Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Leave it to the ACLU to find new ways to stretch the definition of "spying". They are now up in arms over the fact that Harvard University was photographing a public protest, and even accusing them -- horror -- of possibly cooperating with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces (Harvard denies that aspect -- actually cooperating with the Federal government in protecting the citizens might ruin their reputation): ACLU: Harvard spied on protesters?
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has denounced Harvard University for photographing protesters at a political rally last month near Harvard Square during which university police arrested two protesters.
Officials at the ACLU also want Harvard to explain why an undercover officer was taking photographs at the rally, what the university intends to do with the photos, and whether it is sharing information with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces, as have universities around the country.
"The concern we have is that Harvard police were gathering intelligence about a lawful political protest on public property," said John Reinstein, the ACLU's legal director. "A university is a place where we would expect there's room for political discussion, where appropriate protests would be allowed, as part of academic freedom. We want to find out the scope of the university's activities."
In a statement, Joe Wrinn, a Harvard spokesman, said the university is not participating with the Joint Terrorism Task Forces and that it does not have a political intelligence unit or an undercover unit...
...He added that Harvard does not have a policy on filming protests. "We film when there is potential for violence, property damage, vandalism, HUPD arrest, or other circumstances require it," he said...
You can read the linked article to see how the situation in question developed. An undercover cop was there taking photos, and when protester Lisa Nieves tried to take his picture, a tussle ensued when she followed him, refusing to stop and delete what she had taken. Nieves and fellow protester Patrick Keaney were arrested.
From the Harvard Crimson story: Arrests Draw Fire from ACLU
...Shareef Fam, a member of the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights who was at the protest, said that the protest was nonviolent and that he spoke with uniformed police officers about keeping pedestrian passageways clear at the beginning of the event. He said that Nieves was taking pictures during the protest, which was called by Harvard students, with the intent of distributing the photos later to the rest of the protesters present...
Oh, well if Shareef Fam was there, that's certainly reason to keep track of these protesters, as he's affiliated with the Cambridge Peace Commission, whose Cambridge to Bethlehem project certainly involved themselves in violent disruptive protests when they traveled to Israel as shown on video here: From the City that Evicted the Boy Scouts -- Cambridge Sends Delegation to Israel to Play with Tear Gas. They've since come back and crowed about all the peace they spread in the Middle East.
It certainly seems completely responsible on the part of the police to track anti-Israel and extreme Leftist protesters -- many of whom seem to operate under a highly creative definition of non-violence. If they don't want to be seen, why are they our protesting in public?
Well, Lisa M. Nieves surely seems to have experience with violent riots. She is an ISMer and was with the International Solidarity Movement in the Bethlehem area couple years ago. This is all the same gang looking to stir trouble in Cambridge.
Ah! An ISMer. Even more justification for keeping a very close eye on them.
If someone is out in public, they can lawfully be photographed. And if they harass a police officer, they can be arrested.
The ACLU can denounce and demand answers till they're blue in the face (and I bet they can get really blue) those laws won't change.