I read something that alarmed me and which should alarm everyone interested in freedom.
Let's say that in the early 1960's, President Kennedy and President Johnson were not too keen on what the NAACP and SCLC and other groups were doing in the South, what with organizing all those protests that disrupted everyone's peaceful enjoyment of life and making people violate Jim Crow laws, which were properly passed by states.
They might have told the Attorney General to prosecute the NAACP and the SCLC under a federal law, 18 U.S.C. Section 241, which says: "If two or more persons go ... on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured (by the Constitution)," they shall be fined ....
That government action would have put a real damper on the civil rights movement and fomented a bloody revolution.
Fast forward to today. There's a federal law, 18 U.S.C. Section 2279, that says:
Whoever, not being in the United States service, and not being duly authorized by law for the purpose, goes on board any vessel about to arrive at the place of her destination, before her actual arrival, and before she has been completely moored, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
The master of such vessel may take any such person into custody, and deliver him up forthwith to any law enforcement officer, to be by him taken before any committing magistrate, to be dealt with according to law.
Getting to the point here, a couple of guys were convicted last year for boarding a ship off the Florida coast, thinking the cargo was mahogany (yes, wood) being illegally imported into the U.S. Now, our esteemed Attorny General John Ashcroft has deemed it proper to throw a blanket over such civil disobedience -- he is prosecuting the organization Greenpeace for planning the boarding.
A lot of you may say, "So what!" I do not liken Greenpeace's efforts to the NAACP or SCLC, but I merely point out that this prosecution is designed to quell dissent and chill a citizen's right to protest by not only going after the individual, who expected to be arrested and jailed or fined, as Henry David Thoreau opined was the right of every citizen in his essays on civil disobedience, but the organization, of which the individual is a member.
Greenpeace? So what! The question is: What organization is next on the hit parade? This prosecution is an insidious destruction of our freedom and way of life, which will extend beyond what is viewed by the majority as an unpopular group of zealots. That is how serious erosion of freedom starts. History is our teacher. What have we learned?
Posted by Bill at October 11, 2003 09:51 AMEach night, during this Administration, I sleep a little less well.
Posted by: Philip at October 11, 2003 01:01 PMHow old is that boarding law? I mean, was it originally to do with pirates or something and they're twisting it, or is it something new?
What organization is next? Starfleet. You try to board a "nuclear wessel" just one time...
Posted by: matt at October 12, 2003 03:51 AMHold on now. Let's apply Occam's razor. The law is probably written to protect passengers and ensure the safety of boats during the dangerous docking/mooring part of their journey. Ashcroft is simply enforcing the law.
Posted by: Brett at October 14, 2003 01:36 AM