[imc-st.louis] [Fwd: Call to Action to Save Free Speech on our National Mall. ACT NOW!!! Deadline Feb. 1]

[ben]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: ***Revised***Call to Action to Save Free Speech on our National
Mall. ACT NOW!!! Deadline Feb. 1
From:    "Tina Richards" <tina at grassrootsamerica4us.org>
Date:    Mon, January 14, 2008 6:42 pm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grassroots America, A Non Profit
January 15, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greetings!

***Forward Far and Wide***

Government attempting to restrict use of National Mall
Take action right now to defend free speech rights!

NPS has Declared a February 1st Deadline. Don't Delay!!!
It Only Takes an E-Mail!!!

At a public meeting called by the National Park Service
on Saturday, January 12 in Washington, D.C., representatives from
Grassroots America,
the
Partnership for Civil Justice, ANSWER Coalition, Nicaragua Network, 
ImpeachBush.org
and others demanded that there be
no new restrictions placed on the right of the people to access the
National Mall for free speech activities.

The National Park Service (NPS) is undertaking an
initiative similar to that launched to exclude protests from New York
City's Great Lawn. It will be used to further restrict or ban protest
on the Mall from current levels. This is a component of a nationwide
campaign of corporate-sponsored organizations working in partnership
with government entities that claim that protests, rallies and
demonstrations harm grass or "green space" or "natural resources" and
must therefore be restricted or banned or shunted off to designated
protest pits.

I refuse to ever be placed into a protest pit.  Freedom of speech is not
restricted
to a specified place.  It is guaranteed under our Constitution and extends
across
America. The Bush White House plans to complete this process by January,
2009, the
very last
month that Bush will remain in office.  It is his final strike to our
Constitution.

WRITE OR EMAIL NPS TODAY:

(NPS prefers email)

Email:  nationalmallplan at nps.gov

NPS/DSC/Planning -- National Mall Plan

12795 W. Alameda Pkwy

Denver, CO  80225

It is urgent that people around the country take action
to stop the plan of the Bush Administration's Interior Department to
obstruct free speech rights for mass assembly protest in Washington,
D.C.

The
Jan. 12 public meeting was intended to have low attendance to allow the
government to claim public involvement while simultaneously excluding
it. When confronted with the fact that they had done no legitimate
outreach about the public meeting to the hundreds of thousands of
people who have actually used the National Mall, the President of the
Trust for the National Mall responded that she had sent notice to the
Board of Trade!  The NPS issues 3,000 permits a year for the use of the
National Mall, but there has been no effort to notify any of those
organizations about the proposed changes. Their attempt to exclude
people from this process could not be more clear.

At the hearing the officials tried to quiet the outraged voices of
the people, to change the topic of discussion, and to dismiss their
concerns. They did, however, keep saying, just send us a message
on-line. That is what we are asking everyone to do today.

The government is trying to end the public "comment" period by
February 1, 2008. We are demanding that a
moratorium be declared so that the people of this country can have an
opportunity
to disseminate and register their voice. The National Mall belongs
to the people, not the government.  Speak now so we keep it that way.

Grassroots America is attempting a mass mailing to those members without
email.

Please click this link to make your donation right now.  
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001gJFxRiasySUnwbI0Uwq91Fdi3cmOBGOV0Z2KmmYQu0vIxDqzsakfPogg4LFT6qvTCdciJGe16afqxpcRr4fBPz2LIYoICpCLRiv932bs1goCzYUTGLUHy9wlGfWwUq72Cvp1IiUTlRrHLH5hoRHmuA==]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so
odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't
even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the
gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and
you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people
who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the
machine will be prevented from working at all!" - Mario Savio
Tina Richards
Grassroots America, A Non Profit



Grassroots America, A Non Profit | c/o Institute for Policy Studies | 1112
16 St. NW | STE. 600 | Washington | DC | 20036

-- 
Ben West
westbywest at riseup.net
http://savetheinternet.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-stlouis/attachments/20080115/76813844/attachment.htm