For far too long, those in power have been waging a quiet war against our communities, but have been successful in furthering the illusion of public involvement and complicity in this process. Peaceful Uprising has been working hard to expose the reality of consistent subtle and veiled attacks on civic engagement and social change. With HB 477, the Utah State Legislature is finally waging that war openly and loudly. This will make it much easier for Peaceful Uprising to inspire progressives to fight back with an appropriate level of commitment to drastic change.
House Bill 477 shuts the Utah public completely out of its Legislature’s affairs. Peaceful Uprising applauds this strategy, and hopes for swift ratification of HB 477.
House Bill 477 will deny the public any kind of access to government records of its plans, activities and agenda. Passage of this bill will inflict aggressive and direct harm on all organizations that have worked hard to establish dialogue with Utah’s legislators and elected officials. Peaceful Uprising recognizes that by making moderate reform impossible, the Utah Legislature commits us to the only other option, and supports our call for revolutionary change.
If HB 477 bill passes, citizens will finally and undeniably have no other option than to embrace unconventional strategies in order to protect their rights and work toward their goals. We look forward to supporting anyone who is ready to circumvent futile channels, and go straight to the source of the problems we are committed to combat.
Peaceful Uprising has been attempting to convince our allies that the existing illusion of an effective democratic system is one of the greatest hindrances to an effective movement, and to progressive causes in Utah and beyond. We therefore applaud the Utah Legislature’s bold steps toward shattering the illusion of an effective democratic process via House Bill 477. We agree with the Legislature’s declaration that the only effective means of creating meaningful change are through channels that circumvent our broken system.
We recognize the government’s desire to limit the public’s ability to hold it accountable, and have any voice in its decisions. We think it’s about time that the government admits the fact that in order to keep local advocacy groups from working toward environmental and social justice causes, they have to pass absurd, harmful, and unacceptable legislation like HB 477.
Leave a Reply