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<div class="entry-date">January 21, 2014<br>
<small><b><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/21/your-rights-arent-worth-crap/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/21/your-rights-arent-worth-crap/</a></b></small><br>
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big><b>Locking The Public Out Of Public
Trials In Chicago </b></big></div>
<h1 class="article-title">Your Rights Aren’t Worth Crap</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle"><big><big>by CHRIS GEOVANIS</big></big></div>
<div class="main-text"><big><big> </big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Public trials are one of the fundamental tenets
of American democracy. And they’ve been cancelled in Chicago, at least
for the trial of the <a href="http://freethenato3.wordpress.com/about/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://freethenato3.wordpress.com']);">NATO
3</a> — three defendants battling terrorism charges for alleged
‘crimes’ wholly instigated, manufactured and advanced by undercover
cops in a blatant case of entrapment. But you’ll be hard pressed to
determine this for yourself, since you’re essentially banned from the
courtroom unless you’re willing to surrender your right to privacy,
your right to even a glimmer of free expression, or your right as a
non-corporate reporter to cover the case in real time like your
corporate colleagues can.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Government officials are forcing every member of
the public seeking to observe the NATO 3 trial to ‘pre-register’,
produce a government-issued ID, submit to a criminal background check —
and, of course, trust them with your data.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>This last bit is spectacularly hard to swallow,
as news continues to come out about the extent of <a
 href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175795/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.tomdispatch.com']);">government
spying</a> and data-mining on perfectly lawful activity like talking on
the phone. Government agencies have surveilled and disrupted the <a
 href="http://progressive.org/spying-on-ccupy-activists"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://progressive.org']);">Occupy
movement</a>, to which the defendants had a loose affiliation, simply
for existing, and we’ve barely begun to plumb the depths of <a
 href="http://interoccupy.net/blog/chicago-judge-orders-state-to-hand-over-info-about-police-spying-on-the-nato-3/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://interoccupy.net']);">cop
spying</a> in the run-up to Chicago’s NATO protest — <a
 href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16488-undercover-police-officer-connected-to-nato-5-case-still-spying-on-protest-in-chicago"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.truth-out.org']);">and
beyond</a>. For Chicagoans, this comes in the wake of the Chicago cops’
<a
 href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/confessions-of-a-red-squad-spy/Content?oid=3293807"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.chicagoreader.com']);">notorious
history</a> of political spying, disruption and <a
 href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/4/the_assassination_of_fred_hampton_how"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.democracynow.org']);">assassination</a>
going back to the days of the infamous <a
 href="http://www.democracynow.org/topics/cointelpro"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.democracynow.org']);">COINTELPRO</a>
<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1049.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org']);">Red
Squad</a>.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>In fact, there would be no criminal case against
the three defendants if the city’s <a
 href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0407/p02s01-uspo.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.csmonitor.com']);">autocratic</a>
former mayor, Richard M. Daley, hadn’t finally succeeded in convincing
the federal court in <a
 href="http://www.themilitant.com/2001/6506/650652.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.themilitant.com']);">2001</a>
to effectively gut the <a
 href="http://www.wbez.org/series/chicago-amplified/chicago-history-museum-red-squad-symposium-part-1-107524"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.wbez.org']);">Red
Squad</a> Consent Decree banning police spying, infiltration,
harassment, intimidation and undercover disruption of political
activity. The hollowed out decree was ultimately dissolved in <a
 href="http://www.aclu-il.org/dissolution-of-red-squad-consent-decree-does-not-negate-need-to-protect-first-amendment-rights-in-chicago/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.aclu-il.org']);">2009</a>.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Attorneys for the NATO defendants have argued in
a court finding that the ‘terrorism’ scheme they’re charged with is
based on “idle chatter, laced with bravado and abetted, encouraged and
egged on by the undercover police agents.” There was no actual act of
vandalism committed, and there certainly was no act of ‘terror’
committed — unless you’re feeling terrorized by the prospect of
undercover cops inciting thought crimes to dirty up your political
beliefs. But there was, essentially, a law enforcement scheme to incite
crime where no crime had been committed, wholly fomented by undercover
cops engaged in manufacturing criminality — cop behavior that would
have been illegal under the Red Squad consent decree.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Meanwhile, public officials continue to invoke
the ‘terrorism’ meme in the NATO trial as part of a criminal
prosecution that has consistently conflated dissent with criminality.
