Patriot Act Games

Repeatedly cheering, "Let’s hear it for the Irish!," organizer Jennifer Kenney of the Pittsburgh Bill of Rights Defense Campaign rallied a crowd of about 40 supporters at a St. Patrick’s Day demonstration on the steps of the City-County Building. With critical support from William Peduto, Councilman 8th District, PBORDC has been working with City Council for over a year to pass a law designating Pittsburgh a "civil liberties safe zone," thereby restricting the invocation of the USA PATRIOT Act in regional courts. Provisos in the Act that greatly expand the authority of officials to police surveillance are widely perceived as anti-Constitutional. Similar statutes have already been passed in more than 270 municipalities across the country, including in Philadelphia, Reading, and Wilkinsburg.

Peduto is sponsoring the bill with support from Council members Twanda Carlisle, 9th Dist., Sala Udin, 6th Dist., and Doug Shields, 5th Dist. One more vote is needed to lock a majority and pass the bill into law. Citizens are urged to write or call their representatives.

The bill favored by the PBORDC is one of two competing for favor in the Council. The other, sponsored by Gene Ricciardi, 3rd Dist., reflects reservations regarding Council’s role in relation to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. "It’s like, ‘Yay! Pittsburgh loves our civil liberties!’," paraphrases advocate Lisa Freeland. Freeland is a Public Defender in the Federal Circuit, and a frequent volunteer for the ACLU.

"Racial profiling seems to be the sticking point," Kenney says, referring to the differences of language between the two bills.

Peduto cited the words of Benjamin Franklin, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither..."

The rally featured speakers Peduto, grad student Alik Widge from CMU’s Robotics Institute, and Jim Caldwell of the Irish-American Unity Conference, as well as a notable a cappella performance from those dames-about-town the Raging Grannies. Curiously enough, everyone was playing board games.

The USA PATRIOT Act Game was co-created by attorney Freeland and Steffi Domike, assistant professor of art at Chatham College, to protest the anti-terrorism legislation adopted by Congress. The pair, as neighbors, had taken to commiserating over the backyard fence following 9-11, and found they shared many of the same fears and reservations about the directions the government was taking. When their dialogue turned towards the PATRIOT Act, Domike remembers confusion.

"[The language] is very vague, and that’s what makes it doubly dangerous. If two or more people get together for purposes of forwarding a non-violent social agenda, they could be considered terrorists."

The game resembles Monopoly in play, but instead of fake money, participants barter for their rights with "Freedom Fries." Players draw cards under such categories as "Justice" and "Surveillance," which offer contemporary vignettes on the possible consequences of enforcing the Act, or "History" and "Protest," which put the Act into various historical contexts, highlighting its truly radical implications. Freeland points out that luminaries Ben Franklin or Rosa Parks would have been called terrorists under the legislation.

Domike says the game can open up a dialogue with people who are reticent to face the facts.

"The PATRIOT Act is so serious, people don’t want to touch it. People who won’t go to a demonstration will buy a game and play it. It enters the political debate at a different level."

So far, Domike and Freeland have sold about 500 units and counting, and are looking for national sponsor for distribution before the Democratic National Convention.

Freeland admits that education does not always lead to understanding. "It isn’t an issue of rights won or lost. As with most laws, they’re so complex, it’s hard for the layperson, and even the lawyers, to understand. Most people want to know three things: what are my rights, what have I lost, and what can I do to get them back. It’s not so simple. There’s not necessarily a bottom line."

Jim Caldwell, representing the IAUC, knows all about the complexities of legislation. He is currently involved in a course of advocacy for the Security and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act of 2003 (S.1709), a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate that would amend the PATRIOT Act to cut its alleged Fourth Amendment encroachments, relating to "sneak and peak" search warrants, which circumvent the presentation of a warrant to the suspect, and warrants for roving wiretaps.

Caldwell reiterates others’ consensus that John Ashcroft, Attorney General, is a prime barrier to the amendment.

"The key is to bring conservatives into the conversation. Democrats already agree that this is bad. Once you start communicating with the larger circle of politicians, crossing party lines, there’s some really convincing evidence that we need to reevaluate these laws. When a conservative begins speaking out against the Act, you attract a whole new audience of listeners. That’s the only way the law is going to be amended, when you have convinced liberals and conservatives, everybody. "

The resolution before council is technically non-binding, and detractors complain that it has no teeth. Domike sees the resolution as having special importance during an election year.

"Local governments are our last line of defense, and we must remind Council of that role in case Washington fails to protect our civil liberties."

Ms. Kenney remains optimistic that Council will pass their resolution in the near future. "We’re trying to agree on a language we can all live with."

Ms. Freeland complements the outstanding organization and energy of her fellow advocates. "The bureaucratic machine is so slow. It takes [over a year] to get something through Pittsburgh City Council, a body of 9 members, it takes that much longer to get a bill passed at the national level, with hundreds of legislators." Freeland points out that this dialogue is a necessary and valuable process to the law. "With the PATRIOT Act, a hugely complex bill, they just said the word, ‘terrorism,’ and shut down all discussion."

The USA PATRIOT Act Game is available at Chatham College bookstore, the East End Food Co-Op, Jay’s Bookstall, and a Pleasant Present in Squirrel Hill, or online at www.gotrights.net.

- M. Novak


Participants barter for their rights as they play the USA Patriot Act game. (Photo by M. Novak)