#restorethe4th roundup: resources, media attention, and videos

As we head into the July 4 rallies, I thought it would be useful to collect some useful links.

For organizers — or people wanting to get the word out — the best place to start is Restore the Fourth’s website at restorethefourth.net, where there’s a a FAQ, list of protests, , the June 18 press release, and a resources page (including logos, flyers, and guides for organizers on media and outreach). There’s also a wiki page with more resources on Reddit; and of course r/RestoreTheFourth subreddit which is the best place to go for links, questions, and discussions. Bill of Rights Defense Committee’s How to protest against NSA surveillance on Fourth of July and the reddit threads on first-time protestors and talking points all have great tips, tricks, and general advice.

The rallies are starting to get more and more attention. For example:

Rand Paul and Alan Grayson both have released supportive videos.
Hayley Bruce’s ‘Restore the Fourth’ rally in Cedar Rapids Thursday to protest government surveillance from The Gazette in Cedar Rapids takes a local view,
Alyona Minkovski’a Huff Post Live interview with Ben Doernberg of Restore the Fourth NYC nails the talking points
Jake Schenberg and Anna Wilmesher’s Restore the Fourth on Free Press’ Save the Internet,
Rainey Reitman’s Restore the Fourth Campaign Organizes Protests Against Uconstituational Surveilance on EFF’s Deep Links blog
For the Fourth of July actions, Fight for the Future has a great summary of how you can get involved online as well as in-person in response to the Internet Defense League’s Cat-signal.

If you’re looking to spice up a blog post or article with videos, there are a lot of great ones out there — like 2013 President Obama debates 2006 Joe Biden over NSA Surveillance, and the videos from the June 14 DC protest, including Texas State Representative Lon Burnam, Sue Udry (Defending Dissent/MCCRC), Shahid Buttar (BORDC), Chris Townsend (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America), Kwazi Nkrumah (MLK Coalition of Los Angeles), Zainab Chaudry (CAIR-MD), Ginger McCall (EPIC), Joan Stallard (Code Pink) — as well as Sean Richards from Restore the Fourth. Expect a lot more as coverage ramps through and after the Fourth of July!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 1st, 2013 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Restore the Fourth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to #restorethe4th roundup: resources, media attention, and videos

jonpincus says:

July 1, 2013 at 11:36 pm

Also, if you’re reaching out — whether it’s to media or organizations or individuals, one important thing to highlight in any outreach is Restore the Fourth’s definition and goals. From their press release, Restore the Fourth is a grassroots, non-partisan, non-violent movement that seeks to organize and assemble nationwide protests on July 4th, 2013. Restore the Fourth requests that American citizens’ right to privacy is respected and stands with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and StopWatching.us on their open letter to Congress:

1. Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;

2. Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legaland regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance;

3. Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.

If these look familiar, they’re also on StopWatching.us’s internet petition, now over 500,000 signatures, and quite similar to the demands in the open letter that Get FISA Right, BORDC, ACLU, EFF, Mozilla, Reddit, 4chan, Freedom Works, and over 80 other organizations sent to Congress.

Get FISA Right