Yesterday I posted video of peaceful Wisconsin citizens being arrested and taken out of the Wisconsin Assembly gallery for wearing or holding sheets of paper displaying sections of the Wisconsin Constitution. The activist who created that video, Arthur Kohl-Riggs, has just posted another video from a few weeks ago that shows people being arrested for video taping the Assembly, again from the gallery, again quietly, and clearly within their statutory rights under Wisconsin's open meetings law.
Here's the new video of events that took place September 13, 2011. Some important clarifying commentary after the fold.
Check out Arthur's facebook page Shit Scott Walker is Doing to My State to find links to related videos. He is using vimeo for this video but most of his work is on Youtube.
A day without rights in the Wisconsin State Assembly from SSWIDTMS on Vimeo.
Here is the commentary from Arthur Kohl-Riggs that accompanies his video on Vimeo. ("WisEye" is similar to CSPAN at the state level. They show certain portions of government meetings but their content is controlled by the state legislature.)
Originally a video very similar to this one was posted on youtube but WisEye reported the video for copyright infringement within the first 48 hours of it being online. Some change were made to the original video but this is pretty much it.
Wisconsin has a LAW S.S. 19.90 which states "Whenever a governmental body holds an meeting in open session, the body shall make a reasonable effort to accommodate any person desiring to record, film or photograph the meeting."
Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 13, Sections 241 and 242 of the U.S. Code, conspiracy to deprive a citizen of statutory and constitutional rights using official authority under color of law.
Seems pretty straightforward, but the Assembly has a "rule" which bans any and all cameras from the gallery.
Also there was a recent US circuit court case about filming police where they ruled that citizens have the right to film public officials while in a public space, while they are serving in their public capacity and also included:
"Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest,"
It seems pretty straight forward, but not in WI with the Fitz's in charge. People were dragged out of the gallery using pain compliance and handcuffs simply for SILENTLY HOLDING A CAMERA DURING AN OPEN MEETING.
Arthur and others have for months been courageously challenging the unconstitutional limits on free speech imposed by Governor Scott Walker, the Fitzgerald brothers who run the state Assembly and the state Senate, and the Fitzgerald brothers' father, who was appointed by Governor Walker to run the state police. Or should I say the police state?
Since March, after the largest of the Wisconsin protests concluded, the Walker administration has been attempting to place limits on access to the capitol, limits on where people can assemble, and limits on what people can record or document. Arthur and the others seen in the videos have placed themselves at great personal risk many times here in Madison, in New York and in Washington DC. They deserve a huge thank you from all of Wisconsin and all of America for defending our Constitutional and civil rights.
Again, you can follow Arthur on the facebook page Shit Scott Walker is Doing to My State.