Speaking Out for Freedom of Speech

Is it really free speech if you can't hear it? "The ability to be heard goes hand in hand with the right to speak," Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams will testify today at the DC City Council hearing on the Noise Bill introduced by Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells. Calling it the "Anti-Freedom of Speech Bill," Williams says the bill "would place a gag order on 'loud' protest," effectively shutting down protests in the District of Columbia by taking away the right to use a bullhorn or sound system to be heard above background noise on the streets. Labor - which regularly conducts protests around the city - is being joined in opposition to the bill by community groups concerned about having their rights muffled. The bill - which Wells introduced in an effort to deal with the loud street preachers that gather at the corner of 8th & H Street, N.E. on Saturdays - has potentially wide-ranging implications, from churches that want to protest in front of a record store that sells objectionable music, to environmental groups protesting the government's refusal to takes global warming seriously, a community group protesting in front of a payday loan store ripping off the working poor or even the noon music concerts on Freedom Plaza downtown.