7 pm: It's When Free Speech Ends

Crushing the Constitution is Bad News for All Of Us

[Portions of this speech were not given because of time constraints]


Hi. I'm Robert Norse. Over the years, I've raised issues in the community about how homeless and poor people face growing criminalization just for being in the public spaces.

I've spoken about the sleeping ban... the growing power of the police...the repression of speakers at Santa Cruz City Council. A trial of two former mayors is slated to begin this spring in federal court in San Jose for just this kind of repression

But today's issue is broader than that impacting just one person or one group. It's not just colorful dissidents or homeless folks that face persecution and prosecution. It is any individual or group of individuals whose protest discomforts CAO Susan Muriello, Sheriff Wowak, Police Chief Vogel, or City Manager Martin Bernal

We have watched over the years the steady erosion of civil liberites in this country...and locally.

Pretexts like the War on Terror and the War on Drugs and the War on Crime—have all been the rationale for restricting, rolling up, or outright removing basic rights.

Congress has just given the President a hunting license to arrest and indefinitely detain without charges or trial, any American citizen the President chooses to label a suspected terrorist. Of course, Obama is already using a hunting license to assasinate without charges or hearing, U.S. Citizens abroad and to jail them at home.

Locally, we face grim prospects.

A non-violent but well-attended and persistent protest--the Occupy movement--is under attack nationally. In city after city, politicians and their police are smashing these protests—first smearing them, then physically demolising them.

Apparently visible and effective protest against foreclosure, financial ripoffs, police violence, and political collusion is a no-no.

Sheriff Wowak's deputies have stepped up their campaign here to crush the peaceful on-going protest of Occupy Santa Cruz on the steps of the courthouse on Water St.

Authorities have moved from threats, to "lodging" tickets, to seizure of property without charges or receipts, to a new Curfew on the Constitution. In an unprecedented move Sunday night--without any public debate or Supervisoral vote, armed sheriffs announced no peaceful protest would be allowed 7 PM to 7 AM at the very seat of government.

On Sunday morning 60 riot police showed up in riot gear,jack boots, and body armor with batons drawn.

They destroyed the "Occu-Dome"--a structure set up to provide protection for protesters from the rain and cold and storage for their literature. They seized property and personal effects from protesters without giving receipts.

Twelve hours later, they suddenly announced that even sitting on the steps with a sign in front of the county building would be adjudged a "trespass" crime and subject the "criminal" to 6 months in jail and/or $1000 fine.

Two men who maintained a vigil there all through Sunday night and Monday morning were arrested, handcuffed, and jailed.

The city has simultaneously announced it will be deporting and dispersing the several hundred Occupy Santa Cruz campers in San Lorenzo Park, many of them homeless, in the dead of winter with no alternative shelter available. This latest mass expulsion is slated to take place 5 PM Wednesday December 7th, Santa Cruz's own Day of Infamy.
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The federal court in San Jose has delayed action on an earlier Public Nuisance claim by City Attorney Barisone and city lawyers intent on crushing the protest, It has requiring the City to come to court in early January to address issues of freedom of speech and assembly before their demolition mission.

Rather than wait for this lawful process, City Attorney Barisone and Parks and Rec boss Dannettee Shoemaker have moved to shortcut the constitution and administratively declare the encampment a Public Nuisance--without any judicial review or legislative process.

This is also being done in violation of City Codes 4.14 and 4.16 that mandate a ten day period during which an appeal can be heard.

On line we can see photos of County sheriffs stealing or vandalizing property, confiscating political signs, and goosestepping around in full riot gear. The world can see them blocking off streets, wielding batons, and using their threat of force to remove peaceful legal public protest. Just outside.

Has the D.A. Taken action to prosecute these lawbreakers in uniforms ? Have the Supervisors—as Supervisors in some other cities like Oakland and San Francisco—stood up to denounce this kind of iron heel crackdown? No.

Why? Because politicians and police unfortunately have a vested interest in keeping things as they are, in retaining the power of the banks and the wealthy. Or to put it more narrowly, they are afraid of and subservient to that power.

So it remains to members of the community, to all of us—to speak out. And to come out.

Even those not happy with some aspects of this protest should recognize the seriousness of these new Constitution-clipping measures –the implications for all future protests, regardless of who is doing them.

No. Come down to the 6 PM General Assembly which happens every night in front of the courthouse. Watch, witness, and help deter this dangerous misconduct by authorities.