Josh Wolf and Civil Disobedience
Freelance journalist Josh Wolf is in jail for patriotically practicing civil disobedience and his life must be sucking right now because of it. If you have never read Thoreau’s civil disobedience, catch up.
Josh Wolf is in prison because federal authorities are over-stepping anti-terrorism and jurisdiction laws to prosecute local-level events. The FBI demanded he hand over footage he recorded at a protest in San Francisco where a police car was burned. They want the footage to see if they can find the car burner. The FBI is on the case because they consider the burning of a police car an act of terrorism akin to a foreign unlawful combattant bombing an American city. Josh and his lawyer believe this a clear abuse of power and misinterpretation of the anti-terror laws.
The reason the FBI are allowed to prosecute as a federal case is federal dollars partially fund the SF Police’s Departments budget and thus it was an attack against the U. S. goverment. This is a very scary premise that is being used all over the country by the feds. Did the event happen on a highway, well that’s federal jurisdiction? Did it happen in a library that gets federal funding? Under this math, where aren’t federal dollars spent? I really don’t like this abuse of jurisdiction, especailly when the definition of terrorist in this case is very different than how most Americans define it.
Catching car burners is not how terrorists are caught. It’s how thieves and people needing anger management classes are caught. Real terrorists do not get caught up in petty local protests. They do not form book groups at the library. They are covert and underground. They are very hard to find track and discover. We need our Feds to be spending all their time doing this very hard work! Finding aggressive vandals just lets federal agents feel like they are making us safer when only their heads are in the sand. Heck they haven’t even found them, they haven’t any evidence and think his video will lead to the end of fears.
Josh Wolf is in prison because he has violated the law as it stands. Laws that he thinks are unjust. So much so that he’s willing to screw up his whole life just to say in the loudest voice that he can that our federal law enforcement has gotten off track. What would I do in the situation, I don’t know. But Josh has made his decision and I respect it immensely.
If you think this is a case of significance you could support his legal defense fund.
[Photo from National Lawyers Guild]
