Atlanta protest hits repressive bills

About 1,500 people, including union members, DREAMer students, immigrant rights activists, women’s health defenders and Occupy Atlanta, rallied against repressive legislation on March 17. The rally was called by a coalition of groups opposed to a number of different bills working their way through the Georgia General Assembly.

The most controversial, Senate Bill 469, criminalizes mass picketing at places where there is a labor dispute, disallows dues check-offs for unions, and makes planning a demonstration or civil disobedience a conspiracy crime — among many other attempts to repress free speech and union rights.

Another bill highlighted at the rally was an attack on union health care. Known as SB 460, it would allow employers to disallow contraceptives in their insurance plans if they claim to be morally opposed to birth control. And in a slap in the face to the poor and unemployed, SB 292 is being pushed forward to require a drug test for recipients of public relief, including food stamps.

The legislature is also trying to amend a repressive anti-immigrant law passed last year to make it stand up better in the courts. The rally was preceded by a picket line that ringed the Capitol with many chants against SB 469.

— Report & photo by Jimmy Raynor