"Silencing Political Dissent: How the USA PATRIOT Act Undermines the Constitution" is a new free eBook from Seven Stories Press, by Nancy Chang of the Center for Constitutional Rights.


"In a crude exploitation of the anguish and concern over the terrorist atrocities of Sept. 11, the Bush administration has sought to implement favored programs that have no relation to terrorism and would be sure to arouse protest if it could not cynically wield the weapon of "patriotism" to silence opposition. That includes steps to strengthen unaccountable executive power and curb independent thought and expression. Chang's study expertly reviews these threats, which should be understood and resisted by those who value their freedom and democratic rights."
--Noam Chomsky

Just six weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a jittery Congress—exiled from its anthrax-contaminated offices and confronted with warnings that more terrorist assaults were soon to come—capitulated to the Bush Administration’s demands for a new arsenal of anti-terrorism weapons. Over vigorous objections from civil liberties organizations on both ends of the political spectrum, Congress overwhelmingly approved the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, better known by its acronym, The USA PATRIOT Act. The House vote was 356-to-66, and the Senate vote was 98-to-1. This hastily-drafted, complex, and far-reaching legislation spans 342 pages. Yet it was passed with virtually no public hearing or debate, and it was accompanied by neither a conference nor a committee report. On October 26, the Act was passed into law by a triumphant President George W. Bush. In this timely and lucid Open Media Special Edition, Nancy Chang examines how the new law endows the executive branch with vast unchecked powers, erodes civil liberties and privacy, and impacts immigrants. Writes Chang:

"The Administration’s blatant power grab, coupled with the wide array of anti-terrorism tools that the USA PATRIOT Act puts at its disposal, portend a wholesale suspension of civil liberties that will reach far beyond those who are involved in terrorist activities. First, the Act places our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and political association in jeopardy, by creating a broad new crime of “domestic terrorism,” and by denying entry to non-citizens on the basis of ideology. Second, the Act will reduce our already lowered expectations of privacy under the Fourth Amendment by granting the government enhanced surveillance powers. Third, non-citizens will see a further erosion of their due process rights as they are placed in mandatory detention and removed from the United States under the Act. Political activists who are critical of our government or who maintain ties with international political movements, along with immigrants, are likely to bear the brunt of these attacks on our civil liberties."

"This analysis by Nancy Chang," writes Howard Zinn, "should be read by everyone concerned with a free society."

Get the book for free at  http://sevenstories.com/ebooks/