Product Description

Chilling true stories of ordinary Americans whose everyday liberties have been violated since September 11.

"I'm very liberal and sometimes my friends say I'm giving them some kind of paranoid, nutty stuff, and I agree, but then the FBI show up."—Marc Schultz, reported to the FBI for reading an article called "Weapons of Mass Stupidity: Fox News hits a new lowest common denominator" while he stood in line at a coffee shop

In West Virginia, Renee Jensen put up a yard sign saying "Mr. Bush: You're Fired." She's questioned by the Secret Service. In Alabama, Lynne Gobbell put a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker on her car. She's fired from her job. In Vermont, Tom Treece had his high school students write essays and make posters either defending or criticizing the Iraq War. After midnight, the police entered his classroom and took photos of the student artwork.

The heated debates about the Patriot Act, about extensive registration and arrest programs for immigrants, and about domestic spying by the FBI, Pentagon, and National Security Agency have all been front-page news. But less understood are the effects of ramped-up national security policies on ordinary people across the country.

In this hard-to-put-down book, Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine, shows that post-9/11 America has entered a repressive age. Through dozens of engrossing and disturbing individual stories, You Have No Rights makes clear that America is now a country that is both less safe and less free.

From You Have No Rights: Near Albany, New York, Stephen Downs went to a mall with his son Roger, and the two of them bought shirts in a T-shirt shop. Downs put his shirt on, went to eat in the food court—and was arrested. The T-shirt's message? "Peace on Earth."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #858249 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Matthew Rothschild has been editor of The Progressive since 1993. Previously the editor of Multinational Monitor, a magazine founded by Ralph Nader, he is the host of Progressive Radio. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Customer Reviews

An Important Book For Everyone
I have just finished reading Matthew Rothchild's book, "You Have No Rights: Stories of America In an Age of Repression." I found it terrifically informative and well written. It is a well researched piece of work, based on the author's twenty years of experience as the editor
of "The Progressive" magazine.

As a student activist and progressive throughout my life, I found the incidents in the book to be important information for those of us who
truly value our first ammendment rights. The range of incidents from subuarban mall goers at a Rick Santorum book reading to a student teacher in a St. Louis high school point out how our rights to speak freely have been eviscerated by Bush and Cheney in the last seven years. After reading this book, one feels the need to do something.

It is a must read for anyone who is concerned about the future of our society.

Yikes
I was lucky to hear Matt Rothschild discuss this book at the Madison Book Festival this year. It is composed of many, many straight forward reports of Americans' rights being curtailed in small ways across the country. From air travel, to colleges, to public schools, to the workplace these vignettes have rolled in. Rothschild stated there were many more which he didn't report. Some of them are small affronts which have little consequence but the telling thing is the sheer number and wide spectrum of people and place.

The most chilling stories for me were the ones of students, some of whom have been frightened by their encounter with the FBI or Secret Service and are unsure where the boundaries and might be watching over their shoulders for a long time to come.

"According to the FBI statement the questioning took about twenty minutes, and at the end the agents decided not to pursue the matter further. 'The issues brought forth by the complainant were resolved, and no further action has been taken,' the statement says.

Rashed, who did not return my phone calls, has reportedly suffered adverse reactions. 'The entire experience left the student badly shaken,' says the December 2005 joint statement from the Lawyers Committee and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. 'He has since been hesitant about expressing his political views in any context.'"

I also wonder who the people are that are "the complainants". There seems to be a lot of people calling the police about other people's actions. What kind of country are we becoming?

Reality Check
The author has captured chilling examples of government intimidation of citizens expressing their views. As Americans we face new threats to our freedom of thought and expression. Rothschild cites many examples of government repression that are hard to read. There is good reason to be afraid of your own government and Rothschild adeptly points out why. I encourage any doubters in the crowd to read his book and check out the facts for themselves. You will want to read a little at a time...take it in small doses. Too much of the book at one time could overwhelm your concept of democracy and whether or not your government means you well.