How many people here remember the "free speech" zones?

[kentuck]

How many had the experience of being in one?

How many were tear-gassed and put behind fences with your protest signs so you could not get close enough to George W Bush for him to hear you?

What would happen if people with guns, protesting Obama, were put behind these same fences?

And what did you think of that tactic?

Do you think it could never happen again?

[byeya]

1. Sure I remember. Since it gave negative photo ops, People who want to exercise their Constitutional

right to free speech are usually kept so far from the event, that the protest loses much of its meaning.
No unpleasant scenes for the tv or magazine photo spread.

[geek tragedy]

2. People with guns should not be allowed anywhere with a direct view of the president.

Common sense--if they can see him they can shoot him.

[msongs]

7. people with guns should not be allowed anywhere near ANY other people....not just presidents because

if they can see you they can shoot you

[G_j]

3. although FS zones were around during Clinton's time also

they were not abused nearly as often. They were originally created to keep anti-abortion protesters from harassing women entering clinics. I am against them, as clearly they are undemocratic, and ripe for repression.

[Proud Public Servant]

5. Yep. Honest question

Weren't there Free Speech zones at the Democratic Convention in '96? I seem to remember there were (or, more to the point, I seem to remember being pissed off about it).

[G_j]

6. yes, it's a common mistake to think they started w Bush

During the 1988 Democratic National Convention, the city of Atlanta, Georgia set up a "designated protest zone"[5] so the convention would not be disrupted. A pro-choice demonstrator opposing an Operation Rescue group said Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young "put us in a free-speech cage."[6] "Protest zones" were used during the 1992 and 1996 United States presidential nominating conventions[7]

<>

WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity saw a number of changes to how law enforcement deals with protest activities. "The [National Lawyers] Guild, which has a 35-year history of monitoring First Amendment activity, has witnessed a notable change in police treatment of political protesters since the November 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. At subsequent gatherings in Washington, D.C., Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and Portland a pattern of behavior that stifles First Amendment rights has emerged". [9] In a subsequent lawsuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that "It was lawful for the city of Seattle to deem part of downtown off-limits... But the court also said that police enforcing the rule may have gone too far by targeting only those opposed to the WTO, in violation of their First Amendment rights."[10]
<>

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone

[On the Road]

4. History Can Always Repeat Itself

although it may be of some comfort to know that it usually repeats itself as comedy rather than tragedy.

I was in a Free Speech zone at the tail end of the Bush Inauguration protest in January 2001. The march permit specified which streets protesters were allowed to follow, and the end of the route was behind the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House. That seems to fit the description of a free speech zone as the Bush adminstration tried to implement it.

Sounded like a nice central location, but it was completely secluded from the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue, which is just a block away. After a few minutes, people began trickling out of the free speech zone and on to the parade route.

Things do change, and they have. But in addition to asking whether a policy could ever reoccur, you also need to ask whether a current policy can be phased out. And for that, there is no need to look further than the Free Speech Zones themselves.

[CakeGrrl]

8. Not gonna happen during this admin

sorry to disappoint.

Obama <> Bush, as much as some may want it to be so.