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(706) 108-9588
285 W. Washington St. • Athens, GA 30601
Do You Smoke Cigarettes?
• We are conducting a research study on smoking.
• Participation will include two in-person assessments,
including one magnetic resonance imaging scan.
• You will be paid up to $65 for ~5 hours of participation.
Call 706-542*6881 for more information
The University of Georgia
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AGING WELL:
A Discussion with a Geriatrics Doctor
This class will feature Dr. Don Scott, Associate
Professor of Medicine at the GHSU/UGA
Medical Partnership (the new medical school
In Athens). Dr. Scott will lead an interactive
discussion and answer questions about
healthy aging and about the treatment
of common medical problems affecting
people as they age.
Where ACC A Hudson Ro
1 30 g rn 12 30 p m
free lor CALM embers
To register: Cali 706-540-4850
Pea-st'ohon Deerdune VI a v 9
706-546-0015 • 320 E. CLAYTON ST,
(next to Mellow Mushroom)
www.changosnoodles.com
ACCA
A.TWEWS COMMUNTTY OOUNCX. ON AGING
Live well. Age well.
iter for
tlve|iying
www.accaging.org
■
Search: Free Pussy Riot
Two members of the Russian punk band
PuSsy Riot remain behind bars following
their actions in protest of Vladimir Putin's
ever-lengthening rule of the Russian
Federation. As part of a wave of protests
ahead of the March reelection of Putin,
the band and feminist collective performed,
without permission, their agitprop anti-Putin anthem
'Punk Prayer' inside a prominent Moscow cathedral. A video
available on YouTube shows the colorfully masked women sing
ing, 'Saint Mary, Virgin, become a feminist and drive away.
Putin,' as the authorities drag them into custody. Two of the
women face up to seven years for the charge of "hooliganism.'
A wave of international solidarity has sprung up in the wake
of the detentions, even joined by Athens band Reptarz2, who
closed a recent local show with the unfurling of a banner read
ing 'Free Pussy Riot!" The Free Pussy Riot Facebook page fea
tures similar demonstrations of support from across the globe.
The band's trial is only the latest cause cilibre in what's
becoming a worldwide coordination of protests and uprisings,
starting with the Arab Spring and Mediterranean austerity pro
tests and spilling into wider Europe, the United States, Latin
America and parts of Asia. And the Putin government's reaction
represents the sort of out-of- pro portion response found nearly
everywhere pretests have broken out.
As the stakes get higher, it appears that governments are
increasingly prepared to use the powers at their disposal—mil
itary and legal—to stamp out dissent. Last month, Blackhawk
helicopters could be seen performing military exercises over
downtown Chicago in preparation for Occupy-type protests
at next month's NATO summit In anticipation of protests at
September's Democratic Party Convention, the Charlotte city
council voted to designate certain events as "extraordinary,'
where police could all but disregard the Fourth Amendment
and search and frisk anyone deemed suspicious. Unsurprisingly,
it will be a Bank of America shareholders' meeting that is
first designated as an 'extraordinary event," during which the
Constitution is held behind a cordon.
In March, President Obama signed into law anti-protest leg
islation that creates nebulous and roving spaces with special
laws similar to Charlotte's. Updating an older, more narrow law,
the new bill declares that any space overseen by the Secret
Service is subject to different laws, different interpretations of
the Constitution than those observed everywhere else in the
country. An attempt to "impede or disrupt the orderly conduct
of Government business or official functions'—an Occupy "mic
check,' for instance—can be prosecuted as a federal offense,
punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
It is right here in Georgia, of all places, that we might find
some hope. A recent General Assembly bill limiting the rights
of union members was struck down after Labor aligned with
Occupy and the Tea Party in opposition to the legislation.
Drafted by the state Chamber of Commerce, SB 469 targeted
union protests at places of residence, while excluding other
groups (such as anti-abortion activists, whose tactics still
include assassinations and fire bombs). The bill was sponsored
by four American Legislative Exchange Council legislators,
including your local ALEC lackey, Sen. Bill Cowsert.
Despite the decidedly conservative bent of the bill, the
Georgia Tea Party Patriots joined the opposition, citing the
bill's impingement of First Amendment rights. Republic Report's
Zaid Jilani reminds us that it was the activists of the original
Tea Party generation, Samuel Adams' Sons of Liberty, who
"regularly protested outside of the homes of British colonial
officials' and might have fallen into the purview of the pro
posed law. Debbie Dooley, a national Tea Party Patriots official,
roused Teamsters and other union members to a standing ova
tion at the legislative hearing as she decried the "assault on
our First Amendment rights.' As governments around the world
continue to sharpen their tools in defense of the elite, it will
take more scenes like this one—coalitional and multitudi
nous—to maintain and expand democracy.
Matthew Pulver
8 FlAGPOLE.COM MAY 9,2012