What will become of the right to protest in the next 4 years?

On its 4th Anniversary, the Article 20 Network prepares to defend the freedom of assembly after the election.

Four years ago, right before the fateful 2016 election, the Article 20 Network was founded to defend and promote the freedom of assembly as a response to egregious attacks on peaceful protesters.

The murders of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and other Black Americans had sparked a summer of public demonstrations demanding that Black Lives Matter. The Dakota Access Pipeline protests sought to protect Indigenous sovereignty and land while addressing the climate crisis. These actions came on the heels of the Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring movements that called for a return to democracy over corporate and violent rule. All of their efforts to protect and defend their freedoms were countered by disproportionately violent responses by authorities.

With all this in mind, the Article 20 Network - then a rag-tag team of six people - charted all of the obstacles and threats to the human right to the freedom to peacefully assembly, mapped out the solutions that would become the Article 20 Network’s agenda, and - from a cafeteria in Tribeca - hit send on a press release announcing our work to the world.

Two weeks later, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. He used his rallies to attack the freedom of assembly and protestors (and still does in 2020). President Trump’s 2016 campaign rallies were infamous for violence and violent rhetoric against protesters. President Trump reminisced that in the good old days protesters would “be carried away on a stretcher”, lamented that it was illegal to attack protesters, and himself incited violence against protesters in his crowds.

As enormous nationwide protests flooded the streets after the election, the tone of President Trump’s campaign carried over into the national tenor throughout his Presidency. President Trump and his boosters have explicitly spurned the rights and lives of those who march in opposition to them.

President Trump’s rhetoric inspired leaders in 40 states to propose more than 100 bills further criminalizing protest, throwing up new barriers to First Amendment rights, and proposing the unthinkable - like indemnifying motorists for plowing into protesters or threatening racketeering charges for protest organizers.

The ultimate and most painful result has been the loss of life at the hands of Trump-inspired vigilantes - most famously in Charlottesville and Kenosha. It is a human tragedy that anyone should be killed for enjoying their human right to free assembly.

The United States and the world face another inflection point. Our First Amendment rights, especially our freedom of assembly, are on the ballot in 2020, as are the lives and livelihoods of peaceful protesters.

As in 2016 when we began our work, we don’t have a crystal ball. Whichever way the election goes, the Article 20 Network will continue to fight for rolling back restrictions on the right to protest and to enact new protections for protesters.

The Right to Protest for Racial Justice is Inalienable

We all have the right to assemble and protest peacefully.

This sacred freedom has long been under threat in the United States, yet not as long as the constant threat to black lives. Black lives continue to be taken without consequence, and our right to protest the systems, laws, policy, and people involved is as important as ever. Protest is recognized as a human right because it gives voice to those who otherwise cannot or are not heard.

When black and brown people in the United States protest injustice, police and the military show up to quash their protests and their voices in high and disproportionate numbers, resulting in arrests and physical abuse. When white people in the United States protest en masse, the response is the opposite. Time and time again, this disproportionate response appears in the history books.

And in the wake of George Floyd’s tragic and unjust murder, people protesting in the United States are met with continued - and escalating - brutality and violence. Indeed this violence is exacerbated by the reprehensible rhetoric of the President of the United States, culminating in peaceful protesters harmed, gravely injured with rubber bullets, and tear gassed in private citizen’s homes. A toddler has even had a weapon aimed in their face. The Attorney General went so far as to order an attack on peaceful protesters for a photo opportunity - a blatantly unconstitutional act and an unquestionable violation of human rights.

International guidelines on policing assemblies are consistently ignored. For example, if a protest is marred by sporadic violence, the police have a duty to remove the troublemakers and the peaceful protesters maintain their rights - not just to disperse everyone wholesale.

In a time when certain officials continue to delegitimize peaceful protest, defending this right is more important than ever.

The Article 20 Network does not merely stand in solidarity with our black and brown brothers and sisters. We are equipping Americans - tired, angry, frustrated, sad, and willing to do anything to make the injustice end – with the tools to change the dialog, to protest safely, to know their rights, and to get aid when their human right to free assembly has been violated.

Black lives matter. The fight to protect black lives continues on a scale we haven’t seen in a generation. We will not let up until racist police brutality is eradicated by the voices of the people.

Alongside our partners, the Article 20 Network is providing tools for activists to assemble safely; distributing educational materials to parents, middle school and high school teachers to help young people make sense of it all; and providing helping protesters whose rights have been violated through our Protester Helpline.

Black lives matter. It is our fundamental and inalienable right to protest and demand racial justice.