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ACLU* national legal director David Cole warns that this new piece of legislation is a serious problem to free speech. He says that just discussing the boycott of Israel could land you in prison for 20 years and fined $1 million.
The right to boycott has a long history in the United States, from the American Revolution to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Montgomery bus boycott to the campaign for divestment from businesses serving apartheid South Africa. Nowadays we celebrate those efforts. But precisely because boycotts are such a powerful form of expression, governments have long sought to interfere with them — from King George III to the police in Alabama, and now to the U.S. Congress.
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, legislation introduced in the Senate by Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and in the House by Peter J. Roskam (R-Ill.), would make it a crime to support or even furnish information about a boycott directed at Israel or its businesses called by the United Nations, the European Union or any other "international governmental organization." Violations would be punishable by civil and criminal penalties of up to $1 million and 20 years in prison. The American Civil Liberties Union, where we both work, takes no position for or against campaigns to boycott Israel or any other foreign country. But since our organization's founding in 1920, the ACLU has defended the right to collective action. This bill threatens that right.
As a European myself I find it very strange that such a law can ever be officially proposed. And in the US of all countries where the freedom of speech in codified in the constitution.
What do you make of it?
*American Civil Liberties Union
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @08:18PM
"As a European myself I find it very strange that such a law can ever be officially proposed. And in the US of all countries where the freedom of speech in codified in the constitution."
in germany you will get completely shunned by most people working anything but the most pedestrian jobs for suggesting that the story told of israel by consensus might not be all that grounded in reality. plus you have a lot of jewish organizations providing figures for tv- and print- news that would seem to be schooled in emotionally vile rhetoric. oh wait, you do have those in all western countries; my point was that the usa has far louder voices offering far more serious accusations against what is supposed to look like the cleanest of underwear worn by any country ever. ... these legislations might just come out of some senator's desire for a little more 'european culture' in the us. the subconscious chilling effect that its introduction creates is nothing to be sneezed at. so ... for more info find yourself the us military handbook on propaganda and psychological warfare by searching around on cryptome.org it would lead you to better questions ;)