[liberationtech] Make your only phone call of the day (probably) to stop H.R. 9495, which is a gift to Trump

[Kate Krauss]

Hi,

Let me speculate: This proposed US law may be a strategy to disable the
influence of civil society in the US. First, the law would split
organizations (*universities, nonprofit newspapers, NGOs)* into the group
that is being attacked (like the ACLU and CAIR) and those that
aren't--weakening the whole sector. It would encourage self-censorship from
those groups not yet affected. It would also allow an excuse for extra
surveillance of the "terrorist-supporting" groups--*and most importantly
allow Trump to shut them down.*

I find it that plays into the pro-Israel factions in US Congress (because
it will demonize pro-Palestine groups) and seems to be about losing
tax-exempt status--but it is probably about something way worse.

*It's not too late to call Congress:*
https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/no-on-hr9495

-Katie

On Thu, Nov 21, 2024 at 4:41 AM Arzak Khan <arzak at innovationforchange.net>
wrote:

> This is frightening, we have so many precedents from Global South of
> organisation especially non profits being declared as terrorists.
>
> Arzak Khan
> Hub Manager
> Innovation For Change (I4C) South Asia
> www.innovationforchange.net
>
>
> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 at 11:43 PM, Kate Krauss <katiephr at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Do you know someone who works for a US nonprofit organization with which
>> Trump might disagree? Or do you just agree with a nonprofit like that? The
>> ACLU, the Tor Project, EFF, CAIR, etc.
>>
>> There's a vote happening today in Congress on a bill that would allow
>> Trump to target nonprofits he doesn't like and deems "terrorist."
>>
>> Call a member of Congress here (calling works best and this is your
>> moment): https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/no-on-hr9495
>> ("Vote no on HR 9495")
>>
>> Here's a list of groups that oppose it from an Amnesty International
>> letter:
>> https://www.aclu.org/documents/civil-society-letter-to-congress-opposing-hr-9495
>>
>> * It would give the U.S. Treasury unilateral authority
>> <https://theintercept.com/2024/11/10/trump-nonprofit-tax-exempt-political-enemies/> to
>> strip tax-exempt status from nonprofits deemed “terrorist supporting
>> organizations.” That’s a frightening prospect given Trump’s
>> previous attempt to designate antifascist protesters as “terrorists,”
>> <https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-says-he-will-designate-antifa-terrorist-organization-gop-points-n1220321> his
>> classification of pro-Palestinian protesters as “pro-Hamas radicals,”
>> <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/trumps-plan-quell-protests-deport-hamas-radicals-rcna166168> his
>> open desire to quell dissent with violence
>> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/13/trump-military-enemies-within/>,
>> and his frequent classification of those who disagree with him as
>> the “enemy from within.”
>> <https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-suggests-hell-use-the-military-on-the-enemy-from-within-the-u-s-if-hes-reelected> -
>> MSNBC
>> <https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/nonprofits-bill-trump-house-republicans-terrorism-rcna180696>*
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Katie Krauss
>> Liberation Tech
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable. List rules:
>> https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe, change to
>> digest mode, or change password by emailing
>> lt-owner at lists.liberationtech.org.
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ghserv.net/pipermail/lt/attachments/20241121/1bd543fc/attachment.htm>