And they’re taking no chances on uncontrolled spin in the case.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Besides making members of the public surrender
their privacy rights to attend the trial, they’re enforcing the courts’
recently imposed <a
 href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/13/court-cell-phone-ban-chic_n_3075891.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.huffingtonpost.com']);">ban
on cell phones</a>, lest people who CAN get in report from the ground,
and have told those who are willing to ‘pre-register’ that officials
are giving priority seating to those who then RE-register to attend a
day before each trial date. You don’t re-register? You take your
chances at getting a seat the following day. At one point, the judge
even considered banning pencils and paper from the courtroom.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>New rules for non-corporate reporters are
equally extreme. Officials are imposing restrictions that effectively
ban freelance reporters and reporters with non-corporate and
non-traditional media from the kind of access and privileges —
including the right to carry their cell phones — that corporate
reporters will be afforded.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>“It is my sense going into this trial that the
Cook County Sheriff’s Office will be putting on a trial that undermines
the public’s right to access much more than the US military did during
Manning’s court martial,” writes Firedoglake reporter Kevin Gosztola.
He should know, since he covered the <a
 href="http://www.bradleymanning.org/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.bradleymanning.org']);">Manning</a>
trial daily — and his <a
 href="http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/01/20/why-is-the-state-of-illinois-not-the-us-government-putting-nato-3-on-trial-for-terror-conspiracy/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://dissenter.firedoglake.com']);">most
recent piece</a> on the NATO 3 trial is a compelling and disturbing
summary of the state’s dubious basis for its terrorism allegations.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>The state’s scheme to effectively ban the public
from a public — and publicly funded — trial is part of a long-standing
official pattern to <a
 href="http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/01/22/mayor-1s-new-rules-try-to-thwart-protest-while-groundswell-of-dissent-grows/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://dissenter.firedoglake.com']);">harass,
arrest and undermine</a> those who dissent in Chicago. For years,
activists in Chicago had to fight in court for permission to rally and
march against the Iraq war, and protesters have routinely been subject
to arrest simply for attempting to <a
 href="http://rt.com/usa/chicago-police-city-law-035/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://rt.com']);">exercise</a>
their First Amendment rights. More broadly, the restrictions that local
government overlords have imposed on public access and public oversight
in the NATO trial are part of a national effort to rebrand dissent as
inherently dangerous.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>The judge in the NATO 3 case, Thaddeus Wilson,
prominently displays a picture of Martin Luther King behind his bench.
If he were able, King would be spinning in his grave at some of the
rulings Wilson has issued in the case. Wilson refused, for example, to
dismiss a juror for <a
 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_for_cause"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://en.wikipedia.org']);">cause</a>,

even though she routinely teaches at the Chicago police academy, and is
married to the law enforcement officer who supervised the undercover
operations of state police during the NATO protests. Despite the fact
that police spying and its abuses lie at the heart of the NATO 3 case —
and that this prospective juror’s very livelihood and family economy is
grounded in police collaboration — Wilson ruled that there was no
reason to doubt her ability to serve objectively.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>That’s like saying that the chairman of BP is
perfectly fit to serve on a jury weighing criminal negligence in the <a
 href="http://earthjustice.org/features/preventing-more-bp-type-oil-disasters"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://earthjustice.org']);">Deepwater
Horizon</a> disaster. Defense attorneys were forced to exercise a
peremtory challenge to keep her off the jury.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Judge Wilson has also issued a disingenuously
