Grassroots America Defends the Bill of Rights: The First National Conference

October 18-19, 2003, Washington, D.C.

Purposes and Goals

Background on the grassroots movement

The September 11th tragedy became the pretext for the hastily passed USA PATRIOT Act and a series of federal executive orders, guidelines, and procedural changes, many of which undermine civil liberties without demonstrably enhancing national security. Such sweeping changes have evoked grave concerns among Americans across the political spectrum.

Soon after the Act was passed, individuals and small groups in a few U.S. cities who were concerned about threats to our freedoms began local grassroots organizing that launched a movement to channel apprehension and anger about rollbacks of civil liberties. Today, a nationwide, broad-based movement of local efforts to restore civil liberties guaranteed under the Constitution and Bill of Rights holds the promise of deepening community involvement in civil liberties.

Within the last year, this rapidly multiplying grassroots effort of communities declaring themselves "civil liberties safe zones" and passing resolutions has grown from a handful to 122 cities, towns and counties and three entire states as of June 9, encompassing a total population of 16 million. Hundreds more resolutions are in progress; several new ones are passed each week. This movement of bottom-up grassroots democracy has markedly expanded the national level of awareness about current and forthcoming legislation that directly threatens civil liberties, and has given U.S. citizens and noncitizens a means to act locally and to demonstrate to Congressional representatives that their constituents care deeply about the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We have seen that when grassroots groups work toward a common goal, they can make their voices heard on a statewide and national level.

Proposed first national grassroots conference to restore civil liberties

A broad coalition of organizations (see list below) will convene a national organizing conference in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2003. The conference will assemble representatives of independent grassroots groups; coalitions involved in related legal and legislative action; Muslim, Arab, Hispanic, and other constituencies that have been disproportionately affected by the new laws, and others who want to join the growing movement.

The primary goal of the weekend conference is to advance the movement's impact on national policy, with actions that include the following:

Strengthen local organizing by (1) converting the proliferation of local committees, resolutions, and other actions into coordinated, results-oriented political pressure; (2) fine-tuning the process of passing resolutions and ordinances that incorporate the strongest terms possible; and (3) sharing strategies to monitor and publicize the enforcement of "civil liberties safe zone" resolutions/ordinances in communities.
Broaden the resolution effort to more towns, cities, counties and states in order to affect local, state, and federal policy on these issues.
Expand the movement to other entities, such as religious organizations, schools, unions, and professional associations.
Provide local organizers with direct access to the best legal and other professional resources and information available to support their work.
Provide skills in lobbying Congress both in Washington, D.C., and at home.
Develop a local and national media strategy.
Prepare local activists to ensure all candidates in 2004 elections face rigorous questioning on civil liberty issues.
Develop a longer-term strategy, with a three- to five-year focus.
Build grassroots support for congressional measures that will defend and expand civil liberties and build opposition to further attempts to limit civil liberties.

The movement's ultimate goals are to ensure that:

Civil liberties and rights outlined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights are understood, restored, observed, and protected; and
Proposed laws and policy changes that may impact rights and liberties are subject to rigorous, open national debate.

In the spirit of a bottom-up, grassroots, democratic movement, our procedural approach at the conference will be interactive, participatory brainstorming and mutual teaching and problem-solving.

Following the conference's two days of tactical and strategic policy workshops, there will be a day of "people's advocacy" on Capitol Hill for conferees to directly address their congressional delegations about their obligation to show leadership in restoring rights and liberties and our determination to hold them accountable. These grassroots groups will then follow up with their congressional representatives back at home in their districts at the next congressional recess, bringing the power of grassroots democracy full circle.

Parameters of Participation

The Constitution is the bulwark of our democracy. Within it the Bill of Rights specificallyguarantees to citizens and non-citizens a series of freedoms. The rapidly growing national grassroots movement of community groups and local organizations defending constitutional rights demonstrates that there is broad agreement that the Bill of Rights should be protected. In more than 250 cities, local committees have brought together people from a wide political spectrum who support the work of passing local resolutions against federal abuses of civil liberties.

It is in this spirit that the conveners of the first Grassroots America Defends the Bill of Rights Conference invite delegates from community groups proposing resolutions and ordinances, locally elected officials, religious organizations, schools, unions, advocacy groups, and other organizations concerned about threats to our civil liberties to come together to advance the movement's impact on national policy. It is not difficult to find accord on many of these issues. For example, most Americans believe that our homes should be free from 'sneak and peek' searches, where the owner may not be notified of the search for an extended period of time, as authorized by the USA PATRIOT Act. Most Americans agree they don't want their library records searched without probable cause. Immigrants' rights are especially threatened by the USA PATRIOT Act and other government actions since September 11. In response, many local committees and national organizations are committed to protecting the rights of immigrants and other non-citizens.

In the interest of advancing our joint work, the conference will be organized so that participants can work together on specific areas of common concern and agree to disagree where necessary. The success of the Conference, and the broad based movement to defend the Bill of Rights, demands that people from a wide range of political perspectives work together and form new alliances. We ask that all attendees observe a policy of mutual respect for all others involved in the conference and the movement, and accept that there will be some diversity in priorities among participants. Any and all participants coming to the conference should recognize the importance of abiding by these guidelines.

Participating Organizations (Partial listing)

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Civil Liberties Union
Arab American Institute
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Center for Democracy and Technology
Council on American Islamic Relations
First Amendment Foundation
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union
Institute for Policy Studies, Progressive Challenge Project
Libertarian Party
Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation
National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom
National Lawyers Guild
People for the American Way
United Electrical Workers Union