Abby Martin sues State of Georgia for BDS freedom

[yankeedoodle]

Journalist Abby Martin Sues State of Georgia Over Law Requiring Pledge of Allegiance to Israel
"This censorship of my talk based on forced compliance to anti-BDS laws in Georgia is just one level of a nationwide campaign to protect Israel from grassroots pressure." — Abby Martin

by Alan Macleod
https://www.mintpressnews.com/abby-martin-lawsuit-state-georgia-over-bds-law/264798/

After refusing to sign a pledge of allegiance to the state of Israel, the state of Georgia shut down a media literacy conference featuring journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin at Georgia Southern University. Martin had recently released a documentary critical of the Israeli government called "Gaza Fights for Freedom." Now she is suing the state, claiming the decision is a violation of the First Amendment. Along with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF), today she filed a federal free speech lawsuit against the university system of Georgia.

Martin was dismayed by the university's decision: "This censorship of my talk based on forced compliance to anti-BDS laws in Georgia is just one level of a nationwide campaign to protect Israel from grassroots pressure. We must stand firmly opposed to these efforts and not cower in fear to these blatant violations of free speech," she said.

https://twitter.com/AbbyMartin/status/1215812853355008000

Twenty-eight states have already mandated loyalty pledges to Israel as a means to outlaw dissent. But in December, President Trump passed legislation effectively criminalizing the Boycott Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement that aims to put pressure on the Jewish state through economic action, along the lines of the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa. The law mandates that any public institution would be subject to losing all funding if the government deems that they are not doing enough to stamp out anti-Semitism, which, it explicitly states, includes any criticism of the Israeli government. In December, MintPress reported that the British government under Boris Johnson is planning to introduce similar legislation.

"The hyperbolic notion that conservatives are the ones being persecuted on college campuses has made blatant censorship campaigns against people for criticism of Israel, or other progressive protests, go completely ignored," Martin wrote.

CAIR's Legal Defense Fund Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas said, "There is no place where free speech is more important than on campus. And this attempt to suppress Abby's views ­– denying students, academics, and others from hearing her lecture – is as brazen as it is illegal. In adopting this anti-BDS law, Georgia has prioritized the policy preferences of a foreign country over the free speech rights of Americans, like Abby, who speak on this state's college campuses."

The PCJF likened the BDS movement to the boycotts of the civil rights movement in the mid-twentieth century, its Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard described the laws as "extraordinary, outrageous, illegal and unconstitutional." In 1956 Martin Luther King and his movement were criminalized for carrying out boycotts, as Southern states passed legislation to penalize their behavior, only for it to be later struck down by the Supreme Court. This is what Martin and the alliance of non-governmental organizations is hoping will happen here too. Why should I have to "contractually pledge loyalty to a foreign country?" she asked at her press conference today.

In 2016, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed a law requiring any person or organization entering into a contract with the state worth at least $1,000 sign an oath promising that they would not oppose the Israeli government in any fashion. CAIR has reason to believe they could overturn the law its Georgia Executive Director, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, called "blatantly and hilariously unconstitutional."

In 2018, Bahia Amawi, a Houston-based children's speech pathologist who worked with autistic, speech-impaired and other developmentally disabled children, lost her job after she refused to sign a similar document. Amawi had been at her job for nine years previously without a problem. CAIR took up Amawi's case and managed to overturn every Texas boycott law on the grounds of their unconstitutionality and she is now free to return to work. They appear confident of a similar victory in Georgia.

Martin began as a citizen journalist covering the Occupy movement in her native California. From 2012 to 2015 she hosted the show Breaking the Set on RT. In the famous D.N.I. report into alleged Russian interference into the 2016 election, the U.S. government accused her of "promoting radical discontent" in America, something she appears to wear as a badge of honor. Her current documentary series, Empire Files, is broadcast on TeleSUR English. However, due to sanctions against the Venezuelan government, Gaza Fights for Freedom was crowdfunded. She is also the host of Media Roots Radio.

Correction | An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the state of Georgia shut down a screening of Abby Martin's documentary film "Gaza Fights for Freedom."

[yankeedoodle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTCQc6aRIiY&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEMGvl0TfH0

[yankeedoodle]

Federal court rules Georgia's anti-BDS law 'unconstitutional' after case by journalist Abby Martin
https://www.rt.com/usa/524702-abby-martin-bds-lawsuit-georgia/

A Georgia law created to discourage the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement has been ruled as "unconstitutional," in a move that activists are celebrating as a "major victory."

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed on behalf of journalist Abby Martin – formerly the host of Breaking the Set on RT. Martin refused to sign a contract pledging that she would refrain from boycotts against Israel ahead of a planned speaking engagement at Georgia Southern University in February 2020.

When Martin refused to comply, her appearance was canceled and she later filed a lawsuit with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF).

Judge Mark Cohen wrote in his ruling that Georgia's law "prohibits inherently expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment."

On Twitter, Martin said she was "thrilled" at the court's ruling and blasted Georgia's law that "so clearly violates the free speech rights of myself and so many others."

Martin went on to say that the current conflict between Israel and Palestine shows it has "never been more urgent to advance the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions movement against the Israeli regime."

https://twitter.com/AbbyMartin/status/1396869240913678338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1396869240913678338%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F524702-abby-martin-bds-lawsuit-georgia%2F

In 2016, Gov. Nathan Deal signed SB 327 into law, which required any person or business entering into a contract with the state worth more than $1,000 to sign a pledge not to support boycotts of Israel.

Activists marked the latest ruling on the Georgia law as a "huge victory."

https://twitter.com/ashahshahani/status/1396882872196386819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1396882872196386819%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F524702-abby-martin-bds-lawsuit-georgia%2F

https://twitter.com/pal_legal/status/1396883579259523078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1396883579259523078%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F524702-abby-martin-bds-lawsuit-georgia%2F

Similar anti-BDS laws exist in numerous other US states, and CAIR has filed lawsuits against those laws in Arkansas, Arizona, Maryland, and Texas, where they saw a victory after a federal court also ruled the law was unconstitutional in 2019.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals also declared this year that Arkansas' anti-BDS law was a violation of free speech protections.

[yankeedoodle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUR2JBbH4Nw

[maz]

They need to do this in Texas too

[yankeedoodle]

They need to do this in Texas too

Texas
After Rasmy Hassouna, a Palestinian owner of an engineering firm sued the state for refusing to sign a loyalty pledge to "Israel" to secure a contract with Houston, a federal judge ordered an injunction which prohibits the state from forcing this contract on Hassouna.

Although the measure does not fix the law per se, it's a 'significant defeat' against Zionist efforts to prohibit boycotts.

"This is a major victory of the First Amendment against Texas's repeated attempts to suppress speech in support of Palestine," stated Gadeir Abbas, an attorney working with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which represented Hassouna and his firm.

Multiple lawsuits were filed over the years, including by activist Bahia Amawi, who also refused to sign a contract to renew her job at a public school.

After multiple lawsuits, including by the American Civil Liberties Union, Texas amended the law, which requires the contract to only apply to companies with more than 10 employees, in addition to companies with contracts over $100,000.

"These amendments, which are designed to remove the plaintiffs challenging the law from its reach, may reduce the number of individuals affected by the law, but fail to resolve the underlying constitutional issues," warns civil rights group Palestine Legal.

Part of a larger article found here:  https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/texas-georgia-virginia-more-grapple-with-anti-bds-laws-make