The Digital Dispatch

From NOEBIE.net

Occupy

Welcome to the Global Spring

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A new chapter is beginning – the Global Spring.

In Union Square, Occupy Is Blooming. [OccupyWallSt.org] – This spring, Occupiers are taking back public space to renew the visible face of our movement. In New York, despite constant police harassment, we are maintaining an Occupation in Union Square. Elsewhere, Occupy Oakland has announced a major civil disobedience action in response to assaults on peaceful Occupiers. Occupy London has announced a new home in solidarity with #OWS and on-going anti-austerity protests in the U.K.

Inside HR 347

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Though many believe that HR347 was enacted specifically to quell the growing tide of protest, some think it simply gives legal weight to policies long in practice.

Inside that new anti-Occupy bill. [Salon.com] – HR 347 makes it a prosecutable offense to knowingly, and without lawful authority, enter “(1) the White House or its grounds or the Vice President’s official residence or its grounds, (2) a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting, or (3) a building or grounds so restricted due to a special event of national significance.”

Keep Those Videocams Rolling

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Judge declares Illinois’ eavesdropping law unconstitutional. [ChicagoTribune.com] – A Cook County judge on Friday declared the state’s controversial eavesdropping law unconstitutional, securing an important victory for activists who want to videotape the police in public but muddying the legal waters as the city gears up for potentially thousands of demonstrators for the NATO summit in May.

G-8 Moved From Chicago

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G-8 summit to be held at Camp David, not Chicago. [ChicagoTribune.com] – President Obama is moving one of two major world summits from Chicago to the presidential retreat near Washington, with an aide saying the president has decided he wants a more “intimate” setting than his hometown for the May gathering.

The Group of Eight meeting will be moved to Camp David, according to the White House, but the gathering of NATO allies and the International Security Assistance Force will go on in Chicago as planned in mid-May.

Camp David will more closely approximate the remote settings in which the G8 leaders prefer to gather. Summits in large cities typically see clamorous protests, while those in the countryside are calmer and more sedate.