Guerilla theater mock arrests show reach of Patriot Act
FARMINGTON – University of Maine at Farmington students looked a little confused Tuesday when older men wearing dark suits and flashing shiny badges pulled classmates from their desks.
The mock “arrests” were a guerrilla theater put on by the campus club Social and Environmental Activists for Change as a way to educate fellow students about the implications of the USA Patriot Act.
Later in the evening, Bruce Merrill, a lawyer and former U.S. attorney in New Jersey, talked to a group of about 40 people about the act.
The 342-page act – Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act – was created as a result of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Volunteer community members posing as FBI agents yanked seven students involved in the campus group from classrooms. The “agents” told the students, who acted embarrassed and confused, that they were in violation of the Patriot Act due to their involvement in activist groups that could have terrorist ties.
The students “arrested” were all volunteers and had spent several hours Monday night rehearsing the mock arrests.
“It just went by so fast,” said Gabrielle McCahan, a member of the club who was pulled from the school’s cafeteria during the lunchtime rush. “They told me they were special agents with the FBI, and it all looked pretty legit.”
As she was led out of the cafeteria, McCahan loudly told the agents, “I am not a terrorist, I am just a peace activist.”
Some students paid attention; others simply went about their business. “The goal is to raise awareness about the Patriot Act,” said club Vice President Anthony Martin. “It was really effective. It was received well. Most classes were totally shocked and it raises awareness on an emotional level that they wouldn’t normally reach.”
After the arrests, teachers briefed their classrooms about the Patriot Act and fostered class discussions.
According to Merrill, the “really scary” document allows for wire taping, searches without warrants, sneak and peak searches and detainment of suspicious suspects without cause or right to an attorney, all under the pretense of protecting America from terrorism.
So far, he said, more than 1,000 people have been detained and held under the act.
“Terrorists are real,” Merrill said, “and there are certain sacrifices this county is going to have to make to combat terrorism. What is the balance that has to be struck between liberty on one hand, and security on the other hand?” he asked. “The Bush administration has changed the balance in this county and now the executive branch has all these new powers.”
There is also a new Patriot Act 2 in the works, proposed by Attorney General John Ashcroft, that could tighten up civil liberties even more.
Merrill highlighted a variety of cases involving the act, including the questioning of a man who requested to buy stamps at a Chicago post office that did not have the American flag on them and the recent well-publicized arrest of a lawyer wearing a shirt that read “Peace On Earth” in a New York mall.
Some provisions of the act are good, he said, citing aid to families who lost relatives in the World Trade Center attacks. Others have “chilling effects,” like the FBI having the right to obtain library records and read e-mails, he said.
While many believe that if they do not support terrorism the act won’t impact them, Merrill said that’s not the case. “This violates a lot of our basic freedoms,” he said, “and if they can tie something you do into terrorism, they can do anything.”
For more information on the USA Patriot Act, or to obtain a copy, log on to the Internet and search for USA Patriot Act.
sdepoy@sunjournal.com.
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