Inside that new anti-Occupy bill

[starroute]

7. Add in the legislation in Georgia to criminalize civil disobedience

People who practice civil disobedience have been arrested for things like blocking traffic or failure to disperse -- but this is the first case I know of a state attempting to define civil disobedience as a crime in itself.

http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/interspire/news/2012/03/08/georgia-legislature-crossover-day-an-overview.html

SB 469, a bill to make civil disobedience an aggravated misdemeanor, passed the State Senate on March 07, in a vote of 30 to 20.

SB 469 makes civil disobedience punishable up to one year in jail, a ten thousand dollar fine for organizations that support such actions, and a one thousand dollar fine for individuals who participate. . . .

"If an organization is picketing against a company that is discriminating and I join the picket line, are you going to have the courts collect the fines and then turn around and give that money back to the person that did the discrimination, do you think that is fair?" Sen. Seay asked.

"Yes, I absolutely believe what's in this bill is fair," Sen. Belfour replied.