Resources for Defending Civil Liberties
With the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act, individuals, communities, and organizations that are committed to restoring civil liberties and checks and balances are continuing to engage in local and national actions including contact with legislators, work with the media, local educational events, and outreach to other groups.
BORDC organizers are planning a series of national telephone workshops to help activists sharpen skills and share strategies and techniques for use in our local communities.
Topics include:
- Changing public perception through editorial board meetings and letter to editor campaigns
- Building relationships with Congressional representatives
- Shifting local dialogue through effective public educational forums
- Making ourselves heard in the media (with some discussion about news conferences and news releases)
- Building links to traditional and nontraditional community allies
- Effective use of personal stories and testimonials in our work
For more information, contact ben@bordc.org.
If you have resources you would like to share with others, please email them to us.
Contact your Senators and Representative
We must continue to inform our U. S. Senators and Representatives about the effects of the PATRIOT Act, the need to reform the law, and their duty to perform oversight. Click here to find contact information for your members of Congress.
Sample Op-Eds, Letters to the Editor, Press Release
The columnists below invite you to submit their op-eds as is, with their bylines, or to borrow liberally from them in creating your own, with your own byline.
- Op-ed, "Rumblings of Freedom?" by Chip Pitts, BORDC Board President
- Op-ed on Executive Power by Hope Marston, BORDC West Region Organizer
- Taking Liberties Reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act?, column by Garry Klein, Iowa City Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Other Resources
Documentaries,
Books, Plays
Flyers
Literature, Booklets, Presentations, and Analyses