named ‘<a
 href="http://www.cookcountycourt.org/Portals/0/Criminal%20Division/Rulings/Wilson,%20T/Trial%20Decorum%20Order%20NATO3%20-%20Comprehensive.pdf"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://www.cookcountycourt.org/Portals/0/Criminal%20Division/Rulings/Wilson,%20T/Trial%20Decorum%20Order%20NATO3%20-%20Comprehensive.pdf']);">decorum</a>’

order that sets the stage for massive courtroom repression. The edict
is so sweeping that one could conceivably be ejected from the courtroom
and cited for criminal contempt for the ‘crime’ of raising your
eyebrows or shaking your head at testimony — or even smiling at a
defendant. The order also bans political buttons, t-shirts, armbands
and perhaps even particular colors — we won’t know until we show up
wearing red or black or both. If you get up to take a leak, you can’t
get back into the courtroom until the judge calls a recess — and in the
jury selection of the phase, court sometimes ran past 9PM, so empty
your bladder early.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Wilson has also consistently ruled in the
prosecution’s favor in terms of what evidence will and will not be
admissible. And in one of the judge’s worst rulings, Wilson has
asserted that that police are included under the terrorism definition
of the state statute under which the defendants are being tried, which
defines terrorism as “intent to coerce a significant portion of the
civilian population.”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>In short, the testimony of the undercover cops
who manufactured the conditions for a ‘crime’ to be alleged should be
treated like any testimony from any ‘civilian’. Jurors could
essentially be asked to embrace the legal fiction that these undercover
cops felt ‘coerced’ into the self-same crime they themselves were
attempting to create and incite. This ruling essentially privileges
testimony from cops in a police department whose officers routinely tell<a
 href="http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20131219/river-north/special-report-rule-14-cops-who-lie-testing-public-trust"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.dnainfo.com']);">
flat-out lies</a> with impunity to bolster their cases.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>It bears emphasizing that the undercover cops at
the heart of this case are not civilians. They’re the undercover cops
who told court officials they ‘lost’ a shitload of text messages that
could have been exculpatory for the NATO 3 defense team — this in an
age when virtually any electronic traffic anywhere lives somewhere,
including in the NSA’s vast databases. Except when the NSA’s pals in
the Chicago police department lose that electronic traffic. They’re the
undercover cops who actually manufactured the conditions in which they
could allege a crime under the <a
 href="http://peopleslawoffice.com/nato-3-defendants-file-challenge-to-illinois-terrorism-statute/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://peopleslawoffice.com']);">notoriously
vague</a> and little used state terrorism statute under which the NATO
3 are charged.<b> </b></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>This is just as dunderheaded as the only other
instance in which this state terrorism statute has been used to charge
someone. In that case, the state convicted a college student for making
a terrorist threat — <a
 href="http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/01/20/why-is-the-state-of-illinois-not-the-us-government-putting-nato-3-on-trial-for-terror-conspiracy/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://dissenter.firedoglake.com']);">even
though he actually did no such thing</a> — after cops searched his
unoccupied car and found some crappy and inflammatory rap lyrics
scribbled on a piece of paper. The state circuit court in that case
sentenced the student — a Black man in a largely white community — to
five years in prison. An appellate court later <a
 href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/student-rappers-conviction-threat-case-tossed"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://bigstory.ap.org']);">tossed
out</a> that conviction. Blacks, dissidents — hey, this state terrorism
statute is perfect for Illinois’ law enforcement community!</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Secret trials are <a
 href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/25017683-452/chicago-nato-3-trial-limits-public-access.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.suntimes.com']);">abhorrent</a>.

