Joshua Holland, writing for AlterNet, discusses just how easy it is to run afoul of the US’s laws on providing material support to groups named as terrorist organizations:
“The Supreme Court has ruled that if I leave it at that — expressing my own views without being in contact with any group designated as a terrorist organization — I’m fine. But if I send this column to an official of Hezbollah or FARC — if I communicate with them directly — I’ll be committing a serious crime.”
No word on whether forwarding this column to someone in one of those groups would make one an accessory, but the mood in the courts is such that I wouldn’t want to chance it.
The rest of the article is important reading as well, because Holland discusses some examples from recent history and shows how some groups the US government wound up eventually supporting were once on the terrorist group list, and why that’s important.
