace Movement in Baltimore is increasing community awareness of the long-term impact of Cointelpro (for "Counter Intelligence Program"), which was the covert FBI program aimed at undercutting antiwar organizing and the civil rights movement during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Cointelpro was publicly unmasked through congressional hearings in 1975, leading to stronger congressional oversight of federal law enforcement. Many of the protections instituted then have been eroded in recent years. In response, AFSC has sponsored teach-ins on Cointelpro at Baltimore area colleges and universities, "because what happened in Baltimore under Cointelpro set the stage for many of the problems our community faces today," according to Dominique Robinson, co-coordinator of the Urban Peace Movement.
"This initiative grew out of our work on gun violence and also from working with prisoners on conflict transformation," she explains. "We need to learn our community's history, because without reclaiming our memory we cannot create hope."
In Washington, D.C., as the 109th Congress begins its first session, the national policy scene for rights and liberties is still coming into focus for the advocacy community as a whole. Reauthorization of portions of the Patriot Act as well as coordinated campaigns against racial profiling, intrusive surveillance, and attempts to restrict free speech and freedom of assembly all will be part of the rights and liberties agenda.
In response, AFSC is stepping up its efforts to bring grassroots perspectives into national coalitions that seek to defend civil, constitutional, and human rights. The most effective strategy for lasting change, we believe, is to weave all these community-based initiatives into a broad-based and effective multi-constituency movement.
Rachael Kamel, the Education Coordinator in AFSC's national Community Relations Unit, is coordinating an initiative to heighten AFSC's profile and impact on rights and liberties.