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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, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @10:12PM (3 children)
From the article [aljazeera.com]..
No shit. But no worry, there are countries people like this can feel at home. It's called Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria etc. Daily stomachache trumpeted from the local pray corner, weekly beheading, no welfare, female slavery (your mum, sister etc), last rate universities, theological police, occasional bombing etc. All to make it so home sweet home as possible.
One plane ticket and all that horrible freedom, half naked girls, enterprise etc will gone from the daily life.
Americans don't have any obligation to make any particular religion or ideology at home. The constitution simple states that people have the freedom to exercise it at home etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @11:01PM
Americans don't have any obligation to make any particular religion or ideology at home
Clearly, you haven't been paying attention to what's happening in Jesusland. [google.com]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday July 27 2017, @11:25AM
There are basically 4 areas of law that in fact give religious minorities rights:
1. The First Amendment, which you mention but seem to not care about: Muslims can, for instance, legally pray in a public park, just like Christians and Jews can, so long as they aren't interfering with other people's use of the park.
2. The Fourteenth Amendment, which extends the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion to state law.
3. Equal Employment Opportunity, which makes it illegal for companies with more than 15 employees to discriminate against an employee or potential hire because of their religious views. For instance, it's illegal to deny somebody a job because they are an atheist.
4. Hate crimes, which increases the penalty for crimes because they were motivated by a goal of discriminating against somebody's religion. For example, if somebody like you beat up a Muslim because they were a Muslim, that would carry a heavier penalty than beating up a Muslim for his lunch money.
It sure sounds like you think religious freedom only applies to those religions you've deemed acceptable, which is not how that works. Also, your idea of what Muslims actually are like is absolutely at odds with what the vast majority of Muslims are actually like: For instance, most Iranians don't like the religious laws they live under.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday July 27 2017, @06:37PM
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Nah, nevermind, we're the land of the weak and cowardly now.