That’s why the nation’s founders, whatever their other manifest flaws,
banned them. Secret trials built on the testimony of undercover cops
given broad license to manufacture and incite criminal activity to
entrap defendants is particularly revolting and deeply dangerous to all
of us.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>“The NATO 3 trial is not about terrorism,” says
Andy Thayer, who helped organize 2012’s protests against the NATO
meeting. “This trial is about the government using hype ABOUT terrorism
to pursue a political agenda, and as such represents a fundamental
mis-use of the justice system, if we are to believe the words of the
U.S. Constitution.”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>The political agenda of the Cook County States
Attorneys Office — the prosecutors of record of the NATO 3 and others
criminally charged around the 2012 NATO protests — has included a
stubborn commitment to defend its own most <a
 href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/anita-alvarez-60-minutes-_n_2273017.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.huffingtonpost.com']);">egregious
miscarriages of justice</a>. Cook County States Attorney and career
Chicago prosecutor Anita Alvarez, who’s not been shy about chasing
media face time in the NATO cases, has historically embraced the worst
sorts of police excess and abuse — including cops who <a
 href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/g-flint-taylor/unholy-alliance-seeks-to-_b_4103757.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.huffingtonpost.com']);">torture</a>,
<a
 href="http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/12/cook-county-states-attorney-alvarez-humiliates-herself-on-national-tv.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://blogs.chicagotribune.com']);">lie</a>
and <a
 href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-11-06/news/ct-met-chicago-cop-fatal-shooting-1106-20131106_1_officer-gildardo-sierra-flint-farmer-previous-shootings"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://articles.chicagotribune.com']);">murder</a>.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Alvarez’ local prosecutorial agenda dovetails
with allied schemes in national and local government to support
increasingly militarized police forces which hustle funding for their
agencies on the public dime, and promote the careers of “security”
industry professionals — many of whom are <a
 href="http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/chicago-nato-summit-prairie-district-neighborhood-148624575.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nbcchicago.com']);">former
members</a> of these self-same militarized police forces.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>Those self-same law enforcement agencies are
also perfectly happy to collude with corporations to suppress dissent
that those corporations deem unhelpful — what journalist Naomi Wolf has
described as “<a
 href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coordinated-crackdown-occupy"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.theguardian.com']);">totally
integrated corporate-state repression of dissent</a>.”<b> </b></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>To support this agenda in Chicago, authorities
are using the tried and true tactic of terrifying people into signing
off on their most fundamental civil liberties — including any vestiges
of privacy rights — for the ‘privilege’ of attending a public criminal
trial rooted in police misdeeds. More than a few activists who
assembled in Chicago in May 2012 to oppose the murderous war agenda of
NATO have said they simply will not submit to the state’s draconian
terms to attend the NATO 3 trial. And in that respect, the state has
succeeded in locking out some of the people with the most at stake in a
‘public’ trial in which defense attorneys have been consistently
thwarted in their effort to expose law enforcement’s schemes to derail
dissent and manufacture crime.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>The Chicago police and their overlord, Rahm
“Mayor 1%” Emanuel, worked mightily to make the city safe during the
NATO protests for the worst sorts of <a
 href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/9314-boeing-hq-shut-down-by-anti-nato-summit-protesters-to-cap-week-of-action"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://truth-out.org']);">corporate
criminals</a> and their military backers. Emanuel and Alvarez remain
strong <a
 href="http://www.usprisonculture.com/blog/2013/03/27/no-to-hb2265sb1003-rahm-emanuel-anita-alvarez-team-up-to-wreak-more-havoc/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.usprisonculture.com']);">allies</a>
in a shared dystopian vision of civic life in a city that routinely
criminalizes people of color and undermines the fundamental tenets of <a
 href="http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/12/opinion-aja-lydersen-two-chicagos.html"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.northwestern.edu']);">economic
and social justice</a>. It’s no accident that Mayor 1% backs
privatization schemes in critical public endeavors that range from <a
 href="http://jonathanturley.org/2013/06/23/rahm-emanuels-reform-of-the-chicago-public-schools/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://jonathanturley.org']);">education</a>
to <a
 href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mayor-emanuel-closes-city-mental-health-clinics/Content?oid=9145051"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.chicagoreader.com']);">health</a>
— just as States’ Attorney Anita Alvarez backs privatizing this
critically important public trial.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big>So, who are the real terrorists?</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p dir="ltr"><big><big><em><strong>Chris Geovanis</strong> is a Chicago
media activist, advocacy journalist and member of the <a
 href="http://hammerhard.org/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://hammerhard.org']);">HammerHard
MediaWorks</a> collective. You can reach her via Twitter @heavyseas,
via her <a href="https://www.facebook.com/christine.geovanis"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.facebook.com']);">Facebook</a>
page or at chrisgeovanis(at)<a href="http://gmail.com/"
 onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://gmail.com']);">gmail.com</a></em></big></big></p>
<big></big></div>
</font></font>
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San Francisco, CA 94110
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