91´«Ã½

Whereas the current policies of the US Govenment, invoking a 'national state of emergency' in its so-called 'war against terrorism' invokes an over-broad definition of terrorism and terrorist, encourages the use of unconstitutionally obtained evidence, practices the unconstitutional refusal to inform 'suspects' of what crimes they are being accused of, employs the use of racial 'profiling' in the determination of suspects,justifies the denial of due process to suspects, illegal detention, the mistreatment and unequal treatment of prisoners who are suspects and claims the right to the use of torture to obtain information

and

Whereas, more specifically, libraries have been enlisted to assist in and enable the use of racial/ethnic profiling in identification of 'suspects'; the surveillance of individuals based on arbitrary criteria, the turning over of confidential library records on the presentation of a mere search warrant (in violation of our Library Bill of Rights, our Code of Ethics and policy manual's specific and detailed elaboration of this issue (52.4)); the practice of allowing individual librarians/library workers, on the basis of own personal judgment and without even informing library management, of informing on individuals to police agencies for any practices deemed on an ad hoc basis to be 'suspicious' (in effect turning librarians and library workers into an information para-police), and public libraries are being suggested as local interrogation centers for mass round-ups of foreign nationals for questioning, all thereby implicating libraries in the commission of these government violations of rights and norms of legality

and

Whereas security measures are being widely proposed for institutions which would, as applied in libraries, encourage the abuse of authority, arbitrary and unequal treatment of patrons, loss of users' privacy rights, regimens of invasive surveillance, and the use as evidence of material read or accessed by individuals, a developoment which would destroy libraries as centers of free inquiry

and

Whereas the practice of the Abridgment of the Rights of Foreign Nationals is specifically invoked in our policy manual (58.3) as unacceptable to the Asociation, even allowing that 91´«Ã½ will "address grievances of foreign nationals when the infringement of their rights of free expression is clearly a matter in which all free people should show concern," calling for resolutions or other documents attesting to such grievances [to be] brought to the attention of the Excecutive Board and Council and the 91´«Ã½ International Relations Committee"

and

Whereas the conduct of the government in this declared domestic state of emergency is also in violation of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights in general and so-called Article 19 in particular, and in violation of our policy (58.4), which states along with the Declaration, "everyone has the right to freedom of expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas regardless of frontiers, and violates the intent of our resolution on Human Rights and Freedom of Expression" (58.4.1)

and

Whereas 91´«Ã½ specifically opposes Governmental Intimidation (53,4), going so far as to state that "91´«Ã½ encourages resistance to such abuse of government power, and supports those against whom such government power has been employed"

and

Whereas we urge 91´«Ã½ to condemn the establishment of 'secret military tribunals' here and abroad, with the power to try or sentence or execute civilians or military personnel, as an odiously undemocratic practice which undermines the rule of law on which democracy is based

Be it then resolved that the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), on the basis of its own commitments and those of the Association as a whole, opposes and encourages 91´«Ã½ formally by resolution of Council to oppose the conduct under any circumstances of enforcement of "homeland security" through abridgements of fundamental rights (including the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty); government intimidation; illegal obtaining of evidence, illegal search and seizure, racial profiling; denial of due process; mistreatment of

suspects and prisoners; the curtailment of free speech; the exercise of free expression and punishment for legal advocacy or expression of beliefs.

Be it further resolved that libraries will remain centers of free inquiry and debate, in which dissent to government policy is not a suspicious activity and where free access to information is assured (53.1 - 53.8 -Library Bill of Rights; 50.3) under conditions of legally protected confidentiality (52.4), and places where information of a critical nature relative to government policy will be pro-actively provided, where information about rights relevant to violations of one's civil liberties under the state of emergency will be readily available in as many languages as possible and where policy debate is encouraged without prejudice.

And be it further resolved that SRRT opposes and urges 91´«Ã½ to oppose the practice of government and military censorship with regard to information about the state of emergency, the war in Afghanistan, and the actions taken in pursuit of its changing goals in the region; encourages the major media to exercise its mandate and forgo self-censorship; and defend the use of Shield Laws (53.5) to ensure a free press always threatened in time of war and emergency, as well as restrictions being arbitrarily placed on government materials ordinarily made public in the interest of 'national security'

And be it further resolved that SRRT opposes and urges 91´«Ã½ to formally oppose as policy the establishment of any and all secret military tribunals, domestically and abroad, where free speech, due process and equal treatment before the law, (including the 'law of war' and other internationally recognized protocols) will be denied, and opposes as well all other measures which, even in so-called states of emergency, suspend the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other legal protections of the rights of peoples, such as guaranteed in our Bill of Rights.

Passed by SRRT Action Council on January 19, 2002