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| Broward Greens Join Suit Against the City of Ft. Lauderdale OAS Ordinances. |
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Green Party of Florida Monday, May 23, 2005 The Broward County Green Party has joined a legal challenge to ordinances recently enacted in Ft. Lauderdale limiting demonstrators at the Organization of American States General Assembly meeting, June 4-7. Contacts: Cara Campbell, Co-Chair, Broward County Green Party The OAS General Assembly meets in Ft. Lauderdale from June 4-7, with participants from 34 nations. While the Broward County Green Party is supportive of international cooperation, the OAS has been consistently unsuccessful in achieving measurable success in many areas such as environmental degradation and human rights. Unfortunately, the OAS has demonstrated a keen willingness to support trade policies that undermine labor, local economies, regional environments, and political self-determination. A significant number of religious, environmental, labor, and political groups are planning peaceful demonstrations during the OAS meeting. In an effort to limit the size and effectiveness of these demonstrations, the City of Ft. Lauderdale recently enacted an ordinance that redefines a parade or political rally as only eight people, bans common objects such as soda bottles and marbles, and effectively limits the size of signs and banners. Security officials also plan to restrict the demonstrators to positions that are largely invisible to the OAS delegates, further undermining our ability to be effective. "It's outrageous," said Jim Sanders, as a Broward Green, a plaintiff in a legal challenge to the ordinances. "I'm being prevented from sending my message to the OAS delegates -- people who can make positive changes in the organization! It seems like the city is just looking for excuses to arrest peaceful demonstrators." The Broward County Green Party is seeking to have the ordinance stricken as unconstitutional. A coalition including attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee and the ACLU has filed the suit. "Has the City Attorney even read the Constitution?" asks Barbara Miranda, Broward Green Party labor liaison. "Our City Commissioners need to remember that people in Ft. Lauderdale have a right to voice their opinions, and the city should not be collaborating with corporations that want dissent out of sight and unheard." Regardless of the legal outcome, the Broward Greens, along with many others, intend to be seen AND heard at the OAS General Assembly meeting. For Further Information:
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